Sweet Tea, Barbecue, and Bodychecks

I apologize for the paucity of entries in this space. My current job is entering its final month, and I’ve been focusing on getting all the loose ends tied up. I’ve also been mourning Merlin, who died two weeks ago after a hard fight with intestinal cancer. So I haven’t really felt like doing much of anything here.

But today, I do have a couple things that I want to rap about–we’ll start with Jeff O’Neill, who came to the conclusion on Sunday that his heart just wasn’t in it anymore and ended his comeback try with the Hurricanes. That he took the initiative and went to management spoke volumes about how much he’s matured since he got semi-quietly shuffled out of town back in 2005. It surprised even me that he was the one who decided that it was over.

That wasn’t the Jeff O’Neill I once knew, the arrogant and underachieving bon vivant who was all full of braggadocio and (when Chairman Mo pissed him off or a fan pestered him while he was out on the town with his buddies) bile, who gave his best years and most dazzling performances to the Hurricanes (and for that, he has my undying gratitude–I admit, I was one of the nuts that wore shiner makeup during the 02 ECF).

He’d become a new Jeff O’Neill during his time away from the game. Older, of course; but, as Sunday’s post-game events showed, wiser and more self-aware. It even surprised me. He came to the conclusion that he wasn’t ready to come back to The Show. Not now, of course–maybe never again. But he’s got my respect for being able to say “Enough” and walk away with his dignity intact, and I wish him well whether he plays hockey again or not. Thanks for the memories, O.

Next, I want to address Don Cherry’s harping (once again) on European players. Grapes said, in a conference call, that he wanted to see the NHL expand to Europe so that all the European players would just stay there. A caller to NHL Live today called it racism–which in my opinion is being a little overly dramatic. Don Cherry’s moronic ranting that European players are “soft” and “useless” is like when Rush Limbaugh said that Donovan McNabb was massively hyped only because the media wanted a successful black quarterback: it’s just plain stupid and grossly uninformed.

So, this begs the question: What differentiates European players from North American players?  What makes Europeans somehow “worse” than North Americans? Their birthplace? Their parentage (or, more specifically, whether or not those parents are second-or-third-generation citizens of the US or Canada)? What?  Could somebody please explain it to me?

Here’s a quiz:

A player gets massive hype before the draft in which he’s taken. His scouting report read in part:

“He is a superb skater with excellent acceleration and he’s creative with the puck. He has an outstanding touch around the net and I’d say he has excellent overall skill level and excellent hockey sense. He has a superb attitude. He’s a finesse player, but does not mind playing physical. He can hit and take a hit. And he’s a leader on and off the ice and a gentleman in private. He has all the tools needed to become a superstar.”

Is he European, or North American?

Another player’s pro scouting report reads in part:

“His combination of speed, skill and size makes him very hard to contain. Knows how to find the back of the net and also possesses outstanding defensive skills. Is vulnerable in highly physical contests.”

Is he European, or North American?

A third player, when asked what he had to do to stay in shape for hockey, said:

“A month before the season I stop putting ketchup on my french fries.”

Is he European, or North American?

And then there’s the guy who was so amazingly talented and so fawned over by the scouts that an NHL team deliberately tanked their season just so they could draft him with the first overall pick…and wound up looking holding the bag when their prize decided that all he had to do was just sit back and collect his fat paycheck.  Clearly that kid must have been a Euro, because only a Euro would be such a slackard amirite?

Do you see what I’m getting at, folks?

Grapes is entertaining, sure–but he’s also living in the past and has enormous blinders on when he continually makes the claim that all European players are soft and refuse to hit while lauding North Americans (especially Canadians) as tough and skilled players; kinda like when Rush Limbaugh blithely ignored the accomplishments of Doug Williams and Steve McNair (both black QBs who fared pretty well in the NFL, especially Doug “Super Bowl Champ” Williams) when taking a potshot at Donovan McNabb. It’s all just one man trying to take his warped (and selective) perception and treat it as reality even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

(By the way, the players in question are Alex Ovechkin, Mike Modano, Mario Lemieux, and Alexandre Daigle.)

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