Dave Bolland Stays Classy

[Wickabee]

Couple things Craig,
1 - Bieksa spoke of the weather (which is horrendous in Edmonton in the middle of winter). He may not have specifically said weather, but he didn't specifically mention the people.
Bolland spoke of the people specifically. That was totally across the line after making the comments he did about a pair of players he couldn't shut down in the playoffs.

2 - Just for the record, Vancouver has two professional sports teams. Like it or not, the NFL is NOT the only pro league in North America.

3 - The Canucks were vilified every time they spoke to the media last spring. I can't think of one comment made by them that was actually insulting. Bolland insulted the Sedins (classless and stupid on his part, but whatever), the team (again, classless) and the people of Vancouver (WAY across the line).
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if he was egged on or not. He's a professional and has to learn to act like it. The only thing worse than his comments are the people defending them. Again, I guarantee if a player like, say, Lapierre made similar comments about Toews, the Hawks and the city of Chicago, everyone would be up in arms. Heck, Luongo was vilified for the tire pumping comment. There was nothing insulting towards Thomas, the Bruins or the people of Boston, but hey, he's a Canuck. Since it's Bolland talking about the Sedins, the Canucks and the people of Vancouver, it's okay. It makes no sense.

I guess so long as it's fashionable to hate the Canucks it will be okay to insult over 2 million people all at once. I shudder to think of the backlash if a Canuck made the exact same comments in the exact same context.

As a last note, I have to wonder something. If Dave think the Blackhawks would never want the Sedins, does he really think he would have a shot with the Canucks?
I don't think they'd put him on the farm team, let alone the NHL.

[duwal]

As a Canucks fan, I can expect nothing less from a top-notch rival; however, I think people forgot this specific line he said.

"When asked what players do with their spare time when on the road, the Blackhawks forward said he tries to stay close to his hotel room when the team is in Vancouver.
"There's a lot of weirdos there," he said. "You don't want to be out there too long."


This line has gone too far. One thing to mock the team, the fans such as the Green Men or make a joke, but to comment on the entire city? That is crossing the line.

There is a lot that can be said, but this is way too far. Judge the team all you want, but leave everyone else in Vancouver out of it. We will defend our team without kicking the people in your city so keep it like that.

maybe he was commenting more on how the fans rioted after the Canucks were eliminated last year, just how crazy some fans might be for support of their team

[RGM81]

The spread of global media at its finest. This sort of thing 20 years ago would be no different than the local wrestling shows having a heel on the radio talking about what a wimp his opponent is and how he would squash him at the next match. But now that everything's connected, people just can't say anything without it throwing the entire League's fanbase into a tizzy.

[bojohnson]

He said lot of weirdos
Winnipeg has lots of weirdos too

Not saying it's ever right to call out a city(I was raged with Bryz) but at least he said lots, and not all

[Craig2]

Couple things Craig,

2 - Just for the record, Vancouver has two professional sports teams. Like it or not, the NFL is NOT the only pro league in North America.

3 - The Canucks were vilified every time they spoke to the media last spring. I can't think of one comment made by them that was actually insulting. Bolland insulted the Sedins (classless and stupid on his part, but whatever), the team (again, classless) and the people of Vancouver (WAY across the line).

On those two points:

1) Agreed, they do have a team in the second-best football league in North America. I was referring not just to the lack of an NFL team, but also to their failure in keeping an NBA franchise, lack of an MLB team, etc. I just meant that the lack of franchises in the other three major leagues provides more focus on the Canucks.

2 - Agreed, Bolland is an idiot. And I think the rest of the league and many Canadian fans do dislike the Canucks and their fans. Maybe jealousy of our most beautiful Canadian city, or maybe they don't like Canucks fans who assume a title is imminent year after year.

Knocking the people of the city wasn't a great idea, and I'm sure he realized that pretty quickly.

[Kipper_Backlund]

Something tells me thicker skin is needed in this matter....

It's a rivalry, everyone is going to try find a way to get under the skin of the opponents to stir things up. And quite evidently, he succeeded.

[Craig2]

t is funny how the Canucks seem to be the most hated team in the league when they probably are the team with the most about of character in the league. Look at the Sedin twins, Booth, Hamhuis, Burrows, Kesler, Edler, Luongo, Schneider, Ballard, Raymond, Higgins, etc. These are all guys who are great in the community and have a lot of class. Guys like Kesler, Burrows, and Bieksa are players who everyone loves to have on their team but hate to play against.

The Sedin twins are probably the 2 hardest working, classiest, professional, and best players currently playing in the NHL and deserve much more respect than they end up getting.

I'm not knocking the Canucks, but how could you possibly know enough about all of the players on the other 29 teams to make such a blanket statement regarding character?

Same with the comment about the Sedins. Are both of them harder workers than Sidney Crosby? Steven Stamkos? Do they make Duncan Keith look lazy? I get what you're saying, but I think you need to temper the hyperbole.

[Wickabee]

Something tells me thicker skin is needed in this matter....

It's a rivalry, everyone is going to try find a way to get under the skin of the opponents to stir things up. And quite evidently, he succeeded.

Actually, the replies from the Canucks, other than Vigneualt, were basically "who cares what he says".

If anyone needs thicker skin, it's those who can't deal with Bolland being called out for the idiot he is when he says something completely moronic.

My biggest problem with this whole thing (besides Bolland talking about the people of the city...given the choice, I'd rather walk the streets of Vancouver at midnight than Chicago at noon) is the fact that many of the people trying to pass it off as a joke or being egged on (neither which is really an excuse) are the same ones who wouldn't let go of comments made by the Canucks last season. Comments which were not as insulting or ignorant as Bolland's comments.
My beef is less with Dave Bolland (idiots say stupid things) but more with the average hockey fan. Anything a Canuck does is wrong while anything done against a Canuck is a-okay.

[Kipper_Backlund]

Actually, the replies from the Canucks, other than Vigneualt, were basically "who cares what he says".

If anyone needs thicker skin, it's those who can't deal with Bolland being called out for the idiot he is when he says something completely moronic.

My biggest problem with this whole thing (besides Bolland talking about the people of the city...given the choice, I'd rather walk the streets of Vancouver at midnight than Chicago at noon) is the fact that many of the people trying to pass it off as a joke or being egged on (neither which is really an excuse) are the same ones who wouldn't let go of comments made by the Canucks last season. Comments which were not as insulting or ignorant as Bolland's comments.
My beef is less with Dave Bolland (idiots say stupid things) but more with the average hockey fan. Anything a Canuck does is wrong while anything done against a Canuck is a-okay.

These 2 points make no sense, they completely contradict each other. so you're calling Bolland an idiot because he insulted 1 city? Last year before the Olympics Kesler said he hated Canadians and no one in Vancouver (or anywhere) else blew it out of proportion. And he's a Canuck, Bolland isn't, But now this comment gets the media attention?

And if you don't have a problem with Bolland, why start a thread in the first place?

[howethegreat]

and what did the canucks coach say about bolland?