Marty Brodeur probably should have taken the high road and shaken Sean Avery's hand after the final game of the Rangers-Devils series but I'm not going to get worked up about it like I'm sure some people will. It's about time that Avery learns that respect is not something you automatically get just for winning more games than the other guy. And you know what? I didn't see Avery offering his hand to Marty either. That looked like a pretty mutual cold shoulder to me.
No matter how you feel though, this quote is ridiculous: "Everyone talks about how unclassy I am, Fatso there just forgot to shake my hand, I guess." You cannot complain about other people being classless while calling them fatso. My emotionally disturbed middle schoolers have moved past calling people fatso. You're not the sympathetic hero in this story and you're certainly not the good guy, you dumb douchebag.
In twenty years, Fatso is going to be sitting at home with his wife and kids, surrounded by a few Vezinas, at least three Stanley Cup rings and a Hall of Fame plaque while his number hangs in the rafters of the building of the franchise that he helped make great. You'll be remembered as a guy who was hated by his teammates and got busted paying for sex. If you're remembered at all.
Showing posts with label sean avery is a douchebag. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sean avery is a douchebag. Show all posts
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
This, That and The Other
Wow, so it turns out going to work all day is really, really hard. It's been two days now but I feel like I've worked two weeks in that 16 hours. I figured it would take me some time to get back in the swing of things but man, I'm beat. I collapsed before the late games even started last night (which turned out to be okay since I woke up this morning and discovered that the gross team won every game).
Random thoughts:
- I need to punch Pierre McGuire in the head. He's dreadful. He talks way too much for a guy standing between the benches (I miss you, Rob!). He's practically a second color man which is the last thing Versus/NBC needs since they barely do any play-by-play as it is. He talks like the players are Timbits he's coaching and his sentences get increasingly shrill and screechy until he's screaming about nothing. "Arnott isn't hustling after the puck, he can't do that, HE CAN'T DO THAT, WHY IS HE DOOOOOOOIIIIING THAAAAAT?!" He's also a creepy close talker as can be seen in this video. Dude, back up off of that guy. You're making me uncomfortable and I'm just a bystander. Also, the exchange from the 1:45 mark to 2:00 is... awkward.
- I think McGuire and Mike Milbury make for a dreadful intermission - I want my Ray Ferraro! - but I don't really have a problem with Milbury calling the Capitals the "Crapitals." First of all, these guys are getting paid to stay stupid stuff that winds people up. Mission accomplished. Second of all, it's kind of true. If you don't want people implying that you're crap, maybe you should play better. If they hadn't played well in the third period of the first game, this series could easily be 3-0 instead of 2-1. I certainly don't see why Milbury needed to apologize to Ted Leonsis. If these guys had to apologize for every stupid insulting thing they've ever said, we could be here forever.
- Despite my big talk about wishing postseason ill on all former Sabres except JP Dumont, I'm discovering a lot of residual affection for Danny Briere. Don't get me wrong, I don't want the Flyers to win it all or anything. They're the Flyers. But I would be perfectly fine with them beating the Caps before getting destroyed in the next round and I'm not going to lie, the Caps refuser in me is enjoying that Danny has been hands-down more noticeable and dynamic than Alexander Ovechkin in this series (so far). I was really not anticipating this but it's undeniable. When the Flyers advance largely because of Danny, I'll just block out Bucky Gleason. I can't let him control the way I feel anyway :P (But this will never, ever carry over to Chris Drury or Brian Campbell.)
- Speaking of Brian Campbell... Campbell Says Something Stupid Part 1,018. I'll let Kevin Sylvester handle this one.
I was surprised to read this quote from former Sabres captain Brian Campbell in the Toronto Globe and Mail on the difference between the Sabres and Sharks.
"The accountability inside the dressing room. It's probably the first team I've been on where guys will speak up and say something and you take it to heart. It's a big change that way, probably the biggest thing." -- Brian Campbell
Huh?
I can't imagine there wasn't accountability and guys speaking up with the two teams he played on in Buffalo that reached the Eastern Conference Finals in back-to-back seasons.
And as for this past season, wasn't he one of the leaders who's job it was to hold others accountable?
