Category Archives: Sports (MC Archive)

Sports columns that appeared on Jason Menard’s previous Web site, Menard Communications.

What Ever Happened to Respect?

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By Jason Menard

Silence is not only golden – it’s respectful. Well, it is at least until the moment that some disrespectful moron chooses to misuse that honourable pause to draw attention to themselves with their 15 seconds of fame.

As the band Sloan once sang, “it’s not the band I hate, it’s their fans.” And that sentiment can be carried on to a select few attendees at our arenas and stadiums. When it comes learning how to show respect, Canadian sporting fans have a long way to go to.

An interesting parallel was broken at the recent home opener for the London Knights junior hockey club. When two veterans of combat came on to the ice to take part in an opening ceremony, they were greeted with a standing ovation from the assembled throng. But this is contrasted with a select few idiots choosing to use the singing of the national anthem as the background music for their sub-intellectual, puerile outbursts.

Does it not seem somewhat odd that we’re willing to stand and gratefully acknowledge the contributions that the veterans have made to the betterment of our society, yet when it comes to honouring the very flag and anthem for which they fought, we’re found woefully lacking?

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that sporting events should be a time of fun, excitement, and celebration. And I appreciate the overwhelming crescendo of applause and cheers that build as the anthem reaches its climax. But there is a time and place for everything, and interrupting our anthem in the middle to release a guttural, animalistic scream is disrespectful and insulting to all Canadians.

And this isn’t just a London thing. It happens all the time in arenas and stadiums across the country. Whether it’s hockey, football, baseball, or any other sport you can imagine, I’ve yet to find one sport that’s immune from the presence of this particular self-congratulatory glory hound.

Really, is in the middle of a song that represents our nation – one with which we should be standing at attention and singing along – the best time to shout “Go Team Go!?” Honestly, I’m pleased that at that moment you finally were able to muster enough brain cells to string two words together (I’m sure it helped that two were short and were the same word, though), but those are sentiments that don’t have a shelf life. They don’t need to be accompanied by Calixa Lavallée’s soundtrack, nor do they need Mr. Justice Robert Stanley Weir’s or Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier’s (depending on which language, of course) lyrics serving as background vocals for your indispensable contribution to Canadian pride.

Of course, how can we expect to show our anthem the proper respect when we don’t place a premium on it in other aspects of life? Our children listen to the national anthem in school, but don’t sing along. In fact, my 11-year-old son states that many kids in his school talk through the anthem or otherwise act inappropriately. O Canada is an anthem of pride, but each year we see Remembrance Day inch closer and closer to irrelevancy due to the lack of interest we have.

This isn’t like the debate about prayer in school. There is no grey area. The moment we choose to live in this country, we are all Canadians. While each of us is encouraged to retain our social, cultural, and religious identities, we must also recognize that we are all Canadians. And the anthem, like the flag it represents, is a tangible representation of what it means to be Canadians and, as such, deserves respect.

The anthem is powerful. I remember attending an opening day for baseball’s Montreal Expos a few years back. When the anthem started, it was met with a small chorus of boos – which is political expression at its best. But instead of being overwhelmed, the others in the packed stadium sang with all their hearts and voices, the volume rising until the naysayers were overwhelmed. The sense of Canadiana and connection to each other was palpable and it was one of the most moving experiences. At that moment, I truly felt what it meant to be proud of our country. I was able to express outwardly what I’ve always felt inwardly.

We need more moments like that. We need to express our pride to truly feel our pride. And that needs to be done without some moron interrupting the process. Showing pride in our country isn’t the domain of beer commercials – it’s up to each and every one of us to take a stand and use these moments to showcase the best that the country has to offer.

2005 © Menard Communications – Jason Menard All Rights Reserved

NHL Scores with OLN Deal

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By Jason Menard

Just because it’s on the Outdoor Life Network doesn’t mean that the NHL has been put out to pasture. In fact, the NHL can finally revel in the fact that it’s been put on a pedestal and will get the respect that the game deserves.

Getting away from ESPN’s hipper-than-thou style of bluster and bombast can only help put the focus back on the ice, where it needs to be. Instead of focusing on ESPN’s fast-talking, cliché-ridden, telecasts, they’ve moved to a channel that is content in letting the story develop on its own, without all the bells and whistles.

What ESPN – and, unfortunately, its Canadian subsidiary TSN has been moving the same way – sells is watered-down, forced cool to its target demographic of yearning-to-be-hip teenagers and early 20-year-olds. Every highlight recap is rife with attempts at edgy witticisms, strained pop culture references, and puerile puns. Each broadcast is more about selling the sizzle while ignoring the steak.

