Big Phil
Registered User
- Nov 2, 2003
- 31,703
- 4,144
Okay, a bit of a discussion I had the other day with someone was about O.J. Simpson. Once a great, great running back and probably still has the best single season by a running back in 1973 to this day. Hall of Famer and then had a nice career as an analyst and a few good movies like Naked Gun. Then, well, the rest is history starting in 1994 and it involves a white bronco. But I have to admit, I am nostalgic for that "old" O.J. He was charming, seemingly genuine, had an "everydayman" quality to him and was generally liked. I know what has happened to him in the last 25 years and that can't be ignored.
So in the field of hockey what is a comparable to stuff like this?
Alan Eagleson - Did some awful things and deserves the wrath and prison time he got. Now, Eagle was that charmer as well and when I see an old interview of him part of me wonders how he could have screwed over so many of his own clients. I get nostalgic about things like the 1972 Summit Series, the Canada Cups, etc. His voice still takes me back to those moments of great hockey and when there was so much on the line. But then I get reminded that he was really a corrupt human being.
Harold Ballard - Yeah, yeah. Look, I hated him, and that was the point. But I do miss the days when there were more villains in hockey. Ballard would always sit in his bunker at MLG and once took a deflected Bobby Hull shot off his head (?) up there. I never liked how he handled the hockey operations of the Leafs and I would never go back to that but I did love it when owners/coaches/players had more of a personality and were more recognizable.
Helmetless players - Yeah, I miss it a bit. We'll never go back to it, but again it was a way to relate to the players better. Lafleur with his main of hair, Bobby Hull with less and less hair all the time. Howe always seemed to have perfectly combed hair all of the time. Esposito, Perreault, Sittler, Robinson, etc. all had shags of hair and it brought a bit more flair.
So in the field of hockey what is a comparable to stuff like this?
Alan Eagleson - Did some awful things and deserves the wrath and prison time he got. Now, Eagle was that charmer as well and when I see an old interview of him part of me wonders how he could have screwed over so many of his own clients. I get nostalgic about things like the 1972 Summit Series, the Canada Cups, etc. His voice still takes me back to those moments of great hockey and when there was so much on the line. But then I get reminded that he was really a corrupt human being.
Harold Ballard - Yeah, yeah. Look, I hated him, and that was the point. But I do miss the days when there were more villains in hockey. Ballard would always sit in his bunker at MLG and once took a deflected Bobby Hull shot off his head (?) up there. I never liked how he handled the hockey operations of the Leafs and I would never go back to that but I did love it when owners/coaches/players had more of a personality and were more recognizable.
Helmetless players - Yeah, I miss it a bit. We'll never go back to it, but again it was a way to relate to the players better. Lafleur with his main of hair, Bobby Hull with less and less hair all the time. Howe always seemed to have perfectly combed hair all of the time. Esposito, Perreault, Sittler, Robinson, etc. all had shags of hair and it brought a bit more flair.