COMMENTARY – THE SANDBOX
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Wednesdays are for random thoughts on this commentary and today we’ve got a couple doozies. Here we go …
#1 – It’s a sure sign that we really need to drop the puck on the hockey season. In a story that isn’t even 24 hours old, the NHL is embroiled in a controversy and it’s pretty distasteful.
Spittin’ Chiclets host and NHL On TNT panelist Paul Bissonette claims new Columbus coach Mike Babcock has asked players – notably forward Boone Jenner – to show him photos on their phone from the summer.
If the story’s true, it’s creepy, and an infringement on the players’ rights.
Employers … don’t get any ideas.
Late Tuesday Babcock, the Blue Jackets, and even Jenner issued a statement saying the incident’s been blown out of proporotion however Bissonette’s doubled down, exposing private text messages saying the story is true, and more. Supposedly this is a tactic Mike employed in Toronto, with disastrous consequences.
What do they say? There’s three sides to every story? Your side, my side, and the truth?
Well another one of my favourites is, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
#2 – You can set your watch by it. Whenever Babcock appears on my TV show, my phone blows up from hockey people saying I should have nothing to do with that guy, because he’s a narcissist. The messages have even come from my extended family.
I pay no mind to them.
For the umpteenth time, Babs has been nothing but great to me for 30 years and furthermore, if I steered clear of every narcissist in sports, I’d have nobody left to interview.
An exaggeration perhaps, but you get the point.
I’ve been bullied too and have more than enough scars to prove it but I don’t run around telling people who to associate with. Ever.
Sometimes this world of sports feels like one big sandbox and I’d prefer just to build my own little sandcastle in the corner.
But that would get tiring after awhile too.
That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary
(The RP Show airs daily at 12 pm ET on Game+TV, WQEE Radio, Podcast & YouTube Live)
It’s one thing to ask for control of the phone and flip through the pictures yourself, quite another to ask, as part of a conversation, ‘do you have a picture of your family/wedding/kids’. And do the same with your family. Trying to build a friendship etc and all that. The adults in the room will have to be the judge here. But seriously, unless you’re a complete whacko who learned literally nothing, why try option one with your captain in Jenner and another top guy in Gaudreau? Unless he’s an irreconcilable loon, it doesn’t make sense. Seems like someone else… Read more »
“Babs has been nothing but great to me for 30 years”
Four days later, he’s gone because his creepy ways were exposed.