The Vig

Driving home from errands the other night, I caught the last few minutes of the Hawks first period against the Silver Tips.  As the final horn sounded, Winter Hawk forward Tayler Jordan checked a guy into the boards.  It was a bang-bang play, but definitely after the horn.  His bit of extracurricular play earned him 2-minutes in the box the following period.  As I listened to the play, I could almost hear Andy throw his hands up.  Ertle quickly stuck up for Jordan, saying the hit was right at the horn and he may not have known there was no time left.  Either way, it was a dumb penalty.

Why was it dumb?  Because the Hawks had just played what DylanB said was their best period of the year, and rather than coming out for the second period looking to build on their success, the team would instead be a man down.  There’s a time to play “with an edge” and there’s a time to be a team player.  This was definitely the latter.  It was a selfish penalty.

So before I got out of my car, I threw up a quick post on Twitter.

Tayler Jordan = idiot.

He was.

Well wouldn’t you know someone read it and took offense.  That someone?  Jordan’s sister, Tessa.  She spent more than a few minutes unloading on me.  She’s got a lot of points.  I’m going to take them a paragraph at a time.

Many of the fans down there were not happy when he left and they continue to hold a grudge against him. That combined with the fact that he plays on the edge and crosses it sometimes there are many fans that don’t think he belongs there. In his first year there we discovered a fan forum and blog that kept us up-to-date on the games and fans perception of the team. Tayler has taken more than his fair share of hits on the fan forum and one of his biggest fans when he was first down there, Chris Snethen, wrote the blog. This guys moved on from the blog and now has his own personal blog, where he sometimes writes about the Winter Hawks even though he makes it clear that he does not like being a fan (not sure why he still is) and has very little good to say about the team. To say the least he is no longer a fan of Tayler either.

I love Tayler Jordan the player.  I’ve never stopped.  I love the 2008-09 version even more than the one that left town last season.  He’s skating much better and even scores every now and then.  And he’s unafraid to mix it up.  What’s not to love?  So we can dispense with the “Chris hates Tayler” nonsense.  It’s not true.

I don’t like being a fan…  When I show up in an arena on Saturday night and find maybe 2,500 others in there, it makes me seriously question my entertainment choices.  One longtime fan has likened Hawks crowds to old-time Portland Wrestling crowds.  It’s the same grizzled regulars sprinkled with a few drunks looking for something to do.  That’s a Hawks game.  You’ve got billets and booster club members and a few younger folks looking to drink and watch fights.  That’s your crowd.  It’s just not something I enjoy being around.  Maybe it’ll pick up next season.  I hear a lot of optimism out there.  I remember optimism.  I just don’t have it.

OK.  So we’re clear.  I’m a fan of Tayler Jordan.  I’m a fan of the team.  I’m not a fan of the current direction of the front office.

In Tayler’s second year there he said some things on this blog and I thought they were a little unfair so I sent him an email. I saved his email address to my contacts and that brings me back to Twitter. When I signed up for Twitter today it asked if I wanted to search my email contacts to see who was on Twitter and I allowed it to do so. Chris Snethen came up and I started to follow him. I was scrolling through all of the people that I was following reading their updates and one caught my eye. On his Twitter update, Chris Snethen had posted Tayler Jordan = idiot. He did this during last night’s game.

I enjoyed those emails and missed them when Tayler left.  I sort of expected them to resume when he came back, but they didn’t  Probably because I didn’t have much to say about anyone on the ice.  Again, too distracted with feeling like a loser for even being in the building.  I did call Tayler an idiot during the game.  I suppose I could have added some context, but Twitter’s 140-character limit encourages brevity.  I was brief and to the point.  And I stand by the statement.

This really bothered me. Why is it that people think that they can talk about other people like that? Especially when it is people that they do not know. Why is it that people see the internet as a place where they can bash people? I mean this guy is easily in his mid-thirties and he is calling a 19 year old an idiot for the whole world to see on his Twitter account. Not only that but he is calling him an idiot (and Tayler doesn’t even know) for something that he did on the ice that hurt no one, for working hard and trying to be the best hockey player and person he can be, yeah he took a penalty, and for that he gets called an idiot on Twitter? To me, there are some things that you just don’t need to put online. If you want to call someone an idiot you should tell them to their face so that they can reply to you! Oh right, the other part of the problem is that he doesn’t know Tayler, probably has never talked to him. Because he has watched him play hockey that gives him the right to call my brother an idiot for the world to see?

You’re right. I don’t know Tayler. I wouldn’t know him if he walked right up and shook my hand.  The closest I’ve come to meeting him was at opening night last season when I walked into the arena right behind him.  I knew he was a player, but didn’t know who.  And frankly didn’t care.  I’ve taken some flack over the last two seasons for not taking full advantage of my press pass.  Why don’t I ever interview players?  I suppose I could, but it’s never interested me.  I’ve never really wanted to get to know any of them.  That’s the job of the booster club.  And the bunnies.  I remember one night winning a raffle at a pizza show to have a player come eat pizza with me.  I declined.  They have zero interest in dining with some single dude, and I have no interest in dining with them.  Should I make more of an effort to meet the team?  Perhaps.  And maybe I will.

So, we’ve established I don’t know the team off the ice.  I strictly form my perceptions based on what I see on the ice.  I’m glad Tayler has a supportive family.  That’s fantastic.  But that doesn’t forgive his ocassional lapses in hockey judgment.  If he makes a dumb penalty, I’m going to say something.  If he takes a smart penalty, I’ll say something.  Ask John G.  He’s heard me talk about everyone like that.

A lot has been made both inside and outside the organization about the identity of a guy on the Oregon Live board who goes by the handle Mr. CS.  Those of us who’ve been around a while still call him by his original handle, Common Sense.  Here’s a guy who speaks his mind but hides behind the moniker.  Not I.  My name is Chris Snethen.  It’s right there at the top.  You can stop me at the game and give me a piece of your mind.  You can drop me an email and do the same.  I can take it all.  Why do I get criticized for saying something on the Internet that I say at games all the time?  Because it’s in print it’s different?  The “for the whole world to see” bit is a bit much, don’t you think?

Yes, I’ve watched him play hockey.  And yes, I think I’m qualified to say he’s got a dumb streak.  Ask his coach.  I bet he’ll say the same thing.  Only not on the Internet.  And maybe not even to his, or your, face.

I was appalled when I read that update and it brought me to tears. My brother is not an idiot, he is a kid trying to develop as a hockey player and grow as a person. He has a lot of growing up to do, there is no doubt, but this is a tough life for a young person to live and they will make mistakes just like any other teenager growing up. As WHL players they are doing it under the microscope of complete strangers that can profess to know them and what type of people they are because they watch them play hockey. Anyone who has siblings knows what I am talking about when I say that it hurts to see and hear someone talk about them like that. You want to protect them, you want them to feel good about the people that they are, you want them to be happy! I mean look at that picture, how could you call him an idiot…he is so cute!

Again, I don’t know what type of person Tayler is.  I’ll leave that to the bunnies and the folks that bid on his Christmas ornament every year.  It was strictly a hockey observation.  And one that I do not posess alone.

Am I overreacting to Ms Jordan’s overreaction?  Probably.  But whatever.  Hopefully I’ve cleared things up a little.  I still love Tayler the player, I just think sometimes he makes dumb mistakes.  And when he does, I’m going to call him on it.  Thats all.

/screed