Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Snark break ... that was quite Ruud of him ...



No word of a lie. For years, the Ottawa 67's had the slogan "Hockey With Bite." Their NHL counterparts have co-opted it; that it also Jarkko Ruutu was doing, plus a Finn would never miss a chance to parody something a Swedish player was accused of doing.

The Senators players are beyond mocking, although did you see Eugene Melnyk out on the ice celebrating with the world junior team after it won the gold medal on Monday? Granted, it was a proud moment for Canadians from Barbados to Vancouver Island.

The topic to turn your nose up at today: Tonya Harding is scheduled for a mixed martial arts fight in Detroit. Spare the wisecracks. It was 15 years ago and God forbid there ever would be a woman in figure skating who didn't conform to the stereotypes. She should be thanked for actually making Nancy Kerrigan relevant for three months back in 1994.

Julián de Guzmán has never been shy about criticizing the Canadian Soccer Assocation. Calling it "a cancer" in an interview with The Canadian Stretford End has some serious damn factor, though. (Our senior men's national team should have a score like the one Sam had with that inteview.)

The Globe & Mail has its sweeping take on hockey violence.

As Jason Giambi returns to Oakland, six words that make neck hairs stand on end: "Jack Cust as an everyday outfielder."

Today is the 15th anniversary of the release of Cabin Boy. Count yourself lucky that is not being broken out for a full post, although the day is young.

This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting:


2 comments:

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

Absolutely shocking when it comes to Legein.

Dennis Prouse said...

I wish Legein nothing but the best in whatever he does. I completely understand the burnout factor - CHL hockey has basically become minor pro now in terms of the schedule, travel and pressure placed on the players. The pressure is immense.

It's worth noting that Legein is certainly not the first pro prospect to walk away from the game. There have been others, most notably Robin Sadler in 1975. He was picked ninth overall by the Habs, yet couldn't handle the pressure of going to a pro camp. He returned his bonus money and quit. I was but a young lad of 10 at the time, but I still remember the shock and disbelief people had.

Like Legein, he went back to the game later on, having a brief run with Edmonton of the WHA and with the Habs farm team, but in both instances decided not to stick around. He eventually went to Europe to play.

In a weird way, I think you would almost have to suppress your self awareness in order to prosper at the NHL level. If you spent too much time thinking about the situation you were in, what with the full buildings, all the media, fans following your every move, etc., you would go crazy. For a sensitive, introspective person, it would be unspeakably harrowing.