It's been reported Martin St. Louis asked to be traded from the Tampa Bay Lightning. The rumour is he's bitterly disappointed having not been originally selected to Team Canada's roster.
To be honest, I don't blame him.
This may sound as crying over spilled milk and utterly pointless given Canada won the gold medal, thus confirming the selections were accurate, but we humans are a queer folk and athletes scorned can leave deep marks.
Man, I'm still pissed off I was cut off an elite soccer squad 27 years ago mostly because it was unjustified. How do I know? The player they chose was vastly inferior.
So I (and many others I'm sure) can relate to St. Louis's disappointment. A couple of things are at play here from what I hear, read and observe. One, is the fact Steve Yzerman didn't use his influence and final voting power to put his player on the team. It's not like St. Louis is a marginal player in the NHL. He's an elite player and more productive than players selected before him like Kunitz, Carter, and Nash - especially Nash. You can forgive him for being perplexed about this. Moreover, his teammate Steve Stamkos - the player he replaced - was chosen despite having a broken leg.
We heard a lot about how the selection committee put quite a bit of emphasis on duos and pairs from the the same team to balance the team and establish "chemistry." Fair enough. Some of those duos are pure dominant - like Getzlaf and Perry were. If this be true, how in the world would they omit St. Louis since he plays with Stamkos forming one of the NHL's premier scoring duo? I like Kunitz but when was the last time he won an Art Ross like, say, St. Louis who did it twice?
Back in the later 1980s and early 1990s, ironically, Steve Yzerman was usually the odd man out of a deep Team Canada squad. In the 80s, people kinda got this sleight because he was young and the Oilers were so dominant they took most of the spots. But in the 1990s, fans reaction to his omission was strong as he was slowly morphing into a dominant player and leader particularly when Scotty Bowman came into the picture.
Players being left off rosters are nothing new. In soccer, debates are furious in places like Italy and Brazil and even Argentina when it comes to selections. It's no different with Canada in hockey and USA in basketball.
Good, even great, players are sometimes left off.
Last Olympics, it was defenseman Mike Green who was unhappy about being left off. American forward Bobby Ryan was another player not picked that raised some eyebrows among observers.
But, to come back to St. Louis, the fact is he earned the right to be in the top 14. And it looks like he's not accepting having been over looked.
***
Reading some basketball stuff - particularly the Top 50 players of all time, and brushed up on some names I wasn't too familiar with. One player every basketball fan and player should know is George Mikan.
Quite an influential and illustrious career. To be honest, among hard core fans he may be a household name, but given his biography it should go beyond this. It should be as memorable as, to borrow from hockey, Gordie Howe.
Pioneers like that are just too precious to be overlooked.
This was just a quick shout out from a sports fan.
To be honest, I don't blame him.
This may sound as crying over spilled milk and utterly pointless given Canada won the gold medal, thus confirming the selections were accurate, but we humans are a queer folk and athletes scorned can leave deep marks.
Man, I'm still pissed off I was cut off an elite soccer squad 27 years ago mostly because it was unjustified. How do I know? The player they chose was vastly inferior.
So I (and many others I'm sure) can relate to St. Louis's disappointment. A couple of things are at play here from what I hear, read and observe. One, is the fact Steve Yzerman didn't use his influence and final voting power to put his player on the team. It's not like St. Louis is a marginal player in the NHL. He's an elite player and more productive than players selected before him like Kunitz, Carter, and Nash - especially Nash. You can forgive him for being perplexed about this. Moreover, his teammate Steve Stamkos - the player he replaced - was chosen despite having a broken leg.
We heard a lot about how the selection committee put quite a bit of emphasis on duos and pairs from the the same team to balance the team and establish "chemistry." Fair enough. Some of those duos are pure dominant - like Getzlaf and Perry were. If this be true, how in the world would they omit St. Louis since he plays with Stamkos forming one of the NHL's premier scoring duo? I like Kunitz but when was the last time he won an Art Ross like, say, St. Louis who did it twice?
Back in the later 1980s and early 1990s, ironically, Steve Yzerman was usually the odd man out of a deep Team Canada squad. In the 80s, people kinda got this sleight because he was young and the Oilers were so dominant they took most of the spots. But in the 1990s, fans reaction to his omission was strong as he was slowly morphing into a dominant player and leader particularly when Scotty Bowman came into the picture.
Players being left off rosters are nothing new. In soccer, debates are furious in places like Italy and Brazil and even Argentina when it comes to selections. It's no different with Canada in hockey and USA in basketball.
Good, even great, players are sometimes left off.
Last Olympics, it was defenseman Mike Green who was unhappy about being left off. American forward Bobby Ryan was another player not picked that raised some eyebrows among observers.
But, to come back to St. Louis, the fact is he earned the right to be in the top 14. And it looks like he's not accepting having been over looked.
***
Reading some basketball stuff - particularly the Top 50 players of all time, and brushed up on some names I wasn't too familiar with. One player every basketball fan and player should know is George Mikan.
Quite an influential and illustrious career. To be honest, among hard core fans he may be a household name, but given his biography it should go beyond this. It should be as memorable as, to borrow from hockey, Gordie Howe.
Pioneers like that are just too precious to be overlooked.
This was just a quick shout out from a sports fan.
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