i'm not gonna spend the whole day arguing for or against the nhl's own greg louganis' emotional outburst the other night, but i will give you my two cents.
- kurt cobain once said "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you," and in this case i'd suggest that just because you've got a history of embellishing to draw penalties doesn't mean the infractions don't occur.... [ps: i think kurt cobain might've ripped off that quote but the point stands....]
- no way does burrows take exception in the media to an on-ice official just for shits and giggles. for revenge ? maybe.... but doesn't that just prove his point.... ?
- burrows is an idiot for taking his claim public. even if it had merit, there was zero chance of a positive outcome for the canuck by going this route. the nhl will always back up their officials in a he-said/he-said dispute, especially when there isn't an iota of evidence either way....
- the diving call burrows received on tuesday night was a reputation call and totally debatable. the interference call was a giordano-like infraction: totally, utterly, and absolutely non-existant (and most certainly in a game-changing timeframe).
- speaking of gio, if burrows' claim is true, you gotta wonder how many of the zebras' wives and daughters our #5 has been sleeping with to deserve so much of their wrath. ;)
- the on-camera interview from tuesday night shows an obviously upset canuck. he looked like me when i feel flat-out frustrated, angry, and hard-done by (ie: verrrrry close to tears).... this (to me) gives his grievance merit...
- LONG before this incident, but FAR more this season than any previous ones, i've been questioning the bias and/or competence of the nhl's officiating. there have been numerous comments on recent gamethreads over at m&g regarding blatant missed calls (or, more accurately, NON-CALLS) for all teams and i've challenged the validity of the referees' decision-making on more than one occasion (the giordano on dustin brown call that resulted in a penalty shot, for instance). i recall getting into a bit of a squabble with another commenter who was making the ol' "refs work effin' hard and are only human" case.... well, the auger/burrows affair has incited commentary from pundits that, quite frankly, SHOCKS me: bob mackenzie, for example, doesn't suggest burrows is mistaken, he suggests burrows should, essentially, shut his trap... i'm mortified that one so knowledgeable in the sport i adore can't honestly suggest to the fans that the league's officiating is impartial..... unbelievably, i heard similar commentary elsewhere (the fan 960, for one).....
what i would EXPECT to hear (true or not) is that officals are professionals and are occasionally liable to make mistakes. there is a reason i've been egging on my friends who support rival teams (yeah, i'm lookin' at you, goad) this year with "may the zebras allow the better team to win..." over the far more standard "may the best team win." i just think the nhl needs to take a far closer look at the standard of officiating in every single game....
auger is on-ice at the 'dome tonight, and i would expect that he'll call the cleanest, most honest game of his career.... so i guess THAT's good.... ;)
on a sidenote, here's an email i got today from my pal bennie which included the following clip and a note that's pure awesomeness:
Dear Mr. Giordano,
Happy belated Birthday.
Regards,
S. Gonchar
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2 comments:
Linked the shit out of your Douchery post. And by that I mean twice. As always, great stuff. Word verification: hantaki
if it makes things any better i must say that nhl referees > all other referees i've ever seen.
especially SEL refs.
this is one the things that former swedish nhl'ers seems to mention alot when returning to the sel to wind down their careers.
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