Image by Getty Images via @daylifeBruce Dowbiggen from the Globe and Mail has a head scratcher of an article in Sunday's Globe and Mail sports page.First off I don't understand why "we need expunge the media images from one of the nastiest Stanley Cup finals in recent memory." I found the Stanley Cup finals to be very entertaining in my opinion an instant classic and the Stanley Cup Finals got pretty decent T.V. rating as well in the USA. What did the media expect when two teams play each other for 7 games, there are going to be some hurt feelings. It's a shame the two teams don't play more. The Stanley Cup Finals were awesome; the riot in the streets of Vancouver after game 7 not so much.
Second we still have people in Canada more specifically from Montreal, that are still whining about Canadians' punk P.K. Subban being picked on. The problem I see with Subban; while a great NHL talent he is a show boat but he is also a diver as well. In my opinion, Subban would be an awesome Vancouver Canuck the way he embellishes and flails on the ice when he is tapped. It has nothing to do with his ethnic back ground I believe that many people just don't like his antics. Again there are some in hockey that are turning a great sport into European soccer with their embellishment and antics.
NEGATIVE IMAGESIs there a double standard when it comes to P.K. Subban? I don't believe so. What do you think?
As the NHL hands out its awards in Las Vegas Tuesday, it’ll be looking to expunge the media images from one of the nastiest Stanley Cup finals in recent memory. Most depressing was the image of thousands of young men in Vancouver who seem to have mistaken a riot for a South Park episode. The other was the sight of Boston Bruins rookie Brad Marchand using the head of Hart Trophy finalist Daniel Sedin as a speed bag – to the approval of hockey’s blood culture.
The league can’t do much for the street rioting but it could do something about the latter. Imagine an NBA rookie speed-bagging Dirk Nowitzki’s head going into a timeout or a first-year NFL player hitting Tom Brady in the head repeatedly after the play. What do you think the response would be from those leagues? They’d hammer the kid.
But the NHL stands by as useless as a Vancouver city cop watching his cruiser burn. Better yet, media types – some of whom piously decry fighting – blame Sedin for bruising Marchand’s knuckles and tell Vancouver to wise up and get some tough guys. Hope all the parents with kids in hockey are following this.
DOUBLE STANDARD
One final thought on rookie Marchand: How come when he abuses a superstar he’s applauded by Hockey Night in Canada and the media as a savvy kid who gets under the skin to win. But when Montreal Canadiens rookie P.K. Subban did the same, we were told by the same voices that he was a punk with no respect who needed to be taken down a notch? Is it because Marchand is a Bruin, a sacred squad on Hockey Night, because Sedin is a European or because Marchand is white while Subban is black, or all of the above. Take all the time you need to answer.
