Trending Topics: Getting emotional over Roenick, Milbury
Trending Topics is a new column that looks at the week in hockey according to Twitter. If you don't know about Twitter, get with the times old man.
Jeremy Roenick(notes) is widely renowned for being outspoken and controversial.
He was, after all, the guy that prompted Patrick Roy to make the famous "Stanley Cup rings in my ears" comment, and the guy who bitched about getting left off the Turin Olympic team because he was better than his stats showed, and the guy who told NHL fans that disagreed with the players' side of things in the lockout to kiss his ass. He said Mike Babcock is biased against Americans, and he said Chris Drury(notes) shouldn't have been on this year's U.S. Olympic team.
Basically, Jeremy Roenick says a lot of things, and people, for whatever reason, don't like that. So Wednesday night, after Jonathan Toews(notes) was presented the Stanley Cup, Roenick cried and got everyone all pissed off.
"Roenick is the only retired player narcissistic enough to cry about not winning the Cup after a group of talented young men JUST won it," said inexplicably upset Tweeter @JonVanderlaan.
SB Nation blogger Stanley Cup of Chowder believes that, "Roenick made a happy moment all about him and acted like a bitch."
I don't get the outrage.
Setting aside that Roenick was ostensibly there as a journalist — one that happened to be paid for his outspoken, biased nature, by the way — who wouldn't get emotional? Chicago drafted him and he played there for eight years.
Look, I get emotional watching players raise the Cup every single year, as all good hockey fans do. And, like, I suspect, many of you, have never played in the NHL, let alone in a Stanley Cup Finals. Roenick did. Roenick knows what the Cup means to every NHL player because he was one.
He wasn't, despite what some morons out there think, trying to make it about him. He even led with, "Chicago Blackhawks, man..." I would have thought it was fairly obvious why he was upset.
And now poor freakin' JR has to go on all these radio shows and explain himself to a bunch of (presumably) fat, hack sports radio morons, having the interviews posted under clever headlines like "Jeremy Roenick Talks Tears."
"HEY JR YA CRIED ON NATIONAL TV WHAT WERE YA THINKIN OKAY I'LL HANG UP AND LISTEN FOR YER ANSWER."
Jesus, I'd cry too.
#ShutupMilbury
On the other hand, no one seemed all that upset about Mike Milbury's obviously derisive little shot at and consolation of Roenick. "I never won the Cup either but I'm not gonna cry," or whatever he said. What a jerk.
Granted, I don't get paid by the CBC, NESN and NBC to blather my stupid opinions (I only get paid by Yahoo! to do that), so maybe in TV land the smart thing to do there wasn't to simply shut up and let JR go, or change the subject, or continue with the subject and simply not call attention to the fact that Roenick was very obviously upset. Maybe the best thing to do for TV was to try to make fun of Jeremy Roenick for having a legitimately moving moment that really helped highlight how much the Stanley Cup means to even the players that have retired.
The person that made that moment about Roenick was Milbury.
But if it makes you feel any better, Mike, you definitely traded away a real good shot at a Cup of your own when you were with the Islanders.
#Toews
Gotta think Jonathan Toews just peaked as a human being.
So far in 2010 he has: won an Olympic gold medal in his home country, been named the best forward of the tournament, made the Olympic All-Star team, led his team to a Stanley Cup, became the second-youngest captain to do so, won the Conn Smythe, and, in a few months, will start getting paid his first big-boy NHL contract.
Also, between the regular season, Olympics and playoffs, he scored 21-51-72 in 71 games.
It really doesn't get any better than that. And he's 22 years old. It's all downhill from here, kid.
#BestofPronger
Truly the saddest part of this whole "no hockey until October" thing is.. well it's all that hockey that won't be played for five months or so. But the second saddest thing is that we'll miss out on all that wonderful information Twitter provides us about the sport on a daily basis.
My favorite thing from the playoffs was absolutely the Tweets from Hockey Night in Canada's Elliotte Friedman, who dutifully chronicled every single hilarious Chris Pronger(notes) quote from the finals.
Like this: First question to Pronger, "besides yourself, what has to be better?" Reply: "Besides your hair?"
Or this: Pronger on Byfuglien having an impact: "I guess he's well-rested."
Or this: Pronger, asked about being on ice for six of the seven goals: "Thanks for the green jacket"
Pronger really came into his own as a sarcastic jerk/quote machine over the last few weeks. Every one of these quotes legitimately made my day.
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