Over the past few weeks, I have finally taken the time to actively participate on the HabsWorld Forums. It has been a delight to read the insightful and, at times, humorous contributions of its members. Eventually, it occurred to me it would be nice to profile some of the better comments here on our site. This is where our new segment, Around The Boards, comes in. Each week, a selection of some of the more interesting posts from the past seven days will be profiled here.
I, or other writers, will pitch in their two cents about the respective subjects and, hopefully, spur further discussion on our forums. In the first instalment of ATB, we take a look at the definition of a bad goal and the state of the media.
The third goal allowed by Carey Price versus the Senators was heavily criticized by many fans and media types. Wamsley01 responds to those critiques with the following:
"In all honesty, what is the expectation on a “horrible goal”? The goal Fleury gave up last Saturday is a horrible goal. The third goal last night was a top line player cutting to the net and making a fool of Spacek while he lifted a backhand under Price’s arm while he was moving laterally."
It is hard to argue with his logic here. The truth his, the collective assertion that the aforementioned goal was terrible is reflective of the enormous pressure put on Montreal goalies. After all, for Milan Michalek to have the front of the net all to himself, a lot of things had to go wrong beforehand. Yet, in spite of that, the brunt of the blame fell squarely on Price’s shoulders.
Recently, BTH provided an excellent post about the role, and accountability of the media in sports:
" My question, instead, is: where is the accountability? Why should anyone bother to analyze decisions rationally when you can ***, ***, *** about professionals trying their hardest and then never be held accountable when it turns out you were completely clueless? Why root for a team that may win or may lose when you can root for yourself and win all the time? By making life hell for your athletes, you can take pleasure in being right when you contribute to their crashing and burning or you can shrug it off and take pleasure in them succeeding when they prove you wrong. Those of us who actually cheer for the players on our team don’t have such luxuries."
A truly well-thought out post, or article really, that illustrates the at times appalling coverage provided by some journalists and media outlets. As athletes have grown richer and more famous, so too has sports journalism seen the rise of tabloid-like elements in their ranks. Meanwhile, salient stories worthy of reporting, such as the nepotistic hire of Patrick Boivin as assistant GM or the heavy scout turnover this summer, get little analysis. As some continue to pile on pressure, innuendo and over-analysis, the team and its fans pay the price of a less attractive free agent destination and diminished player performance.
Following the Habs win versus the Sens, the Gazette’s Red Fisher stated that the only interesting part of the game was the Gionta goal. Naturally, news of this comment provoked reaction from some of our board members, including a rather delightful daydream courtesy of Seb:
"Imagine a day in the life of Red Fisher… Stroll into the office at 4am (we all know people of his age don’t sleep much); have 8 cups of coffee; hit on the secretary with my old man charm; have the secretaries snicker at me; talk to other sports guys about how bad the last Habs game was; sit in my cubicle and contemplate what I might write today; write absolutely anything I feel like, regardless of whether it makes any sense; send it in; read yesterday’s newspaper; go home and knit; and on game days, go watch the game, live, for free, on the gazette’s coin. Internet? What’s that? “They have internet on computer now??!” – H. Simpson"
Sounds like a pretty sweet gig to me.
See you on the boards.
Comments, questions, cross-checks and, of course, fan mail can be sent to l.moustakas@habsworld.net