The Senators’ 8-3 mauling of the Montreal Canadiens ended up being a secondary story in the press box yesterday. Much of the talk was of an unfortunate, thoughtless oversight on behalf of the scoreboard guys.
During a first period TV timeout, the Sens played a video skit they’d played several times this season on the big screen. In the skit, a fan of the opposing team is thrown off the side of a catamaran by Spartacat down in Barbados. It was a fun video, designed to promote the Hockey Night in Barbados contest.
Four of these videos were shot in the second week of November, with a different Northeast division opponent represented each time. Boston, Buffalo, Toronto and Montreal. The crew members of the boat volunteered to take a dive in the ocean to help out.
What was forgotten by the scoreboard operators was the terrible tragedy the Habs family went through last month. On December 8th, GM Bob Gainey's daughter Laura fell off a ship during a storm in the Atlantic Ocean. Her body was never found.
The last thing anyone connected to the Habs needed to see was someone in a Habs’ uniform going off the side of a ship. After the game, Senators’ President Roy Mlakar said, "We humbly apologize for the unthinkable oversight," said Mlakar. "There is no excuse for such bad judgment."
The Montreal media was enraged. In a conversation with the Sun's Don Brennan, RDS play-by-play man Yvon Pedneault called it, “Disgusting. It's such a big tragedy, and to make fun of it? The guy is having such a tough time. I couldn't believe it when I saw it, to tell you the truth."
Whoa! Easy, now. Pednault is well within his rights to be angry. Furious. He and others deserve an apology. A big one. But to basically say, “I believe the Ottawa Senators were intentionally poking fun at the way Laura Gainey died,” is even more distasteful than the video’s timing. That’s accusing the Sens of being flat out evil.
The video was shot a full month before the Gainey tragedy. The Bruins version of the exact same skit played last week in the Sens 5-2 win over Boston. What basically happened yesterday was a video operator inserted tape number 46-1-A into the machine. No one made the connection until it was shown.
The Senators handled it the best way, the only way they could. With a deep, sincere apology. I don’t believe this was a case of bad judgement at all. No one sat back and said, “Okay guys. Show of hands. Who thinks we should play this video, even after what happened to Bob Gainey’s daughter?” Had someone made the connection, the video would have been burned and trampled on the spot.
It was absent minded, thoughtless and completely insensitive to Montreal's sadness. But it was in no way an attempt by anyone to make fun of a tragedy.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
We Get it, Don. You Support Fighting
Let me first say I’m a fan of Don Cherry. I mean, when he’s on TV, I watch and usually enjoy. Sort of like a hockey fight. When a hockey fight happens, I watch and usually enjoy. But whether it's fighting or Cherry's opinions, I've begun to question whether either has relevance here in 2007.
Again last night, during Hockey Day in Canada, Cherry defended fighting in hockey by saying that players and fans love it. He showed video of two benches applauding a fight that had just occurred. He then showed video of fans booing a fight that was broken up before it really started. This apparently is evidence that fighting is a crucial part of hockey. Fans love it.
There’s no question fights are exciting. And yes, no one goes for coffee when a fight breaks out. But the same would also be true if someone threw a mountain lion onto the ice to try and eat the players. It doesn’t mean it should be part of the game.
Another argument is, if you don’t allow the players to police themselves, it’ll be anarchy. Players will take liberties with the star players. I agreed with that one for a long time. But thanks to the new rules, it's getting to be an old argument. Referees are calling everything now. If someone does something ugly to a star player, it's not only called but he's probably out of the game, suspended and his team shorthanded for five minutes. How much more punishment do you need than that? If someone lays a heavy, clean bodycheck on a star player, too bad. That’s life. It’s a contact sport. Keep your head up next time.
I understand that tempers flare in hockey. Calls are sometimes missed. Fights happen. That will never change. But it should at least be reactionary. The two guys involved should be genuinely angry at each other. Not, “Hey Dave. How’s the wife and kids? Great. Yeah. Me? Awesome, thanks. So. Wanna fight here or what? Okay, let’s go. Good luck, man.”
When fights go down, players should be given the rest of the night off. Like, you know, every other professional sport. In the meantime, if you’re in the mood for fighting, they have these things called Boxing or ultimate fighting. And I like boxing, by the way.
If Cherry thinks hockey is "mamby pamby" and doomed without fighting, then it isn’t much of a sport to start with.
Again last night, during Hockey Day in Canada, Cherry defended fighting in hockey by saying that players and fans love it. He showed video of two benches applauding a fight that had just occurred. He then showed video of fans booing a fight that was broken up before it really started. This apparently is evidence that fighting is a crucial part of hockey. Fans love it.There’s no question fights are exciting. And yes, no one goes for coffee when a fight breaks out. But the same would also be true if someone threw a mountain lion onto the ice to try and eat the players. It doesn’t mean it should be part of the game.
Another argument is, if you don’t allow the players to police themselves, it’ll be anarchy. Players will take liberties with the star players. I agreed with that one for a long time. But thanks to the new rules, it's getting to be an old argument. Referees are calling everything now. If someone does something ugly to a star player, it's not only called but he's probably out of the game, suspended and his team shorthanded for five minutes. How much more punishment do you need than that? If someone lays a heavy, clean bodycheck on a star player, too bad. That’s life. It’s a contact sport. Keep your head up next time.
I understand that tempers flare in hockey. Calls are sometimes missed. Fights happen. That will never change. But it should at least be reactionary. The two guys involved should be genuinely angry at each other. Not, “Hey Dave. How’s the wife and kids? Great. Yeah. Me? Awesome, thanks. So. Wanna fight here or what? Okay, let’s go. Good luck, man.”
When fights go down, players should be given the rest of the night off. Like, you know, every other professional sport. In the meantime, if you’re in the mood for fighting, they have these things called Boxing or ultimate fighting. And I like boxing, by the way.
If Cherry thinks hockey is "mamby pamby" and doomed without fighting, then it isn’t much of a sport to start with.
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