The gay mafia has gone too far this time.

They're now directing their hate toward Pavel Datsyuk, and they're apparently on a mission to destroy him.

For those of you not familiar with hockey, Datsyuk is universally recognized as the best two-way player in the game.  I'd go farther than that:  I've watched hockey for over 30 years, and I think he's the best player, period, in the history of the game.  That would certainly be debatable, but that's a debate for another time.

This is Pavel Datsyuk:

Datsyuk won 4 Lady Bing trophies in a row -- that's the NHL's award for sportsmanship. He's the cleanest player in the league.  And he's a remarkably modest, unassuming, self-effacing man -- the most humble professional athlete I've ever seen.  Part of that humility probably stems from his humble beginnings in Russia.  His family didn't have much money; his mother died when he was 16; he wasn't drafted at all in 1996 or 1997, and went in the seventh round in 1998, because he was considered too small.

And I'm sure part of that humility comes from his faith -- he's a quietly devout Orthodox Christian.

Because the Olympic hockey tournament will be played in Russia this year, and gay rights advocates have pushed the issue to the forefront all summer, it was inevitable that some reporter would ask Datsyuk his opinion of his country's laws regarding homosexuality.  Datsyuk responded about as I expected:

"I'm an orthodox and that says it all."

More after the break.