Post-Game Talk: Draisatl vs. Matheson. Why are you so pissy?

[Drivesaitl]

Part of the issue is changing from dressing room interviews to these press conference style Q and A’s. No chance to just chat with the player afterwards anymore, and gain their trust, and smooth over any issues. Hopefully they can get back to that at some point.

Could be part of it but the mess started at Rexall. The present facility was designed specifically for it to be on public display and an attraction alongside large glass windows facing the Avenue at street level along with 5 pretend large cups because the org is big on nostalgia. They even propped the Gretz statue right outside. So that a Curmudgeon like Matheson who feels "I'm part of all that" as if he were playing D for that club, is real comfortable in that surrounding figuring HE is the legend instead of some buffoon that somehow stlll has press credentials.

That aside the facility is not private. One of the selling points of the arena is they would make it more fan friendly in ways. I mean its great if the team is winning. Similarly at Rexall the walk of fame through the crowd concourse was great if you were winning. But not so great if you weren't. But such things are designed optimistically, and with the hope that you will be winning. The design elements shouldn't be finding ways to hide the players in the context of pro sports where the faces drive the gates.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Its funny because McDavid is even more serious and shit.
But McDavid is from here I guess. He is a good old Canadian boy.
The way Canadian media treats Euro players so differently has always rubbed me the wrong way.

For sure I don't disagree. There was a battalion of press here that were always reminding that Yakupov is the enemy. "Look the way he behaved when Russia beat Canada" A guy like Terry Jones wouldn't even acknowledge the player. He would announce he's going to the bathroom when Yak would come to the mic. Jones was visibly disgusted, and went outside when Yakupov was signing autographs for the fans after scoring 3 goals in the prospects scrimmage at Millennium place. You wouldn't like to think this kind of pettiness existed. But it sure does here.

 

[CycloneSweep]

For sure I don't disagree. There was a battalion of press here that were always reminding that Yakupov is the enemy. "Look the way he behaved when Russia beat Canada" A guy like Terry Jones wouldn't even acknowledge the player. He would announce he's going to the bathroom when Yak would come to the mic. Jones was visibly disgusted, and went outside when Yakupov was signing autographs for the fans after scoring 3 goals in the prospects scrimmage at Millennium place. You wouldn't like to think this kind of pettiness existed. But it sure does here.

That doesn’t surprise me. Jones is the one who wrote that Puljujarvi had a “ten cent head”

 

[Drivesaitl]

That doesn’t surprise me. Jones is the one who wrote that Puljujarvi had a “ten cent head”

In this I'll own at one point being very unkind towards Puljujarvi as a fan. But I'm just some opionated punter. I'm not doing this as my professional paid gig. The media need to be better.

 

[T-Funk]

In this I'll own at one point being very unkind towards Puljujarvi as a fan. But I'm just some opionated punter. I'm not doing this as my professional paid gig. The media need to be better.

This is also just a message board discussing the sport. If you're interviewing even your most hated enemy, do it with some respect, as they are the show and you are just along for the ride. Especially in-person.

 

[CycloneSweep]

In this I'll own at one point being very unkind towards Puljujarvi as a fan. But I'm just some opionated punter. I'm not doing this as my professional paid gig. The media need to be better.

Exactly. It’s one thing to be a fan disliking and guys but the media can’t be acting like that

 

[MikeGrier99]

The weird thing is that basically every hockey fan in Edmonton would absolutely love having Matheson's job, yet after several millennia in the business, Matheson has never even learned how to be a basic media professional. You'd think he wouldn't take his job for granted or something? But that kind of thing thrives in Edmonton and it's one of the things that needs to change.

 

[hockeywiz542]

A good time to remind everyone what kind of a person Jim Matheson is. This is from an interview Georges Laraque did on Gregor's show in 2020 (the audio link is down, unfortunately).

Brantt Myhres had a tryout with Calgary in 2005 and was to play in a Oilers-Flames preseason game, which was his first NHL game since getting out of drug rehab. His dad was in attendance. Matheson thought it would be funny to tell Laraque at the morning skate that Myhres was talking shit in an interview. This really pissed Laraque off, and he beat up Myhres bad during the game and broke his orbital bone. Laraque called Myhres afterwards to check up on him and asked why he was trash talking him in the media. Myhres told Georges he never said anything that Matheson was claiming. Laraque later confronted Matheson, and Matheson laughed about it. Matheson made the whole thing up for his own enjoyment and got Myhres badly hurt. Myhres never played another game in the NHL.