No one comes to 11 yr olds B-day party, Leafs+NHLers step up

[Lempo]

Or it was all a scam so he could meet Marner and Tavares and get free Leafs tickets and the kids birthday isn't even until March

"This has been the bestest day ever! I can't wait to be drafted to the NHL in the 2026 Entry Draft!"
"... don't you mean in the 2027 Entry Draft... you being a late birthday guy!?"

 

[Crazy Cizikas]

I'm torn on this tbh, I feel like parents especially today with the ease of access of social media tend to exploit their children a lot of times without their consent. Like I guess it's great this paid off and everyone's happy but like there are definitely posts out there with the same thing that don't get traction and suddenly you've just outed your child as having no friends for no reason.

idk - I get that the intent on this is rather harmless but I feel like having reasonable discourse on this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

What is “reasonable discourse” regarding a little kid’s birthday party?

 

[BonMorrison]

What is “reasonable discourse” regarding a little kid’s birthday party?

If it's okay for parents to exploit their children on social media - thought I was being pretty clear lol

 

[Crazy Cizikas]

If it's okay for parents to exploit their children on social media - thought I was being pretty clear lol

You know no more of the situation than I know. Can’t you just accept a nice gesture for what it is?

 

[Rob Brown]

If you're saying that it's wrong for anyone to question this little boy and the parents intentions.. well not really**, its getting more and more hard to give people the benefit of the doubt these days

I understand, but perhaps we should stop immediately looking at everything with doubt and a negative opinion. For all we know the kid has issues and struggles socially and was excited to have his classmates over for his birthday and no one showed up, for whatever reason.

Like I said, perhaps in the moment his dad was angry and sad and protective and felt like trying to cheer up his son and figured the team would tweet back at him and that would be it. Assuming for absolutely no reason that the dad had some sort of ulterior motive and was doing it for his own benefit is both silly and unfair. None of you know anything yet you're all making assumptions instead of just taking it at face value and looking at it like a nice gesture by a bunch of people on Twitter.

It's weird that Jake Tapper of all people can just be a nice person and tweet back at the kid and some of you have such an issue with it.

 

[atreyuavenged]

This happened to me so I stopped having birthday parties and ate on that day instead.

 

[JT Kreider]

I understand, but perhaps we should stop immediately looking at everything with doubt and a negative opinion. For all we know the kid has issues and struggles socially and was excited to have his classmates over for his birthday and no one showed up, for whatever reason.

Like I said, perhaps in the moment his dad was angry and sad and protective and felt like trying to cheer up his son and figured the team would tweet back at him and that would be it. Assuming for absolutely no reason that the dad had some sort of ulterior motive and was doing it for his own benefit is both silly and unfair.

I agree. it's unfair and I hate that I immediately have to be suspicious, but that is just the world we live in today. I've been duped one too many times by viral stories like this. After the story about the homess vet who gave his last few dollars to a stranded woman whose car ran out out of gas ended up being a scam I lost all faith in humanity

N.J. Woman Pleads Guilty In Homeless GoFundMe Hoax, Faces 4 Years In State Prison

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

I mean, I wouldn't personally do it, but if the kid is struggling and isn't going to see any of this himself since he isn't on Twitter, what's the harm? The dad was probably pissed off and sad and took a chance and look at the outcome. It probably means the world to his son.

I get where youre coming from but I also think it's a little bit naïve. This is a huge viral story (which was obviously a precondition of the goal - it had to go viral for the kids heroes to see it) and kids younger than 11 are all over the internet. This will also be on the internet forever, and it will take a while before his peers grow out of being - on average - vicious.

I get it - it must be devastating, as a parent, to see your kid in that position - but it doesn't sit well with me when parents do this to their kids. Still a very sweet gesture by the players who participated.

 

[Crazy Cizikas]

I agree. it's unfair and I hate that I immediately have to be suspicious, but that is just the world we live in today. I've been duped one too many times by viral stories like this. After the story about the homess vet who gave his last few dollars to a stranded woman whose car ran out out of gas ended up being a scam I lost all faith in humanity

N.J. Woman Pleads Guilty In Homeless GoFundMe Hoax, Faces 4 Years In State Prison

How much money would you have lost by wishing this kid a happy birthday?

 

[Rob Brown]

I agree. it's unfair and I hate that I immediately have to be suspicious, but that is just the world we live in today. I've been duped one too many times by viral stories like this. After the story about the homess vet who gave his last few dollars to a stranded woman whose car ran out out of gas ended up being a scam I lost all faith in humanity

N.J. Woman Pleads Guilty In Homeless GoFundMe Hoax, Faces 4 Years In State Prison

You lost faith in humanity because of one shitty person?