However, the very nature of the Outdoor Life Network’s programming means that its viewership is accustomed to savouring the meat of the broadcast. After all, this is a channel that features fishing as a significant aspect of its daily programming. With all apologies to all the anglers out there, there’s nothing sexy about fishing. The channel’s viewers appreciate the programming for its own, and instead of being blinded by the pomp and circumstance that ESPN/TSN’s viewers are enamoured of, they’re more tolerant of letting the game speak for itself.

And really, that’s what we love about hockey. It’s a game best served stripped of all the extras that ESPN revels in. It’s as simple as black and white – puck and ice. That’s what’s made the CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada so successful. There is a reverence for the game that comes across with every broadcast as they’ve chosen to focus on the game, not the extras. It’s a concept that the American networks have ignored in the past.

Watch an American football game and it’s hard to see the on-field action for all the crawls, scoreboards, and animations that crowd the screen. But at least the stop-start action of the NFL lends itself to this deluge of information. The fluidity and grace of hockey at its finest needs to be appreciated in its entirety – the simplicity of a black puck on white ice gets overwhelmed by encroaching statistics, graphics, and overlays.

While laudable in its attempts to bring hockey to the masses, Fox swung and missed in its attempt to aid the viewing public. Whether it was the distracting fuzzy blue dot that made it look like our game’s finest were stickhandling a beach ball or the digitally created vapour trail added to every shot and pass, the additions served to distract viewers from the actual game action. Instead of appreciating the game’s speed, grace, and beauty, they were drawn to non-integral artificial additions.

Even watching a game on American TV just doesn’t feel right. The camera angles are too wide or too close. They lack the intuitive feel that the CBC has mastered with its generations of broadcasting history. Most importantly, they lack the reverence and respect for the game that comes through on each and every Hockey Night in Canada broadcast.

So, instead of being an afterthought on ESPN, buried behind other sports that are more ingrained in the U.S. viewers’ psyches – an afterthought on the broadcast schedule, the NHL now becomes the marquee property for a cable channel backed by the financial clout of Comcast.

Instead of being shuffled around the schedule, fit in where time permits, and generally ignored in promotions, the NHL now benefits from a consistency of broadcast – 58 games exclusively shown on the network on Monday and Tuesday nights. Even the additional features have been designed to get people closer to the game – miked players, net cams, and more access to players and coaches both on and off the ice.

Welcome to the Outdoor Life Network NHL. While some Canadians may mock the league as it takes a place alongside bull riding, the Tour de France, and professional yachting, the fact of the matter is that hockey will move to the front of the pack on OLN. Much as Hockey Night in Canada is the CBC’s flagship show, so too will hockey become the dominant property of the Outdoor Life Network.

For American viewers, that means they’ll finally get to see the game treated with the respect it deserves. And maybe now they’ll see why our little game of shinny played on a frozen pond fans the flames of our passion north of the border.

2005 © Menard Communications – Jason Menard All Rights Reserved

Question of Honour or Savagery?

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By Jason Menard

Although the game’s played on ice, it seems that nothing heats up a Canadian’s passion than taking a critical look at the game of hockey.

Response to a column that I wrote in the Aug. 11, 2005 edition of The National Post, has been swift, passionate, and polarized. The column, which examined the questionable timing of the NHL’s reinstatement of the Vancouver Canucks’ Todd Bertuzzi on the same day as Wayne Gretzky’s announcement of his return to the game, was met with approval by some, but with vehement disapproval by others.

And what surprised me about the e-mailers who disagreed with me was not that they disagreed with the timing of the announcement, or with the actual point of my column – they were passionately opposed to the suspension in the first place, essentially saying Steve Moore, the object of Bertuzzi’s lack of affection, deserved it.

It seems that, according to the e-mailers, Bertuzzi did nothing more than avenge hockey’s karmic gods, which Moore angered by elbowing Bertuzzi’s teammate Markus Naslund. That, in the context of hockey, Bertuzzi’s actions were honourable and that he was being a stand-up teammate.

In fact, one respondent actually referred to Mr. Bertuzzi’s attack of Steve Moore as a “mild take down of the NHL’s honour code.” If Bertuzzi’s attack was mild, apparently more serious infractions should be met with death in the future.

How does the culture of hockey change when some of its fans and some of its players still ascribe to this barbaric system of retribution. The hockey gods must be of the Old Testament variety if this eye-for-an-eye honour code is how they must be appeased. And if the fans are willing to circle the wagons – or even start forming a lynch mob – to avenge their fallen heroes, then perhaps the game has deeper problems than a new CBA and a stricter enforcement of the rules can fix.

