Can't believe no one posted this yet on the main board, it's hilarious. Ryan O'Reilly's dad (life coach Brian O'Reilly) writes an e-mail/manifesto to the Avs' beat writer which he asks to be published. It was known that O'Reilly's dad had been involved in negotiations in some way but wow....mind you, when Lindros took his parents' advice the last time, it worked out pretty well for the team trading him.
Warning: Trying to read this might make your head sore
Just for some contrast, here's a recent interview with Matt Duchene. A player who O'Reilly's letter possibly implies has skill but lacks "character": http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_22612010
Quote:
"Paychecks are great. You want to get as much money as you can in this game, but for me, I love this game so much, I love this team and this franchise and this city, there's no way I could have held out"
"For the Avalanche, it's a business too. They can't go out and say, 'We'll give him the benefit of the doubt.' They wanted me to prove it. They're my employer. I have to do it. That's the way I looked at it. That's the way my agent looked at it, and I was just thrilled to re-sign and get a deal"
-Duchene
Can't believe no one posted this yet the main board, it's hilarious. Ryan O'Reilly's dad (life coach Bill O'Reilly) writes an e-mail to the Avs' beat writer which he asks to be published. It was known that O'Reilly's dad had been involved in negotiations in some way but wow....mind you, when Lindros took his parents advice the last time, it worked out pretty well for the team trading him.
Warning: Trying to read this might make your head sore
“This is not about money and never has been,” O’Reilly wrote. “As you know you don’t build team based on dollars. If you did then the people with the most expensive players would be our champion. You build a team on its character. Ryan is not a superstar based on skill but character. I know this for a fact the players he was yesterday will not be the player he was tomorrow he will continue to grow learn and thrive. The world values it less and less, yet everyone is looking for those players that eat sleep and drink the game and are unselfish plus compete because they are intrinsically motivated for excellence. This is another trait humankind is slowly losing!”
Yeah, I agree with him on character dying in modern society. However, he's all over the place on this one because if ROR truly is the unselfish player that eats, sleeps and drinks the game and always strives to get better, I would think he would have signed a one year deal in a lockout shortened season to prove that. This is a horrible season to hold out. Young guys have an advantage and he could have put up some nice numbers.
You would think that, if you were sending an elaborate letter to a newspaper and requesting it be published, you would put a bit of effort in to not sound like a rambling 10 year old.
It's like ramblings of a crazy person. Also, loved that he compared this situation to a parent asking his kid to start scoring 65 in math instead of 95 so that the other kids don't feel bad
