The Tale of Two Attitudes
by John Fontana on Jun 4, 2009 3:36 PM EDT
in The Draft
6 comments
Two prospects. Two quotes. Two perspectives. Two attitudes.
One of them is a boy who has been playing among men. The other is a scoring machine that seems to be a man among boys. But one stands out as ready to be a professional athlete and the other... well...
Two quotes, try to guess which of the prospects said each:
Quote from Player #1:
"That’s a big challenge, and I’m really looking forward to that....It’s up to me to show them I’m good enough to play in the NHL. I see it as a challenge, and I have big expectations on myself, too. I hope not to disappoint the fans of the team I go to."
Quote from Player #2:
"I’m just going to be happy to be part of an organization, be part of a future and hopefully build a winning tradition and be part of a team....(The Lightning) obviously is in a rebuilding mode. The team’s got some pretty good offensive depth and developing some defensemen and has a pretty good goaltender, too. So things are going to be turning around here pretty soon."
Maybe you see no true difference, besides the perspective that each athlete was speaking from. The second quote seems team orientated while the first quote speaks of personal abilities and limitations and expectations. The first quote seems more humble while the second comment seems more bold, matter-of-factly in it's quality and assessments of perspective team mates.
Amanda Harris at Joe Bolts Fan saw the differences between the two and pounced in endorsing the athlete in quote #1, declaring:
Just knowing [he] is cognizant of his own expectations as well as those held by fans of the franchise to which he is signed is enough to instill a healthy dose of confidence in me. Talk about character, huh?
Quote #1 from Athlete #1 seems more on par with what the Lightning have already seen from former and current stars - those who played for the Stanley Cup and those thirsting for another shot. Lecavalier, Andreychuk, Richards, Taylor, St. Louis, etc.
And that quote came from Victor Hedman.
Maybe you're hoping for more offense, maybe you're hoping for more attitude and color from members of the roster... But a professional is a professional, and Hedman's perspective shows that he is ready to contribute and get down to business while Tavares continues to enjoy the circus around him.
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Hmmm
I call parsing foul. A few sentences in the middle of a year-long media circus? Is this Amanda seriously put off by Tavares saying a 29th-place team isn’t far away from a turnaround?
Tavares (like Hedman) has said a lot of organization/teammate-focused things not just in the last month but in the very same media session.
I appreciate Hedman’s singular focus on his mission to get to the NHL, but from the reams of coverage to date, I haven’t seen anything that tells me Tavares is any different. Only time will tell.
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
by Dominik on Jun 4, 2009 6:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Both quotes were pulled specifically from Tampa yesterday
Sure there is a LOT out there from John… But unlike Point Blank and your own coverage on the candidates visiting New York, there’s barely any meat / quotes / context from the Tampa visit. There’s been barely anything quoted directly from the prospects from either of the two dailies here.
In fact, compare what you linked to with what’s offered from the Times:
http://www.tampabay.com/sports/hockey/lightning/article1007128.ece
And Trib:
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jun/04/sp-bolts-host-3-top-prospects/sports-lightning/
The Raw Charge -- the Tampa Bay Lightning weblog at SB Nation.
by John Fontana on Jun 4, 2009 8:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Interesting stuff. I almost tracked that down before commenting, wondering if that was how it was presented locally (I saw your Twitter waiting for coverage…any coverage of the top three draft prospects in town!). Speaking of the coverage: I can’t believe they made them do hurdles — I thought the combine was over!
What’s funny is, you know if any of them flakes out as an NHLer (not likely, but…) or even skips town as free agents, people will dig back through quotes like these and act like, “We should have known then…”
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
by Dominik on Jun 5, 2009 12:43 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
That's how it is in sports
I question how well the NHL scouts it’s players. The methodology used and what not… I mean, it’s true that hits and misses happen in every league with every draft (MLB drafts the most players with the fewest making it to the show, the NBA drafts the least, etc) but I feel like no team goes heavy on scouting and getting more quality out of picks than others… Which is seldom the case in the other sports because certain teams have to build with tight purse strings.
The Raw Charge -- the Tampa Bay Lightning weblog at SB Nation.
by John Fontana on Jun 7, 2009 5:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
These are teenagers!! Please understand that!!
Huge overreaction from Harris, which seems to be the intent of most of her posts. These are teenagers trying to deal with their every word being scrutinized. I like Hedman, only because of the Lightning’s defensive problems. But as you have shown us, the Lightning’s history of drafting defensemen is suspect at best. Tavares is going to be a thirty to forty goal scorer for the next ten years. If Lawton passes on him because of a statement that was taken the wrong way…he’s an idiot! (I know he already is) All I can say to everyone is don’t fall in love with either one. Look at the numbers and draft Tavares if Hedman is gone. Lawton won’t have to pick between the two anyway.
WB Philp
by LightningShout on Jun 4, 2009 7:53 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
As Dom pointed out in his comment, WB...
…read the AP story. Then compare it to not just what Harris said but with what was presented to the locals through local media.
I don’t mean to say that to put down the point you make as so much to say “Look at the content we’re working with here!” If the Times story was Harris’ basis for her story, doesn’t it put into perspective what she (and I for that matter, as I didn’t find any other quotes from the media session yesterday until Dom’s comment) drew as a conclusion?
The Raw Charge -- the Tampa Bay Lightning weblog at SB Nation.
by John Fontana on Jun 4, 2009 8:27 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
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