Mike Wise Is Not Impressed With Your "Short Video Tribute"

by J.P. on Nov 9, 2008 10:00 PM EST

For a guy who probably never saw him play live, the WaPo's Mike Wise sure does have ~~an over-the-top~~ a strong opinion on how you - and the Caps - should treat Olie Kolzig's return to Washington tomorrow night:

A short video tribute will be shown on the JumboTron during the first timeout of the first period tonight, which seems a bit trite and jammed in, especially given his years of service as a player and ambassador. Maybe feelings between both sides are a little raw, but he deserves a pre-game tribute of some kind -- especially for a guy who did not have to sign a two-year extension with a team that had no intention of spending money or contending after the lockout. Washington is all he knew in the NHL, so he stayed.

Perhaps Mayor Fenty can declare tomorrow "Olaf Kolzig Day" in D.C. and shut down local government to appease Wise, who hopes Kolzig's "homecoming is treated with the same dignity and passion he gave this city for almost 20 years," a sentiment with which I couldn't agree more - so everyone make sure to rip the number plate off your seat before leaving the Verizon Center.

Now, I'll be standing and applauding during that video tribute, but let's try to remember that the relationship between Kolzig and the Caps was a mutually beneficial one (to the tune of more than $42 million for the player and 301 wins for the team) and that while one side of the break-up has been told over and over and over again, the other side has taken the high road and not given the matter a public airing.

More importantly, let's try to remember that Olie Kolzig is coming into the Verizon Center tomorrow night with the intent of taking two points home with him.

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funny especially after the amount of times Wise dumped on Olie when he played here. Mike Wise is a hypocritical idiot

by DC FURY on Nov 9, 2008 10:10 PM EST reply actions

Wise? He's just getting started. Perhaps he's part of that Larry Brooks School of Sports Journalistic Bullshit.

How long before he creates a fury out of nothing regarding the Caps' goaltending "controversy"?

JT60 v. Jon1!!!1!!

by Green Trees on Nov 9, 2008 10:28 PM EST reply actions

Actually, Mike Wise was the guy who wrote that column in which Olie criticized Gabby. Wise then spent the rest of the season bemoaning Kolzig's situation. I'm not surprised that Wise slips into drama queen mode over this, considering he acted like a some frighting hybrid of Olie's agent and mother last season.

The video tribute is a classy way to honor a long-time but now former player, especially when that former player is now wearing the uniform of a division opponent you're playing that night. The bigger tribute will come after Kolzig retires.

by exwhaler on Nov 9, 2008 10:30 PM EST reply actions

There will be a time and a place for a tribute appropriate to the years Kolzig lived and worked in Washington. The time is not Monday, and the place is not where he will be wearing the sweater of another team.

A few years from now, when he is dressed in a suit, with his family around him, as his number is raised to the rafters...that will be the time.

by The Peerless on Nov 9, 2008 11:29 PM EST reply actions

Frankly, I'm a little shocked that the Caps are giving him any kind of tribute tomorrow night. As Peerless noted, honoring Kolzig is something they should do, eventually..but not now. Not when he, I repeat, he left the team of his own accord without even a word to management and signed with a major rival and is coming to town with the sole intent of beating his old teammates. He certainly has every right to do what he did, but as long as he's wearing the opposition jersey and playing against the Caps, I just don't think a tribute is in order. Nevertheless, I'll stand and give him a round of applause, but I'll save the really loud cheers for when the Caps beat him five-hole. OTOH, if the tribute gets him all misty-eyed and off his game, I'm all for it.

by b.orr4 on Nov 10, 2008 12:05 AM EST reply actions

Totally agree with the above. Tribute to him tomorrow when he is wearing that wretched Tampa uniform? And why exactly did he leave Washington? To be a backup for a below average Lightning team? He was too proud to go through what happened last year yet not too proud to play backup for the f*cking Lightning? Horrendous decision to do this tomorrow.

by MacVechkin, fka JR on Nov 10, 2008 12:10 AM EST reply actions

...he acted like a some frighting hybrid of Olie's agent and mother last season.

Halloween's over. Stop with the terrifying imagery please.

by DMG on Nov 10, 2008 12:25 AM EST reply actions

Yup - we win a couple home games in a row, and Mike Wise crawls out of the woodwork with his I'm A Renowned Hockey Expert mask on. Go back to wherever you hang out when we're _not_ The Cool Thing, ya loser. -JW

by JWJr on Nov 10, 2008 12:47 AM EST reply actions

i guess i'm not one of those kolzig kool aid drinkers everyone seems to be. to me; $42 million for essentially a below .500 record (i know the team stuck for alot of those years) and very avg GAA does not seem like money well spent!!! seems to me this franchise will fall into the same trap as when they retired Labre's number. i'm not one to retire numbers unless there is a era of playoff success, combined with individual excellence. Olie was a nice person who contributed to the community, he won't be a HOF. what's all the fuss about?

by Anonymous on Nov 10, 2008 2:01 AM EST reply actions

For $42 million, Kolzig should be doing a video tribute to us.

by Anonymous on Nov 10, 2008 6:39 AM EST reply actions

Well said anonymous.

by sidehillman on Nov 10, 2008 6:44 AM EST reply actions

both anon---amen

by sidehillman on Nov 10, 2008 6:51 AM EST reply actions

This is the same Mike Wise that peed in his pants about those mean nasty Flyer fans, and now this sappy garbage.