I don't mean to go hard at Brian, but I'm surprised these comments came from a classy guy such as him. I think his former teammates would be surprised too.
A few weeks ago I might have been surprised. Now? I am not surprised in the slightest.
(This is from Kevin's blog on Sabres.com but I'm posting it here because you can't read it without an Insider account and I didn't want to give people a link they might not be able to access. I hate how everything on Sabres.com is Sabres Insider only. It's not that hard to plug in my email address but I haven't noticed this on any other team's website. I don't want emails and text messages and I don't want your stupid prizes. I just want to read the website.)
- I kept meaning to respond to this comment from Vanek's Hair - in fact, I thought I did but I can't find it so I think I just wrote it in my head - so I'm going to do it here. He said, "May I confess I would probably like him (Sean Avery) on the Sabres?"
Well, Van, you may confess it but I'm going to have to give that a big fat negatory. I have no problem with pests. One of the first Sabres I really liked was Matt Barnaby. I would take Darcy Tucker. I would take Corey Perry and Steve Ott (and especially Steve Ott's kickin' playoff facial hair). On a very weak day, I might even take Chris Neil. (Very weak.) Avery has too much of a history of causing problems in his locker room for me to think it would be a good idea to ever bring him to Buffalo. His poor behavior on the ice is bad enough but it seems to follow him around off the ice too and I'm not into that.
That said, IF the Rangers can handle his personality they should absolutely make re-signing him this summer a priority. He changed that team the second he showed up there and from what I've seen of the Devils series (which is admittedly not a lot), he's been one of their most effective players. Better them than us.
- I picked Detroit to win it all in two pools so I'm pretty screwed if they lose. But I'm finding the Nashville team that I thought I hated kind of endearing. I appreciate them battling even though everyone thinks they're going to lose. And let's face it, the world is a better place with a fully blossoming JP Dumont playoff beard. For that beautiful sight, I might be willing to take a playoff pool hit. Go Preds go!
- I love, love, love Kelly Hrudey. He's not spectacularly handsome but there's something very pleasant about the looks of him. And even if I don't agree with him, he's just very soothing. He has opinions and he expresses them but he never yells, he never talks over the other people with him, and he seems to realize at all times that he's talking about hockey. Yes, it's awesome. No, it's not life and death. Now that I think about it, I think that's why I really liked - and miss - Ray Ferraro too. I like my sports guys chill, yo.
- Forget the Caps, people. The feel good story of the year is the Ottawa Senators. Charging off to a 15-2 start, completely blowing up around New Year's, plummeting for the remainder of the season, squeaking into the playoffs and then getting swept in the first round by a spunky little Pens team? That's so beautiful I could cry.
Random thoughts:
- I need to punch Pierre McGuire in the head. He's dreadful. He talks way too much for a guy standing between the benches (I miss you, Rob!). He's practically a second color man which is the last thing Versus/NBC needs since they barely do any play-by-play as it is. He talks like the players are Timbits he's coaching and his sentences get increasingly shrill and screechy until he's screaming about nothing. "Arnott isn't hustling after the puck, he can't do that, HE CAN'T DO THAT, WHY IS HE DOOOOOOOIIIIING THAAAAAT?!" He's also a creepy close talker as can be seen in this video. Dude, back up off of that guy. You're making me uncomfortable and I'm just a bystander. Also, the exchange from the 1:45 mark to 2:00 is... awkward.
- I think McGuire and Mike Milbury make for a dreadful intermission - I want my Ray Ferraro! - but I don't really have a problem with Milbury calling the Capitals the "Crapitals." First of all, these guys are getting paid to stay stupid stuff that winds people up. Mission accomplished. Second of all, it's kind of true. If you don't want people implying that you're crap, maybe you should play better. If they hadn't played well in the third period of the first game, this series could easily be 3-0 instead of 2-1. I certainly don't see why Milbury needed to apologize to Ted Leonsis. If these guys had to apologize for every stupid insulting thing they've ever said, we could be here forever.
