Jack Todd: Shea Weber does not deserve fans adding insult to injury



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Shea Weber reminds me a good chunk of my favorite player, at the time I was a fan of the Canadiens, not a newspaper columnist: No. 19, Larry Robinson. Weber is even bigger than Big Bird, with the same strength, the same ability to start a race or to stop the other, the same professional approach to his work.

Weber is also like Robinson in that he is humble and soft-spoken and (sometimes) visibly uncomfortable under the lights of Montreal, but he has never complained, n? never tried to pbad the blame for a loss to anyone else, never embarrbaded the uniform. Of all the towering defenders of this era, there is only one that is taller than the 6-foot-4 Weber: the 6-foot-9 Boston Zdeno Chara

So how do Weber, this chic mountain that has given so much? much to the game, become such a target for fan fury that he is attacked for the unforgivable crime of hurting himself while playing hockey? [Seriously the people What is the problem with you?]

Certainly, Weber's play is sometimes subtle. He will make a quick and efficient pbad to accomplish what P.K. Subban does with three jukes, a shoulder shake and a spinorama – but the end result is the same. Montreal fans, however, will take the style on the stuff every time. They swallow the hook, the line and the ballast of Subban while condemning Weber as old, boring and (now that he's suffered some injuries) fragile.

It's appalling. If you prefer the style of Subban, it's your right. If you choose to believe that the trade that sent him to Nashville for Weber was terrible, that is also your right.

What's wrong is that you choose to use a very difficult period in Weber's life and career to condemn man in the rawest terms, the most vicious. Since the Canadian announced that Weber had undergone a knee operation and that he would have been released at least until December, I saw him call a geriatric pylon at a pylon in the mountains [19659007]. the absolutely right thing (if somewhat late) and brings out the distinguished Dr. David Mulder to explain the injury, the diagnosis and course of treatment chosen, the fans who did not know a meniscal tear of a spinal bulb posed of questions about Mulder's medical knowledge. Rest badured: my good and great friend Red Fisher would have pampered you in the nose for that.

Canadians themselves are at least partially responsible for this state of affairs. They were unobtrusive about significant injuries suffered by important players, especially Carey Price, leaving the impression that there is a deep and dark conspiracy. They made management mistakes that made the team less competitive.

But the toxic atmosphere of today has made the healthy discussion of this team almost impossible. Blame the management, blame the players, blame the media if you wish, but the fans themselves carry a lot of the guilt for an atmosphere that becomes more ugly each year. People who support Canadians, but who love the game itself, no matter who plays. People who appreciate the little things that a man like Weber brings on the ice with his physical presence and that big shot.

But from Pierre Gauthier and Jacques Martin to Marc Bergevin and Michel Therrien then to Claude Julien, hating the Canadiens' management became an obsession, so uncontrolled psychiatrists could do a useful study of the deranged fans of Montreal

disgust for these fans (and some types of media that fuel the binge eating of their own lost anger). ) has never been so complete. The same people who mock Canadians for their inability to meet the free agent John Tavares do not hesitate to insult a player like Weber, without making the connection. Yes, we have potholes, high taxes and cold weather, but this city also has some of the most vicious fans.

In a way, fans can blow up the Canadiens not to hire an English coach – and ignore the fact that Babbad himself made Weber a captain for Team Canada and implicitly implicitly trusted to the great man in all situations.

It's so absurd that I wrote a column last week To this day, at least half a dozen supporters have written to accuse me of being on the payroll of the Canadian – although I made it clear, at the end of the season, that the club should change and Bergevin should be replaced

It was not, so we move on to something else. If the man does something that seems efficient to you, you say it. Otherwise, you say that too. But simply repeating, repeating the same nonsense #FireBergevin a hundred times a day, is not only counterproductive, but creates a toxic atmosphere for all: management, players, coaches, coaches, equipment manufacturers, radio and television, journalists and fans who just want to see a good hockey game.

The good old hockey game. Remember that, someone? Someone & # 39; one?

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