Mike Wise has a vagina.

by Anonymous on Nov 10, 2008 7:37 AM EST reply actions

anon: Hey, watch that. Just because your psrts don't dangle out for the world to see doesn't mean you have no guts.

Being a relatively new fan, I'll applaud during the tribute ... and cheer every time the puck goes through his five-hole. Simple as that. No fuss, no muss.

It's a tribute ... and a start. That's all it has to be. When the tribute is over, the puck drops, and it's time to defuse the Bolts and send them back to Tampa with their tails between their legs.

by this space for rent on Nov 10, 2008 7:51 AM EST reply actions

I really dislike it when people who apparently pay no attention to hockey then try to pretend they know what was going on. Witness Wise: "Kolzig deserved a better ending than a benching at the end of last season..."

Uh, no he didn't. You deserve what your performance merits. They play to win the games. Kolzig's teammates did not deserve to have their efforts spoiled by lousy netminding.

Also, the video tribute thing annoys me. Kolzig isn't dead. He's still a player in the league and he's trying to beat the Caps. Save the tributes for when he retires.

by Tyler on Nov 10, 2008 8:49 AM EST reply actions

What the Caps are planning for Kolzig seems appropriate. The Flyers, Penguins, and Oilers all do something along the same lines. Its one of the small things that a franchise does to establlish its tradition--the next step this franchise despirately needs to do.

No matter how badly things ended Kolzig should be warmly received after the video tribute by everyone in the building---then get back to playing the game.

A longer pre-game ceremony--perhaps the retirement of #37 can wait a couple of years.

by Anonymous on Nov 10, 2008 9:51 AM EST reply actions

I see no need to model ourselves after the Flyers, Penguins or Oilers for that matter. At least not from an off-ice perspective.

by MacVechkin, fka JR on Nov 10, 2008 11:41 AM EST reply actions

This is Washington Post journalism at its finest when it comes to hockey. Wise, Wilbon, Kornheiser... they are all know nothing know-it-all's when it comes to hockey. Please leave the reporting to reputable sources guys...

by cupcrzy on Nov 10, 2008 1:49 PM EST reply actions

I said it on the Post and I'll repeat it.

"I want to take a big fat dookie on Mike Wise's bald head. Wise, stick with basketball or football."

Of course he doesn't invterview Backstrom or the Russian 4, or Johnson, or Jose (and why he hasn't been able to step up his game). Thanks douche.

by Anonymous on Nov 10, 2008 2:39 PM EST reply actions

I think everyone's forgetting the situation.

Kolzig is by no means a saint, and he wasn't just shat on, but let's be realistic. He's a proud guy who was kept in the dark and then basically told "we don't need you anymore." A lack of communication and then "don't need ya, byebye" is pretty harsh. And as a proud man, he did not take that well.
I also don't think the caps' side of the whole thing got a "public airing" because they just didn't care about if he was upset or not, they were too focused on building up the team. And that's fine, but to act like Kolzig is making a huge deal out of nothing is kind of... wrong. It was a huge deal, it was a huge deal to him. Why shouldn't he speak his mind if someone's willing to listen to him and it helps him feel better about it all?

@b.orr4: HE left the team because THEY didn't want him, and THEY made it obvious by not keeping him informed of what's going on. Otherwise, pretty spot on. Also, I think the timing of the tribute may be for that very reason.

@anonymous: Go away. You said it yourself, the team sucked for god only knows how many years. Money well spent, to say the very least. Retiring numbers is to remember what a player did for a team, and he did more than enough. Just because the team sucked for years so there wasn't a huge amount of playoff success (except the FINALS of which he was a MAJOR, MAJOR part) doesn't mean HE played poorly at all. Hurray for blind stats following.

by Hazardous on Nov 10, 2008 2:55 PM EST reply actions

hazardous,
kolzig forced the caps' hand with his horrible play over the past couple years.

by Anonymous on Nov 10, 2008 3:59 PM EST reply actions

Totally disagree with Wise's article. Kolzig was good in the community but his play had declined and he was way overpaid for the last few years. I did not think a video tribute was necessary but it was nice and Kolzig was given an ovation (it helped that the Caps had already scored by the time the video tribute was played.) After all the hand wringing by some who believe Kolzig was treated badly, there were very few signs for him during warm-ups (esp. compared to the Ottawa game when Bondra returned after the trade). Oh, and do Tampa fans understand that they are totally doomed in the playoffs by the ex-Cap factor.

by Cathy W on Nov 10, 2008 10:17 PM EST reply actions