The idea of payback has been a part of hockey for generations. The Gordie Howes and Maurice Richards would dole out retribution on their own and were as tough as they were talented. Later on, the role of the enforcer developed – which explained why Dave Semenko was able to ride shotgun with Wayne Gretzky all those years – to allow the skill players to be skilled without fear of the opposing team taking liberties with them.

Bertuzzi, the player, signaled a throwback to the players of yesteryear — big, tough, talented, with hands as soft around the net as they were tough in a fight. And, it’s true that his act against Moore was done to avenge Moore’s hit on Naslund that put him out of commission. But the thing about honour is that it’s best served face-to-face. Not from behind, bulldogging your opponent to the ice face-first.

The players of yesteryear had a respect for each other. Whether it was borne from the lack of helmets or from the fact that they weren’t set for life with their rookie contract, they played the game tough, sometimes dirty, but not with the intention of blindsiding an opponent. Even the so-called goons respected the game enough to only go after each other.

The problem with the way hockey’s unspoken honour code is being interpreted is that many of the fans – and players themselves – forget that a major component of honour is respect. Respect for the game, respect for the fans, and respect for your fellow opponents.

I can understand the idea of standing up for yourself and your teammates. It’s one of the things that make this team sport so attractive – but there are limits. Just because somebody cuts my wife off on the highway doesn’t mean I get to run them off the road the next time I see them.

Hockey’s honour code does not foster the lawless society that some of the e-mailers believe. It does not allow for vigilante justice of this nature. While Bertuzzi’s intent may have been honourable, the way he enacted his frontier justice was not. Bertuzzi’s heart was in the right place, but his head and body weren’t on the same page. And even the fact that Moore was skating away from the confrontation does not justify jumping on his back.

Of course, it seems a lot of Bertuzzi fans would like nothing more to jump on Moore’s back along with him. The game of hockey is built upon the foundations of speed, beauty, and toughness – not savagery. And while honour has its place, it can’t exist without respect.

If the fans and the players lose that respect for one another, then our beloved game of hockey will devolve into nothing more than a bloodsport.

2005 © Menard Communications – Jason Menard All Rights Reserved

The Great One Helps NHL Dodge a Bullet

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By Jason Menard

Lordy be! Did you hear? The Great One is back on a NHL bench? He’s stepped down from the front office to lead the Phoenix Coyotes to the Promised Land! All is right in the NHL! The prodigal son has return! Call the heralds, shout it from the rooftops!

Oh, and by the way, Todd Bertuzzi’s allowed to play again. But did we tell you about Wayne?

What’s that old song about a spoon full of sugar? Whether intentional or not, and only a select few know for sure, the NHL took advantage of the positive vibes and noise created by its biggest media event in years to overwhelm the announcement of an unsavoury bit of resolved business.

If you have forgotten – and that’s hard to believe considering the footage was, and is once again, in a constant loop on the various sporting channels. But the gist of it is that the Vancouver Canucks’ forward viciously and thuggishly attacked the Colorado Avalanche’s Steve Moore from behind, driving his face into the ice, pummeling his helpless opponent, and potentially ending his career.

And after the NHL puffed itself up and expelled a lot of hot air announcing that strict suspensions would be in order and this matter would be taken seriously, what was the actual penalty? A handful of regular season games – 13 in total — and a post-season series.

That’s it. Forget this 17-month suspension to which the league is referring. That total conveniently neglects the fact that all the players were locked out for a majority of that time. Sure, he missed out on a few international events, but his participation in the NHL – what really matters to pro hockey players – was barely affected.

So, in the end, when all the rhetoric is stripped away, reality is examined, and the actual punishment is tallied up, potentially ending a player’s career through a vicious and intentional act gets you a slap on the wrist – basically Bertuzzi was sent into the corner for a short time out and is now allowed back to play with the rest of the kids. Well, all except Moore, whose future is still in question.

Thank goodness Wayne decided to come back. The star power, goodwill, and sheer popularity of The Great One is once again enough to save the NHL from itself again.

Despite all the goodwill engendered by the league coming to terms with its players, despite all the positive feelings spread throughout the league by former also-rans now playing on a level field with the big boys, despite the renewed excitement in the league generated by an unprecedented free agent frenzy, the brain trust of the NHL is still unable to stop shooting itself in the foot.

I don’t know Bertuzzi from a hole in the ground, but everything I’ve seen, heard, and read about the man – until that fateful event – was positive. Even after the incident, he has appeared to be genuinely apologetic and remorseful.