- Despite my big talk about wishing postseason ill on all former Sabres except JP Dumont, I'm discovering a lot of residual affection for Danny Briere. Don't get me wrong, I don't want the Flyers to win it all or anything. They're the Flyers. But I would be perfectly fine with them beating the Caps before getting destroyed in the next round and I'm not going to lie, the Caps refuser in me is enjoying that Danny has been hands-down more noticeable and dynamic than Alexander Ovechkin in this series (so far). I was really not anticipating this but it's undeniable. When the Flyers advance largely because of Danny, I'll just block out Bucky Gleason. I can't let him control the way I feel anyway :P (But this will never, ever carry over to Chris Drury or Brian Campbell.)
- Speaking of Brian Campbell... Campbell Says Something Stupid Part 1,018. I'll let Kevin Sylvester handle this one.
I was surprised to read this quote from former Sabres captain Brian Campbell in the Toronto Globe and Mail on the difference between the Sabres and Sharks.
"The accountability inside the dressing room. It's probably the first team I've been on where guys will speak up and say something and you take it to heart. It's a big change that way, probably the biggest thing." -- Brian Campbell
Huh?
I can't imagine there wasn't accountability and guys speaking up with the two teams he played on in Buffalo that reached the Eastern Conference Finals in back-to-back seasons.
And as for this past season, wasn't he one of the leaders who's job it was to hold others accountable?
I don't mean to go hard at Brian, but I'm surprised these comments came from a classy guy such as him. I think his former teammates would be surprised too.
A few weeks ago I might have been surprised. Now? I am not surprised in the slightest.
(This is from Kevin's blog on Sabres.com but I'm posting it here because you can't read it without an Insider account and I didn't want to give people a link they might not be able to access. I hate how everything on Sabres.com is Sabres Insider only. It's not that hard to plug in my email address but I haven't noticed this on any other team's website. I don't want emails and text messages and I don't want your stupid prizes. I just want to read the website.)
- I kept meaning to respond to this comment from Vanek's Hair - in fact, I thought I did but I can't find it so I think I just wrote it in my head - so I'm going to do it here. He said, "May I confess I would probably like him (Sean Avery) on the Sabres?"
Well, Van, you may confess it but I'm going to have to give that a big fat negatory. I have no problem with pests. One of the first Sabres I really liked was Matt Barnaby. I would take Darcy Tucker. I would take Corey Perry and Steve Ott (and especially Steve Ott's kickin' playoff facial hair). On a very weak day, I might even take Chris Neil. (Very weak.) Avery has too much of a history of causing problems in his locker room for me to think it would be a good idea to ever bring him to Buffalo. His poor behavior on the ice is bad enough but it seems to follow him around off the ice too and I'm not into that.
That said, IF the Rangers can handle his personality they should absolutely make re-signing him this summer a priority. He changed that team the second he showed up there and from what I've seen of the Devils series (which is admittedly not a lot), he's been one of their most effective players. Better them than us.
- I picked Detroit to win it all in two pools so I'm pretty screwed if they lose. But I'm finding the Nashville team that I thought I hated kind of endearing. I appreciate them battling even though everyone thinks they're going to lose. And let's face it, the world is a better place with a fully blossoming JP Dumont playoff beard. For that beautiful sight, I might be willing to take a playoff pool hit. Go Preds go!
- I love, love, love Kelly Hrudey. He's not spectacularly handsome but there's something very pleasant about the looks of him. And even if I don't agree with him, he's just very soothing. He has opinions and he expresses them but he never yells, he never talks over the other people with him, and he seems to realize at all times that he's talking about hockey. Yes, it's awesome. No, it's not life and death. Now that I think about it, I think that's why I really liked - and miss - Ray Ferraro too. I like my sports guys chill, yo.
- Forget the Caps, people. The feel good story of the year is the Ottawa Senators. Charging off to a 15-2 start, completely blowing up around New Year's, plummeting for the remainder of the season, squeaking into the playoffs and then getting swept in the first round by a spunky little Pens team? That's so beautiful I could cry.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Now That Was a Day of Hockey
Friends, I'm not going to lie. While I absolutely wish the Sabres were in the playoffs, I'm kind of enjoying the postseason without them. It's so nice to watch a game and pick a team to root for but not care enough about that team winning that I'm a devastated emotional mess when they don't. And what a great day for hockey! Today was full of good, bad, and ugly.
