It's nice that the WaPo has sent a couple of columnists to supplement Tarik's coverage of the Caps for this series (speaking of, today's must read is at Jason LaCanfora's blog). What's less nice, however, is when these columnists do a sub-par job.Such was the case with Mike Wise's column this morning, which came off as a writer attacking an opposing team and its fan base for playing physically and enjoying it, respectively.
Mike, this is hockey - no, this is playoff hockey - and there isn't a Caps fan around who wouldn't love to be sent into "some medieval state of euphoria" as the result of the Caps "exerting their mauling style" on the Flyers. The problem is, there has no mauling from the boys in red, white and blue. There has been no "unmistakable air of testosterone coming from the [Caps'] direction that just reeked of physicality."
The Flyers will always be the Flyers, and their fans will always be, well, what they are. Taking shots at the Philly faithful is the low-hanging fruit of sports journalism, little different than calling Caps fans fair weather.
As a columnist, you're better than that (as recently as Monday, in fact), and you're certainly better than this: you claim that "[Mike] Green had never gotten into a fight at any level of the game according to HockeyFights.com, which tracks scraps all the way back to juniors[,]" but that very site lists five prior fights for Green (one in the AHL and four in juniors). Oops.
Last night was a tough night on the ice, and apparently up in the press box as well.
14 comments:
Jeez, looks like JLC knows a bit about some hockey. It's hard to disagree with too much of his rant.
I do have to admit the Flyers fans have a ridiculous motto to rally around, as noted on the photo on the main page of the sports section. The fans' orange t-shirts read: "Vengeance Now"! WTF??? Vengeance? For what? Apollo Creed?! Is AO being referred to as Ivan Drago on Flyer blogs??
No, jh, but Washington played a montage in Washington during the 1st two games of Ivan Drago beating up Rocky. Your own team has been that stupid.
Vengeance Now refers to the Flyers pissed at themselves for having their worst year in its history last year, and doing something about it. Going out there and playing kick ass hockey, as you have seen for yourself.
Yea I read that article too today and was embarrassed as a Caps fan. It made us look like a bunch of pussies for complaining about the Flyers playing like the Flyers.
It's the playoffs. If it works, keep it up!
What the Caps aren't doing is adjusting and as a result, we're down 2 games to 1.
A few adjustments (*cough* fight back *cough*) and we should be alright.
Maybe, but having just returned from Philly, where I attended game 3, I must say that Philly fans are an embarrassment. And to think I actually believed all those posts about how intimidating they are and what great fans they are (and, of course, not at all fair weather). First, tickets were easy to come by. Second, changing "a**hole" every time they see a fan from the other team or the ref calls a penalty against them is hardly original stuff. And Wise is right that all they play is the fights during commercial breaks(that and rip off music and montages from "300" and Gladiator). Oh yeah, and thundersticks? Really Flyers fans? You're better than that...aren't you? Bang those sticks, bang those sticks, bang those sticks....
"If it works, keep doing it!" is bullshit. You don't run over a fucking goalie, no matter how many times you get away with it. That's a shitheel move and you're a shitheel if you do it without having it done to you first.
"Vengeance Now"
Dumbest. Playoff. Slogan. Ever.
And...booing Ovechkin? What are mad about- that you didn't have your '06-'07 season at the right time to have drafted him yourselves?
Vengence now was put in place last year at this time after the Flyers were an embarrassment to the city. Move on. The caps have out numbered the Flyers in Cheap shots this series by far...interesting that none of you mentioned that. We know what it feels like to be frustrated, we've had to deal with the Devils trap for the last 15 year + Marty B.
Maybe next year.
Running over the goalie? Oh yea, when Briere was pushed into huet and the huet knocked him down. By the way, Ovechkin gets booed for diving like a player who can't keep up. Seriously, if you look at the tape, you can see his right skate pivot and push off, increasing his momentum greatly.
The YouTube's I've seen of the Ovechkin/Umberger collision don't include the shot that was shown on Comcast (D.C., at least) from the end zone behind Ovie. From that shot, it was clear that it was a trip, and it looked pretty painful (caught him mid-shin).
Did Alex embellish it? Perhaps. But there's no question whatsoever that it was a trip.
And for my money, the dirtiest hit of the series so far is probably Laich on Timonen.
I've saw the play on Comcast. It was merely 2 players shins colliding when they were skating in opposite directions. But once his right foot left the ice, there was a sudden increase in momentum. That doesn't happen without embellishment.
Mike Wise summed it all up for you guys... WAAAAAHHHHH.
Have fun with a fantastic regular season player who helped your team barely make the playoffs in the weakest division.
Try again next year.
First of all; I'd like to congratulate the Capitals on an amazing run to the playoffs. The series could easily have gone either way in the end.
The fact of the matter is that Flyers fans are in the top 3 as far as fanatical fan bases go around the league. Only Montreal and Toronto rival our passion for our team.
Watching a highly skilled player like Ovechkin dive time and time again just pisses us off. He's a big boy and should play like a big boy. We've booed our own players when we watched them dive here (I'm talking to you, Mark Recchi and Roman Czechmanek)).
We have great respect for our storied adversaries. We booed Mario Lemiuex for years here...yet when he played his final game here in Philly, we gave him a standing ovation and cheered him as if our own bob Clarke was skating off for the last time.
Long story short: We love our team and the villains that walk into our arena. Without them we'd be just a stagnant arena with a bunch of fly-by-night fans.
Good luck next year.
Post a Comment