(I really did write a lot of blog this summer - I just didn't publish them!)
While reading the Edmonton Journal on Saturday, September 3, I was astounded by the article in the sports section which had a headline something to the extend that Jason Bonsignoir felt that Glen Sather didn’t ‘nurture’ him during his days with the Oilers.
Nurture him? Are you fucking kidding me? Here is a kid that was drafted fourth overall in the NHL draft, whining because he didn’t like how he was treated by the General Manager. For those that don’t understand what being drafted means, it means that only three eighteen year old kids in the entire fucking world that were selected ahead of Bonsignoir, and with that selection, he was given the opportunity to play professional hockey for a living. This was an opportunity for JB to make millions of dollars. To be famous. To be loved and adored by millions of fans. How many of us would like that opportunity? He gets to play a kid’s game: hockey.
And he wants to be nurtured. He’s lucky Sather didn’t neuter him, and I don’t want to even think about what Messier would have liked to do to him!
Although millions of people would love to be in JB’s position; being successful in professional sports is a very tough thing to accomplish. As Tom Hanks said in ‘A League Of Their Own’, “It’s supposed to be hard. If it was easy, everyone would be able to do it!” It takes not only great physical skills, but also emotional and mental toughness to achieve success at the professional level.
JB never accomplished much as a professional hockey player. He certainly goes down as one of the biggest draft flops in history. When you are drafted as high as JB was drafted, you are expected to not only be successful, but hopefully to be a star in the NHL. JB never was successful with the Oilers, and he bounced around from team to team without ever making much of a mark. His comments concerning how he was treated by Glen Sather; who I am not a big fan of either, showed why he flopped as a player. JB obviously did not have what it takes to make it as a professional athlete.
JB is just another example of the youth of today. They have been coddled, spoiled, told how fucking wonderful they are, and unprepared to deal with the reality of failure or tough times. Instead of ‘manning up’, JB obvious blamed others for his terrible play. He admited in the article that he was overweight and not in shape to play. But Sather should have told him it was ok and not to worry about…right? Nobody tells kids the truth any more because; gawd forbid, we might hurt this poor child’s self esteem. What a crock of shit. Kids today have so much ‘self esteem’ that it makes me want to throw up. What kids today need is a little humility, to learn that they are not perfectly wonderful. That they fuck up. That doesn’t mean you have to be mean about it, but they have to get a dose of reality at some point.
JB claims that Sather’s treatment was a kind of ‘mental abuse’. Ohhhh, poor baby! I am sure Sather was tough on him, however let’s not forget that when Messier fucked up in his first year, Sather sent him to the minors instantly. Did he cry abuse? Did he wimp around and feel sorry for himself? Not fucking likely. He worked his way back and never, ever fucked up like that again. In other words, he grew up and learned his lesson. To be a pro you needed to act like a pro.
JB claims that at his young age he needed nurturing and that Sather did a poor job handling him. Again, I’ll say that I am no Glen Sather fan, but if you look at his track record with developing great young players (Messier, Lowe, Anderson, Coffey, Kurri, Fuhr and perhaps you heard of this guy: Gretzky!) speaks for itself. The difference between those HOFs and JB is can be seen in the manner in which the HOFers understood what was expected of a professional hockey player and took the responsibility upon themselves to be successful.
I would call JB a pussy, but that would be unfair to all the other pussies of the sporting world. JB is not only a pussy, but a whinny pussy. Even now, after his failures and being out of the game, he continues to not accept the responsibilities for his actions, or lack there of. He didn’t have the heart/balls to be a professional athlete. Plain and simple. He didn’t really want to be a great player. He obviously had skills but when you don’t care that badly, or are not mentally strong enough, those weaknesses are quickly exposed when you are surrounded by tremendously self motivated and determined athletes. Talent is never enough and to blame Sather for not being ‘nurturing’ is so pathetic.
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