Sunday, July 08, 2007

Misinformed And Misdirected Hostility

Since the story surfaced that Michael Nylander chose Washington over Edmonton (and more money), a handful of columnists have questioned Nylander's decision by taking cheap shots at our nation's capital. Yet another example from the Edmonton Sun's John Short in his column this morning:
The same Nylander who chose to live in Washington, probably the most violent city in North America, and insisted it was his right to take millions less for the privilege.
Nevermind the fact that Nylander may have chosen the Caps because they're an organization on the rise with a clear sense of direction or a team where the playmaking pivot would be able to set up one of the most exciting goal scorers the game has seen in a generation.

Nevermind the fact that Nylander, father of six, may have chosen D.C. because it is a city with which he is familiar, having played here before, or one that boasts both great history and cultural institutions. Or that travel between D.C. and Nylander's native Sweden is considerably easier from the East Coast.

Come to think of it, nevermind all the facts - including that D.C. isn't even the most violent U.S. city with an NHL team (sorry to drag you into this, St. Louis, Detroit and Atlanta). Short's claim - like those before his - is based on emotion and sour grapes, not actual numbers or reason.

And one data point that Short neglects to mention? Edmonton is the murder capital of Canada.

Given all of this, it's not difficult to see why Nylander may have passed up the privilege to play in the City of Champions. Save the cheap shots for someone more deserving - Nylander's agent, perhaps.

Update: Head over to OWO for more on the morons.

13 comments:

NS said...

Edmonton and its media needs to shut the F up and live with the shitty management their Oilers have.

bunch of whiney a-holes. I hope Hemsky manages a way out of there.

Unknown said...

What's John Short's email address...

Anonymous said...

Hey, it you were stuck in Edmonton and facing six months of winter, you'd be pissed too. Frankly, Canadians have this mindset that playing in the Great White North is some transcendental experience that noone should ever turn down. It just drives them crazy that more and more players are doing just that.

JP said...

What's John Short's email address...

jcshort@shaw.ca

CapsChick said...

I've just fired off e-mails to both writers, which I never do - I can't believe they're allowed to write that kind of crap. (Hey, it's Sunday - what else am I going to do but write cranky letters to strangers? Fun!)

What's that saying? Nobody picks on my little brother but me? Consider DC my little brother from here on out.

Anonymous said...

If it's not too late Tyler, could you please also ask Mr. Short if there's any relation with Martin Short? This column was almost as funny as that tripled-chinned Jiminy Glick. Almost.

Anonymous said...

I emailed Eric Frances the other day with some statistics to set him straight, since I'm sure he didn't intend to print factually incorrect information.

"The rate of violent crime in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Statistical Area for 2005 according to the FBI: 546.4 crimes per 100,000 people.

The rate of violent crime across Canada for 2005 according to Statistics Canada: 942.9 crimes per 100,000 people."

Unknown said...

Makes me want to cap both of their asses....

Just kidding, really...

NS said...

capschick/false_cause,

let us know if you hear back!

Anonymous said...

Well done, Japers!

However, those FBI numbers are highly suspect.

Anonymous said...

Agreed, the FBI figures are likely somewhat inaccurate, but I doubt they are off by anything approaching 100%, which would be required to make them comparable to the Canadian figures. Fairfax County has almost twice the population of the District and a violent crime rate in 2005 of something like 97.5 crimes per 100,000 people. That balances out some of the more dangerous regions in the area.

InSung said...

Here's Short's response to the email I sent him ... specifically, his thoughts are in response to my comments on the superior access to historical and cultural amenities in DC versus Edmonton (really, is anyone going to argue this???) and the suggestion that if he were to visit DC, he would readily see just how much the city has to offer Nylander:

"Thanks for caring.
If you think Nylander is a culture freak, good on you.
Incidentally, I've been to Washington and throughout the area. Enjoyed it for the climate and the roses and the history.
Grew up in Detroit, Rochester, N.Y., and Milford, Conn. All tough towns in their own right.
Would rather live here than in any of them.
Thanks again."

Anonymous said...

Edmonton is Canada's murder capital, yes. But Edmonton has a violent crime rate lower than America's 3rd least violent city, which is located in Colorado.