Its There in Black and White

So hopefully this is the last blog I write pulling the curtain open on Canada as they relate to "their sport." They just keep giving so much ammo and so much bias that I can't help it, but I would like to move onto more exciting things like a sub-.500 team's Spring Training and trying to figure out exactly what the Skins offseason plan is. I will give the Skins a year or so because they have a huge upgrade in talent evaluation from the last few years, but I have no idea what is going on.

So I have shown you that a lot of Canadians in hockey are biased, pompous, and borderline racist through both their deeds and photographic evidence. Don Cherry spearheads this movement of hatred of all things not Canadian. We have seen clearly that Crosby is the epitome of the NHL marketing plan of "putting all of their eggs in one basket," just like they did with a more talented and deserving Gretzky. The Princess receives undeserved accolades from the press, with help of the unfair suppresion of the greatest player since Gretzky. Little 87 is considered the best by people who do not know hockey because the NHL PR machine says so, not because of anything he has done on the ice. We have seen the lunacy of suspending Ovechkin through video evidence, despite the fact that Canadian Matt Cooke gets off a second suspension for the year for a hit to the head. And we have see Canadian's blatant hatred towards the Russians and even America, deeming that US goalies that have "support our troops" painted across their helmets are making political statements.

Now I will give you cold hard facts and statistics. 52.2% of NHL hockey players are Canadians. I can see why they are getting antsy and acting irrationally, they are about to become a minority in "their own game." However, I will point out that the Ovechkin suspension was dealt with 100% by Canadians, so the NHL hierarchy is still firmly in the clutches of our fine northern neighbors. Russians still only account for only 3.3% of all NHL players. So how does Gary Bettman explain that out of all the suspensions he has out this year, 11.5% of them have been to Russians? That is nearly 4 times the rate of the amount of players of that nationality in the league. 12% of the Caps are Russian, and these numbers do not even reflect the old Soviet Republics. Wonder why the Caps get picked on by the Toronto offices so much?

It doesn't stop at Campbell and Bettman's offices, it permeates the entire league and seeps through the media. It goes back to the argument of comparing OV to Ali, Ruth, and Owens, in that if you don't go with the media's ideals, they will do their best to tarnish you. In this case it is the fact that Ovechkin was born in a different place than they were. The media could concentrate on Sunday's game itself. One team, on the road, without their and the league's best player, come back against the third best team in the league in front of 22,000 plus angry fans, score three goals in three minutes in the third period to go on to overtime to win. They would rather focus on OV as a "goon" and "reckless" than on what was a great hockey game despite the officiating. They would rather focus on phantom beliefs that OV is a bad, dangerous guy than on non-Canadian Swede Nick Backstrom picking the entire team up by their skate laces and leading them on to a fantastic win on the road.

And this media influence is huge as the intregal cog in an un-ending cycle. NHL offices hands out press packets building up Crosby the Canadian, ignoring Ovechkin the Russian unless its about a questionable hit. Media reports say Ovechkin is a goon, NHL offices perceive the entire public thinks this way and feels they need to suspend OV for what should have been a 2 minute minor. And then the cycle starts over again. Its like telling a lie so many times you actually start to believe it. The NHL offices are so stupid they are starting to believe their own regurgitated PR. The NHL states that their criteria for a suspension are threefold: the offending player's history, intent, and the extent of the opponent's injury. The latter is bogus, the injury should have nothing to do with it, some players are tougher than others as we can see on the illegal hit by the Pens on OV that somehow justified the Pens going on the power play. And how can a Russian player have a clean history when Colin Campbell is suspending them at four times the rate that the numbers justify? OV's first suspension, by admission of the very player he hit was discredited. He clearly did not mean to hurt Campbell, the guy tripped. And the injury is unfortunate, but it is a contact sport. Well, that is unless you are wearing a red jersey in Russia or DC.

But it does not matter for the Caps, just the Russians with their horrible coaching, as the Caps are 14 points up in the East and should have it wrapped up by Thursday. Not with another Caps win, but rather the game of the week, Boston vs. the Pens. I wonder how Canadian sympathizers and Pens fans will react once a Bruin takes Crosby's pretty little head off in retribution for the hit on Savard. Will they shrug it off and say that it was legal if the princess goes off on a stretcher? i doubt it but we will see. If Crosby can work up the stones to play. But it would be appropriate if Sid sat, then the retaliation would take place on Malkin. He's Russian, so no one would care.