But that incident, while not unforgivable, is unforgettable. At a time when the league should be reveling in newfound potential, clips of the Bertuzzi incident are what are running on the sports shows. Instead of focusing on a feel-good story like Gretzky’s return, the talk shows will be rife with discussion of Bertuzzi’s suspension.

This was an opportunity for the league to show true leadership. A longer suspension would have been well received by fans and media alike. It would have proved a point that the league’s memory is long, and that transgressions of this nature will not be tolerated. But even if NHL’s brass had decided on Bertuzzi’s reinstatement, did they really need to smudge the polish that Wayne Gretzky provided on a banner day? Was there any pressing reason to announce a reinstatement?

The only logical, yet still illogical, reason for this was that the NHL was hoping to slide the news of Bertuzzi’s reinstatement under the radar, hoping that the sheer wattage produced by Gretzky’s shining image would be enough to blind everyone from this other bit of business.

Unfortunately for them that didn’t completely happen. And instead of being a day solely about Wayne, the Phoenix Coyotes, and the league welcoming back one of its greats, it turned into a day where certain bad memories, bad feelings, and bad tastes were left in the mouths of everyone that considers themselves a hockey fan.

Eventually Todd Bertuzzi should have been allowed to return – but timing is everything and it appears that the NHL still has some lessons to learn about that.

2005 © Menard Communications – Jason Menard All Rights Reserved

Hanging On for Dear Life

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By Jason Menard

Those of us who sit back and dwell on whether or not a player should hang up their skates, cleats, or shoes should take a moment and realize that we’d have to be pulled, kicking and screaming from the game we love.

As fans, we enjoy a love/hate relationship with our sporting icons. Many of us envy the fact that they’re getting paid to play a game we’d do for free, and then we turn around and have the audacity to want them to hang ‘em up before they’re ready. We refer to athletes as being selfish, when it’s really us who are only thinking of ourselves when it comes to where, when, and how our favourite athletes should play.

And, in the end, we forget that many athletes are only doing what we, ourselves, would do – find a way to get into one more game, on more team, for one more moment in the sun.

Sports fans and pundits alike are fond of deciding when an athlete’s finished, over-the-hill, or past his prime. We sit back in our easy chairs, passing judgment on the very same athletes that we cheered wholeheartedly for “when they were good.” We’ll look on with pity at poor Jerry Rice, desperately signing on with the Denver Broncos for a shot at a fourth or fifth receiver position, all the while lauding Barry Sanders for going out on top of their game.

Personally, I think we’re pretty darn hypocritical, because you and I both know that we’d be willing to sign as a water boy at minimum wage for a chance to stay close to the team if those were the only options left.

Yes, sports have become big business, but at their very heart they remain a game. The same game that we played on local rinks, fields, and courts – only on a much larger scale. And the pro athlete we look up to once had the same dreams – if not a tonne more talent – that we did back when we were kids and going to the pros wasn’t just a fantasy – it was a certainty.

If we made it to the bigs, we’d be holding on to our position for dear life. Milking every second of it for as long as we can. But we don’t offer our sporting icons the same opportunity. We look down upon their efforts, make them the butt of jokes, and then state that they’re tarnishing their reputations.

And some folks are offended by the idea of a player signing an essentially bogus contract just to retire in their old jersey, after a few years in free agent purgatory, exorcising their athletic wanderlust.

In the end, time softens all the hard edges. Joe Montana is no lesser a quarterback for hanging on with the Chiefs, just as, for many of us, Wayne Gretzky will always be an Oiler. The fact that he had a cup of coffee with the St. Louis Blues is just an afterthought. Mark Messier? His legacy will be that of a Ranger or an Oiler – his sojourn with the Canucks relegated to a footnote.

As we look back on the sporting icons of our past, time has a chance to make the good things greater and the bad things out of focus. I grew up idolizing Guy Lafleur, but the fact that he played for the Nordiques and New York doesn’t change the fact that I’ll always see him in the Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge. And hoops fans will never be caught referring to that Wizard’s legend Michael Jordan. He will be forever a son of the Windy City.

So let the players sign their one-day contracts and retire with teams with which they’re synonymous. Where, in the end, is the harm in that? However, robbing anyone of the opportunity to play the game that they love, just one more time, if they have the interest and there’s a team that wants them – that’s just selfish on our part.

We build up our icons to untenable positions, either to watch them fall or tear them down ourselves. Their athletic superiority is unmatched by the airs of superiority that we put on in passing judgment. But this superiority just isn’t justified.

After all, we may take the high road from the comfort of our couches – but, when push comes to shove, we wouldn’t do anything different ourselves.

2005 © Menard Communications – Jason Menard All Rights Reserved