BEING CHRIS PRONGER MEANS NEVER HAVING TO SAY YOU'RE SORRY

Chris Pronger had his first sitdown interview with the Southern California media for today's edition of the L.A. Times. (Via James Mirtle.)

The star defenceman addresses the rumours that sprung up when he pulled the chute in Edmonton, but doesn't really address them, saying little more than his family was hurt but that it was "handled professionally" by both him and the Oilers. Well, yes and no.

The long and the short of it is Oilers fans still have every right to feel like they were played for suckers since there was never any plausible explanation given to them for why Pronger demanded to be traded right after nearly leading Edmonton to the Stanley Cup. After the way the fans supported that team during its playoff run, they deserved much more than that dodgy Lauren-Pronger-hates-Edmonton story. (When in doubt, blame the missus, eh.)

That set everyone's imaginations to "run wild," leading to those false rumours about a woman newscaster that were spread with some help from Grade 7 students posing as responsible broadcasters. (Yours truly basically covered the mentality of the alleged culprits, not the rumour itself.)

In typical jock mode, Pronger doesn't seem to realize how that inflicting emotional pain and stress on another person could have been avoided if he and the Oilers had come clean on why he wanted to leave. Instead he jetted off to Mexico. The way people are, this broadcaster is going to be dogged by this saga so long as she's in Edmonton. It might be relatively benign, like some bozo in a bar saying, "Hey, isn't she the girl who Pronger's supposed to have...."

The point is, it's going to be out there, and it likely wouldn't have been if Pronger had just admitted it was for the money, or whatever his reason was for wanting out. Anyway, all he can see is how this affected him. Yes, he said it affected his family, but that's just Jock Code for "me, me, me." Plus, it's good public relations.

How hard is it to say, "I'm sorry she was dragged into this."

Bottom line: it's too rash to say that if Pronger ever plays in the Stanley Cup final, it will be too soon. Besides, if he does lead Anaheim to the final next season, it will be fun to watch Oilers fans foaming at the mouth in rage.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.