The difference here is that it's a dad that lives across the country in Newfoundland that tweeted at the Leafs and probably expected the team and maybe a few players to tweet back and that would be the end of it. He wasn't asking for money or tickets or anything. He didn't start a woe is me GoFundMe. He probably thought that Marner tweeting back a happy birthday message would cheer up his son. How could he have planned and expected this to happen? You think he was expecting Luke Skywalker and Tetris and a CNN host to tweet back at him?

Just take it at face value instead of comparing it to some asshole that scammed someone else out of money.

 

[compan]

That's awesome. I look forward to seeing what they do for him.

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

Kids, and people in general, are f***ing cruel. Glad to see NHL'ers and people come together and show this kid that there are people who care about him.

The amount of bullying both in person and cyber that kids go through in school is disgusting. Never will forget reading an article about the 9 year old boy in Colorado who was excited to come out to his friends as gay and then got bullied for it and told he should commit suicide. His parents found him hanging in his closet... I just can't.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Cool to see, but I too am skeptical...

 

[Bouboumaster]

Don't like the Leafs, but it was über classy from them.
Good job guys.

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

I'm torn on this tbh, I feel like parents especially today with the ease of access of social media tend to exploit their children a lot of times without their consent. Like I guess it's great this paid off and everyone's happy but like there are definitely posts out there with the same thing that don't get traction and suddenly you've just outed your child as having no friends for no reason.

idk - I get that the intent on this is rather harmless but I feel like having reasonable discourse on this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Don't tell me I was balloon boy'd

 

[Crazy Cizikas]

Cool to see, but I too am skeptical...

About what? You have absolutely nothing to lose by wishing this kid a happy birthday.

 

[Rob Brown]

About what? You have absolutely nothing to lose by wishing this kid a happy birthday.

Or by simply accepting it and not making up assumptions.

 

[Mogo]

Dear lord so many grown "men" getting jealous that they didn't get birthday wishes from there favorite NHL team as a kid

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

About what? You have absolutely nothing to lose by wishing this kid a happy birthday.

True, but it just seems fishy.

 

[Crazy Cizikas]

True, but it just seems fishy.

I feel sorry for you that you can’t just wish a kid to have a happy birthday.

 

[Qward]

I wish no one showed up to my kids 11th birthday.
the little buggers wrecked my house and filled the switch with profiles named stuff like "cuk" "bichbouy"
"assmonkey" and the likes.

 

[Number8]

If you're saying that it's wrong for anyone to question this little boy and the parents intentions.. well not really**, its getting more and more hard to give people the benefit of the doubt these days

Yeah, but if you think about it, what does it matter?

If this is a legit story, then good on the Leafs and other NHLérs for reaching out. Last thing the world needs is another kid who grows up feeling isolated and alone. Could be a life changer for him.

On the other hand, if it's been somehow manufactured in some way, why does anyone care? If this kid has a father who feels the need to make this sort of thing up, then the kid is still going to need all the help he can get -- just like he will if he really has no friends.

Costs me zero to go about my life believing this is real and that some heroes to this kid stepped up and did something nice.

Costs a sh** of negative energy to assume it's all BS and have all the associated negative thoughts that come with that assumption.

 

[JT Kreider]

About what? You have absolutely nothing to lose by wishing this kid a happy birthday.

But the father had everything to gain by putting it on social media and tagging the Leafs in it, full well knowing this story would blow up and taking advantage of hockey players class and kindness and all of a sudden you're being offered tickets to every hockey game in North America.

I dont know, the intention was obvious. If he hadn't tagged the Leafs and Marner in his tweet and this story went viral in more natural fashion that's a different story.

 

[Rob Brown]

But the father had everything to gain by putting it on social media and tagging the Leafs in it, full well knowing this story would blow up and taking advantage of hockey players class and kindness and all of a sudden you're being offered tickets to every hockey game in North America.

I dont know, the intention was obvious. If he hadn't tagged the Leafs and Marner in his tweet and this story went viral in more natural fashion that's a different story.

Except you don't know his intention because you don't know him and haven't spoken to him. There's no need to assume the worst just because you lost faith in humanity.

Again, it's bizarre to me that people like Jake Tapper and Mark Hamill (who quite frankly have other things to focus their energy on) saw the value in wishing this kid a happy birthday, yet you're here making up stories and hypotheticals because you have an issue with humanity.

 

[Crazy Cizikas]

But the father had everything to gain by putting it on social media and tagging the Leafs in it, full well knowing this story would blow up and taking advantage of hockey players class and kindness and all of a sudden you're being offered tickets to every hockey game in North America.

I dont know, the intention was obvious. If he hadn't tagged the Leafs and Marner in his tweet and this story went viral in more natural fashion that's a different story.

So, how much did this cost you?