First up, the bad and the ugly, the Devils vs. the Rangers. Tonight's game was the first one from this series that I've been able to watch but I told you no one with a soul could cheer for the Rangers. Sean Avery's display today was just ridiculous. Here's video for anyone who missed it but basically Avery stood face-to-face with Marty Brodeur, turning his back completely on the play, and waved his hands in Marty's face like a third grader would. Seriously, the only thing missing was him sticking his tongue out and singing "na na na na boo boo, stick your head in doo doo." I understand that Avery has a job to do and part of that is getting under people's skin but this was so far beyond anything I've ever seen. It was immature, obnoxious, and the very epitome of unsportsmanlike conduct. He was completely ignoring the play, he was in no position to tip in a shot or tie up a defender. He was just being a first class, grade A jackass. I was pretty annoyed with the Versus broadcast for pumping him up all night and then ignoring the level of douchebaggery of that play but thank goodness CBC got it right (also in the linked video). Ron MacLean called it dishonorable and cited a rule that he would've used to level a ten minute misconduct for unsportsmanlike behavior and Kelly Hrudey agreed and said that it had no place in the game. Seriously, that display goes against everything I love about playoff hockey. Guys like Brendan Shanahan and Chris Drury should be chewing his ass out even as I type this for that. I realize "honor" is a tough concept for Avery but get a little, why don't you?
(Oh, I had this whole paragraph here about how awesome it was that replays showed Drury skate over and give Avery a little shove which had us all speculating that he was telling Avery to cut the crap and pay attention to the play and how even though I'm not as distraught over his departure as some people I did think it was really cool of him to do that and how it seemed very in character and indicative of how much he always seemed to respect the game and the people on the ice with him but then NHL Network isolated the play and zoomed in on Drury and it turns out that what he was actually saying was, "Stick down" which isn't nearly as endearing.)
Fortunately, the Devils won and the Hockey Gods saw fit to pour even more manna from heaven in the late game between Calgary and San Jose. Usually I kind of hate when an organization tries to get the crowd to all wear one color but the Calgary crowd really looked amazing. Not only were they all wearing red, almost everyone appeared to be wearing jerseys. Those people are hardcore! When the camera panned up some and you could see three or four rows of solid jerseys it was a very cool effect. Which is why it seemed so cruel that the Sharks scored a goal a minute for the first three minutes and chased Kipper out of net. Kipper, who had a kick ass game in their loss a couple of nights ago!
And then everything started to turn. I'll admit, I don't always buy "That hit turned the game around!" but geez, that hit on Patrick Marleau really did change the momentum of the game. The Flames were clearly picking up steam and the Sharks were clearly panicking which is something I guess they're familiar with. With all apologies to the Sharks fans of the world, watching Calgary claw their way back into the game in front of their backup goaltender with the crowd getting more and more crazy as time went on was pretty awesome, an example of sports at its very finest. Watching a team and its fans feed off of each other like that is always a little breath-taking. It seems ridiculous that 18,000 people could care that much about who puts more pucks in a net and it seems ridiculous that professional athletes who get paid a lot of money to do what they do could be that inspired by strangers rooting them on but as ridiculous as it may be, I think it's beautiful and I don't care how stupid some people probably think that sounds.
And I'm not going to lie. Brian Campbell being in the thick of things made it even better. He was playing his particular brand of "I'll just stand back here and wave at the shooter" defense on the game-winning goal and he did a totally needless spin-o-rama and turned over the puck right in front of his net which oh by way, had NO GOALIE IN IT. Uh, Brian... There's less than a minute left in the game and your team kind of needs a goal. Maybe you should pass the puck up the ice or chip it off the glass or something. If Alex Tanguay hadn't tanked the shot, he'd have looked even dumber. I'm sure we'll get video of that spin-o-rama up on Sabres Edge, right? Right? I mean, we miss Campbell and want to wallow in all his highlights, right? Again, with apologies to Sharks fans and bloggers, it's been kind of entertaining watching them go from, "Campbell is awesome!" to "Wait... I thought this guy was a #1 defenseman." I feel triumphant!
I am exhausted by hockey right now and I love it!
