I predict that Canada will lose very, very badly at the upcoming World Championships.
It makes me wonder how much the current NHL players really play for the love of “Canada’s Game” (55-60% of NHL players are Canadian), and how many have been blinded by their multi-million dollar salaries. We keep hearing heartwrenching sound bites about how the mean ol’ league is ruining Canadian hockey (insert patriotic tear here), yet when these athletes are offered an opportunity to play at home representing their game & their country, many have declined.
Vincent Lecavalier and Jose Theodore are the latest two players to pass on playing for Team Canada.
They both cite injury, but managed to fulfil their duties playing for European teams. Steve Yzerman has also declined to play, however he’s been off hockey since the end of last season with an eye injury. That I can understand. The rest of the guys though? I’m disappointed.
I understand that Canadian athletes aren’t exactly well-compensated for their endeavors and efforts, but have our hockey players become such spoiled brats that they can’t be bothered to play if the compensation isn’t high enough? So much for “the love of the game.”
If that’s the case, then they can drop the patriotic good ol’ boy bullshit, and just be honest about being happy being nothing more than another group of millionaire athletes. They should just take a lesson from the pages of the book of Lebron James, and turn up the pimp juice another notch. At least they’d be keepin’ it real.
Well, love it or not, this is their job.
I find the concept of “selling out” to be less offensive than most. One of my favorite authors has said it pretty clearly: He loves his job, and he does very good work, but at the end of the day… it’s just a job. And if he’s not getting paid enough, he’s happy to find another method of getting paid.
I like my job. That doesn’t mean I’m willing to take a pay cut and still do the same work, regardless of how much I like it.
That’s what I’m saying. It is just a job, and they should start acting like it, instead of pushing the Patriotic Pity Party act on the public.