Not sure if anyone likes soccer, but a writer for the MLS wrote about a story just like this once on his personal blog... From Greg Seltzer
"One of my personal pet peeves is needing to repeat myself. Ya know, when I get or see incessant comments from USMNT fans about how Tim Ream is a lost cause or Jozy Altidore is a bust or how this or that player is worthless, I want to scream.
When I was a season ticket-holding kid, the St. Louis Blues acquired a veteran all-star defenseman by the name of Rod Seiling from the New York Rangers. The first season, he was alright, probably the least you would expect from him. He wasn't overly popular.
The second season, dude was abysmal. It was like watching a train wreck into a Keystone Cop nightmare. The fans got on him good, and nobody more than little me. I was about seven or eight, verbally in that guy's hair biting his scalp like everybody else. It became a regular thing to boo and hoot at Seiling, at one point practically every time he got near the puck. His performance worsened and his ice time decreased. At the end of the season, he was traded and everyone rejoiced.
But now that I look at it, we didn't help. We needed this guy to be good and instead ran him out of form and town. Oh... did I not mention what the team's records were that season and the next? Seiling's horror season saw the Blues finish 20-47 with 53 points, one of the worst campaigns in franchise history. After he was shipped off, they went 18-50 for 48 points, their worst season ever."
I agree 100% with what he has to say. I know the Philly way is to boo... but when that is the problem, you have to be better than that and help the situation. I honestly believe with support from the fans, Bryz will come around. We need to show the support.
I agree 100% with what he has to say. I know the Philly way is to boo... but when that is the problem, you have to be better than that and help the situation. I honestly believe with support from the fans, Bryz will come around. We need to show the support.
People are hard on Bryzgalov, agreed.
But look at his counterpart, Bobrovsky. When he stinks, people don't ride him nearly as hard. Personally, I think Bobrovsky has endeared himself more to fans with a hard work ethic and tendency to take blame when due - in his limited interviews. If Bryzgalov was seen as a hard-working and down-to-earth individual, who spent less time making excuses and more time improving his game - I think fans would relax a little.
The other issue at stake is performance versus contract size. Tough outings are somewhat easier to swallow when you aren't being paid to be elite. This of course isn't fair to Bryzgalov, as no one would expect him to turn down money - but something out of his control that makes the situation worse.
JVR saying what he said is exactly what they should have all been saying this entire time. Bryzgalov isn't an awful goalie, he is playing awful because he has absolutely no confidence and the fans are extremely hard on him. Does that make it okay? Absolutely not! You're paying him to be good under pressure and he was quoted as saying pressure doesn't get to him.
If you think he sucks because he is just a bad goalie, you're frankly an idiot. He sucks because an entire city wants his head right now. If he had confidence and the city didn't hate him.. maybe he lets in the first ****** goal. Then he focuses back on the game and doesn't let in another. Right now he lets in that ****** goal and goes.. JESUS ****ING CHRIST TIMMY P IS NEVER GOING TO LET ME HEAR THE END OF THAT AFTER THE GAME AND THE FANS HATE ME OMG
Again... is that okay for him to be like that? Hell no... but its reality. As a fan of this team I have to support Bryz because he honsetly can't stand playing like **** but he doesn't know what to do. Obviously the big contract was a bad idea and him thinking pressure was no big deal was wrong... but whats done is done.
****ing hell yeah JVR should say that... and the rest of the team should too... by doing that it takes the pressure somewhat off of bryzgalov and puts it on the rest of the team too. Don't you remember why Pronger was a factor on this team... he took all of the criticism away from everyone. It's easy to blame the goalie (obviously the 3 goals on him were bad.. im not saying they werent and im not saying we are unjustly angry at bryz...) but the media isn't after carle for his ****** play... or Giroux for his terrible turnovers and bad defense...
Point is.. I hope more of the players step up like JVR... I respect him 100% more now and realize trading him would be a terrible idea. He is a team guy. At the end of the day... fans are awesome when you're winning but when things aren't going well you have to ignore them. Bryz will learn, kinda hard now that hes behind so far but he will learn.
/endrant
You do realize that we are expressing our opinions as fans of a professional sports team and not the Special Olympics, right? Or for our kid's Little League squad, when lil' Timmy drops the ball in left field? Do you think that the thought went through Bryzgalov's head as he looked at the contract, pen in hand, that maybe there were a lot of expectations of not just good, but great and consistent play? We all know that because Bryz talked about being aware of the pressure coming into Philadelphia.
He has to learn about handling fan expectations and criticism when he isn't playing at an AHL level? You cannot be serious. Bryzgalov has been in the NHL for 8 seasons and playing professionally for much longer. If he is really worrying about what Panaccio or other media or the fans are going to think about him if he lets in another weak goal, he seriously needs to submit his resignation from the NHL and take up a new career.
Am I the only one that thought the defensemen weren't bad this game, liked Grossman's overall game and that this is the probably the first game we've seen in a long time that both goalies **** the bed basically on their own?
Just looked at the SO points that NJ and Pens have, insane that Lavy refuses to put more stock into it Pens have 6 pts form SO wins, NJ has 10, we have 1.
Someday we will employee a shootout specialist instead of the Tomato Cans we put on the ice for 6 minutes a game.
That Steve Mason/Rick Nash rumour is ridiculous. Mason's NHL career is over and the Flyers don't have difficulty scoring goals.
Jordan Staal's goal summed up Bryzgalov's tenure in Philly so far. Those goals are back breakers and the team will never play with confidence in front of a goalies who allows shots like that to go in.
Kimmo looked awful out there today, as well.
I have relaxed somewhat after that display by our two goalies and hopefully the Nash rumours will just fade away. But Kimmo has not looked all that great all season. Its time my man to accept a deal to a real contending team and free us of your cap hit.
Last edited by MiamiScreamingEagles: 02-18-2012 at 05:47 PM.
Point is.. I hope more of the players step up like JVR... I respect him 100% more now and realize trading him would be a terrible idea. He is a team guy. At the end of the day... fans are awesome when you're winning but when things aren't going well you have to ignore them. Bryz will learn, kinda hard now that hes behind so far but he will learn.
Am I the only one that thought the defensemen weren't bad this game, liked Grossman's overall game and that this is the probably the first game we've seen in a long time that both goalies **** the bed basically on their own?
My interpretation was that van Riemsdyk was trying to be the good teammate. And it's not like the skaters were playing flawless hockey, either.
Yeah, I don't understand how anyone can be upset with JvR saying that. That's what I would expect teammates to do. There's a world of difference between doing what Timonen did a while back, when he called out pretty much the entire teams performance in one game, and slamming one particular guy. They need to get behind Bryzgalov's back right now, no matter how bad he played today.
I have a feeling if the Flyers can muster up at least 2 or 3 straight wins, we could see a lot more team play and hopefully better overall play by everyone.
I have relaxed somewhat after that display by our two goalies and hopefully the Nash rumours will just fade away. But Kimmo has not looked all that great all season. Its time my man to accept a deal to a real contending team and free us of your cap hit.
This was a really bad game for Timonen. Overall this season, he's done pretty much everything we can ask of him though. His place in the ASG was certainly deserved. For the first half of the season there weren't that many dmen that were better than him in the league. Meszaros/Coburn/Carle aren't ready/won't be able to shoulder the burden of being the go-to guy on defense like Timonen is, so I sure as hell hope we won't trade him.
Pens have 6 pts form SO wins, NJ has 10, we have 1.