Flame on! (Photo by Mike Ridewood/Getty Images)
First up, the bad and the ugly, the Devils vs. the Rangers. Tonight's game was the first one from this series that I've been able to watch but I told you no one with a soul could cheer for the Rangers. Sean Avery's display today was just ridiculous. Here's video for anyone who missed it but basically Avery stood face-to-face with Marty Brodeur, turning his back completely on the play, and waved his hands in Marty's face like a third grader would. Seriously, the only thing missing was him sticking his tongue out and singing "na na na na boo boo, stick your head in doo doo." I understand that Avery has a job to do and part of that is getting under people's skin but this was so far beyond anything I've ever seen. It was immature, obnoxious, and the very epitome of unsportsmanlike conduct. He was completely ignoring the play, he was in no position to tip in a shot or tie up a defender. He was just being a first class, grade A jackass. I was pretty annoyed with the Versus broadcast for pumping him up all night and then ignoring the level of douchebaggery of that play but thank goodness CBC got it right (also in the linked video). Ron MacLean called it dishonorable and cited a rule that he would've used to level a ten minute misconduct for unsportsmanlike behavior and Kelly Hrudey agreed and said that it had no place in the game. Seriously, that display goes against everything I love about playoff hockey. Guys like Brendan Shanahan and Chris Drury should be chewing his ass out even as I type this for that. I realize "honor" is a tough concept for Avery but get a little, why don't you?
(Oh, I had this whole paragraph here about how awesome it was that replays showed Drury skate over and give Avery a little shove which had us all speculating that he was telling Avery to cut the crap and pay attention to the play and how even though I'm not as distraught over his departure as some people I did think it was really cool of him to do that and how it seemed very in character and indicative of how much he always seemed to respect the game and the people on the ice with him but then NHL Network isolated the play and zoomed in on Drury and it turns out that what he was actually saying was, "Stick down" which isn't nearly as endearing.)
Fortunately, the Devils won and the Hockey Gods saw fit to pour even more manna from heaven in the late game between Calgary and San Jose. Usually I kind of hate when an organization tries to get the crowd to all wear one color but the Calgary crowd really looked amazing. Not only were they all wearing red, almost everyone appeared to be wearing jerseys. Those people are hardcore! When the camera panned up some and you could see three or four rows of solid jerseys it was a very cool effect. Which is why it seemed so cruel that the Sharks scored a goal a minute for the first three minutes and chased Kipper out of net. Kipper, who had a kick ass game in their loss a couple of nights ago!
And then everything started to turn. I'll admit, I don't always buy "That hit turned the game around!" but geez, that hit on Patrick Marleau really did change the momentum of the game. The Flames were clearly picking up steam and the Sharks were clearly panicking which is something I guess they're familiar with. With all apologies to the Sharks fans of the world, watching Calgary claw their way back into the game in front of their backup goaltender with the crowd getting more and more crazy as time went on was pretty awesome, an example of sports at its very finest. Watching a team and its fans feed off of each other like that is always a little breath-taking. It seems ridiculous that 18,000 people could care that much about who puts more pucks in a net and it seems ridiculous that professional athletes who get paid a lot of money to do what they do could be that inspired by strangers rooting them on but as ridiculous as it may be, I think it's beautiful and I don't care how stupid some people probably think that sounds.
And I'm not going to lie. Brian Campbell being in the thick of things made it even better. He was playing his particular brand of "I'll just stand back here and wave at the shooter" defense on the game-winning goal and he did a totally needless spin-o-rama and turned over the puck right in front of his net which oh by way, had NO GOALIE IN IT. Uh, Brian... There's less than a minute left in the game and your team kind of needs a goal. Maybe you should pass the puck up the ice or chip it off the glass or something. If Alex Tanguay hadn't tanked the shot, he'd have looked even dumber. I'm sure we'll get video of that spin-o-rama up on Sabres Edge, right? Right? I mean, we miss Campbell and want to wallow in all his highlights, right? Again, with apologies to Sharks fans and bloggers, it's been kind of entertaining watching them go from, "Campbell is awesome!" to "Wait... I thought this guy was a #1 defenseman." I feel triumphant!
I am exhausted by hockey right now and I love it!
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