First things first, I can handle criticism and backlash and I enjoy debate over posts like this, which I have been getting plenty of on the main Trade Rumours board and which I have addressed there to some extent.
But the personal attacks from Replacement and 40oz — two very veteran posters here, no less — are way out of line. What's wrong with you guys? If you don't like the threads I'm sharing here, it's pretty simple, don't click the links. Past that, don't "waste your time" commenting on them.
As for the "writers in training" and "read Larry's about me to find all about his internship in Lethbridge and all his other credentials", those are very unnecessary and immature low blows.
I will have been a professional sports writer for a decade in June, paying the bills with my published work to very few complaints or conflicts. I have been working for a daily newspaper for the last 5 1/2 years, covering everything from the 2010 Winter Olympics to UFC 115 in Vancouver, the Detroit Red Wings layover in Kelowna and the Canucks Young Stars tournaments in Penticton, not to mention tons of WHL hockey. I have shook the hands of and interviewed everybody from Sidney Crosby to Dana White, Mike Babcock to Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. I regularly rub elbows with NHL personnel and WHL scouts at Kelowna Rockets home games as we share the same press box and pre-game meals. I have former Oilers assistant general manager Kevin Prendergast and current Oilers director of amateur scouting Stu MacGregor among the contacts in my cellphone, along with cell numbers for dozens of other prominent people in the hockey world, including several NHL alumni of the Rockets and other WHL teams, who always give me the time of day to talk some puck on or off the record. Check out my Portfolio while you are on the website to see some of that published work, what I do for a living.
I enjoy what I do, and I maintain the blog in my personal time as more of a hobby than anything. So I tried to have a little fun with some trade deadline predictions — and let it be known that more than 6,000 people visited the website and more than 100 posted over 5 pages on the Trade Rumours board. Many of them quite liked this compilation and others called me an "idiot" or "crazy" for my proposed deals, which I fully expected and refused to return fire. As I posted in the Trade Rumours board, I am taking a wait-and-see approach on the predictions front. There's really no point debating the unknown right now. And I'd be going mental if I refuted every post. Some are fair and some are not. Everybody is entitled to their opinion and I will eat whatever crow or humble pie deemed necessary once Wednesday's deadline passes — and I'm sure there will be plenty to eat, as would be the case for any poster who listed 24 potential trades five days in advance of the deadline. But until then, it's not worth my time or energy to write individual rebuttals. As you may have noticed, anybody who took the time to actually comment on the website, I addressed their concerns accordingly and in as timely a fashion as possible.
However, when it comes to Replacement and 40oz, you guys seriously need to lighten up and grow up. I don't see either of you posting links to your personal websites with "better" trade deadline predictions or even posting under your real names for that matter. Why don't you tell us all a little about yourselves, who you are and what you do for careers. Then everybody here can draw their own conclusions in terms of who might be worth reading and listening to when it comes to hockey opinions going forward.
