Break Out The Cliches

Hey Peeps and anyone else checking in. A special "Hey" goes out to Hazel Mae, who (according to our girl Renee), is in Fort Myers with the Red Sox. It is 5 below zero up here...Florida sounds a whole lot nicer.

In the aftermath of Canada's 2-0 loss to Finland - the media reports are coming in, and it shouldn't come as a surprise that the stories are filled with cliches;

• "There's no excuse. We have to find a way" - "We're facing adversity, we had it in '02 and we're facing it now." - "It's better now than later in the tournament, but we know we have to regroup, we have to do better." Thoughts of Joe Sakic
  
  
• "...our goal is to make the medal round and get better and win the gold medal." Thoughts of Jerome Iginla.
  
  
• "We can't look back." Thoughts of Adam Foote.

There are more cliches floating around than a freakin' Erin Nicks column - Erin would have a field day interviewing these guys.

Here is what I don't understand - why? Why does the media continue to incorporate these tired old quotes into their stories? It is not like these quotes add insight, it is not like they are telling us anything that we don't already know. In the case of the members of the print media - who like to think they above everyone else, know more about their subject matter than everyone else - when are these people going to stop kissing athletes' cans and ask them questions that matter. When are they going to treat their readers with a little respect and ask the questions WE WANT ANSWERED. I know its a hopeless case - they are too busy stuffing their faces and post game spreads and getting freebies from these teams to ask any half decent question. These people think they are part of the team they are covering - some do their jobs very well, Damian Cox is one guy who comes to mind, but they seem to be few and far between (how is that for a cliche?). Team Canada, and Team USA for that matter, should be put on the spot and asked some very difficult questions - from a Canadian perspective I would want to know:

• why has the power play been so bad? is the bigger ice surface impacting the power play? it seems teams are pressuring the point on the power play - what are you going to do to mitigate that?
  
  
• is the long and compacted NHL season a reason for what seems to be sluggish play? is age a factor? are you having trouble finding your skating legs? or are teams catching up to Canada?
  
  
• is it time for Coach Quinn to shake things up?
  

I know you wouldn't get a straight answer from them - but even to hear them say "NO" to any of the questions and incorporate it into your story...write a story with a damn point. Something dammit. More tomorrow.

Breaking news: Miami RB Ricky Williams will be suspended for the 2006 season for violating the league's substance abuse policy for the 4th time. The talk is that it is weed - guys on Fox Sports keep harping on their thought that Ricky has smoked away at least $8M. Way to go Ricky.

I'm outta here for the night...thinking of taking tomorrow off.

Have a great night peeps.

Hazel, I hope things are groovy in your world - be it in Florida or Boston right now.

Song for Hazel - if she is indeed in Florida for spring training

Centerfield - John Fogarty

Peesth Out!