Open Letter to Jim Kelley of Sports Illustrated

An open letter to a man who cares more about his ego than the game of hockey.  Read his story: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/jim_kelley/12/03/ovechkin.suspension/index.html, and then read my response.  Maybe we can all click on the email link to "Email Jim" and tell him to go screw.

Jim,

I thought such a respected journalist would have written a story that made some sense.  I’m not even sure why I’m writing this now, I’m sure I’ll get lumped in with the “Ovechkin Apologists” once you see where I’m from.  I still feel it necessary to ask you whether you’ve seen the hits in question.  Have you?  Have you seen multiple angles, or just the worst ones?  Did you think about this story before you wrote it, or are you just trying to grab attention with it?  And do you watch Ovechkin play on a regular basis, or hockey at all, for that matter? 

Listen to what Capitals General Manager George McPhee has to say (a not so clean player himself in his day, but he also won the Hobey Baker Award as the best college hockey player and is an attorney):  http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2009/12/mcphee_disagrees_with_ovechkin.html

And maybe this might attract your eye:  http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=508458

I wish Sports Illustrated would actually cover hockey in a meaningful way, but they don't, hence why I cancelled my subscription years ago.  I love it when Marty McSorley and Todd Bertuzzi do something, it's in your magazine, but not when things go right.  Why is it that you can only cover the bad aspects of the game, what is “wrong” with it, not why it is a great game.  Players collapse during football games and practices and die, retired players suffer from dementia, many pro players are drug addicts, wife beaters, deadbeat dads off the field, and head-hunters and horse-collarers on the field, but is that all we hear about from Sports Illustrated?  No, you talk about football until you’re blue in the face.  We get to hear about how great the game is and the game’s greatest stars all the time.  What about hockey?  A one-and-a-half page section “Inside the NHL,” an occasional blurb at the front, and a monthly story on hockey in a weekly magazine.  I’m sorry, but if this is the treatment hockey gets in your magazine, keep your ideas to yourself. 

Alex Ovechkin has played 345 NHL games and has scored 237 goals and 450 points along with only 260 penalty minutes, plus another 15 goals and 30 points in 21 playoff games with only 8 penalty minutes.  I’m sure that if his goal was to injure opposing players, those numbers would be a little different.  He’s only had three ejections in 345 games, and only one fine, before this suspension (not counting for diving).  That two ejections happened in the span of three games is a function of a bad call from the refs on his boarding against Buffalo.  Not only was his hit on Kaleta a shoulder-to-shoulder check (legal, I remind you, since you seem to not know much about hockey), but the boarding major is an automatic call when blood is drawn, never mind that Kaleta got cut by his own visor on his helmet on the play.  Kaleta also got nailed with a two-game suspension right after that game. 

That Briere penalty?  Three years ago, I remind you.   Briere had the puck when Ovechkin lined him up, he passed it off and Ovechkin only nailed him when Briere stopped skating to go for a change.  Are you a good enough skater to stop that suddenly?  I’m not.  Ovechkin also got jumped after that play, got nailed for a fighting penalty when he didn’t even throw a punch,  and got speared in the groin by Briere the next time they played.  Let’s not forget also that Briere got suspended this year for a cheap shot. 

As for the hit on Gleason, it obviously was not intentional.  Ovechkin lined him up for a shoulder check the same way he lines up everyone else.  He skates low to the ground, hence the knees sticking out.  Ovechkin is clearly leading with his shoulder, not his elbow.  You’re trying to tell me Ovechkin was that close to Gleason’s head, was trying to elbow him, and couldn’t?  I will remind you that in 366 games in the regular season and the playoffs, Ovechkin has exactly one elbowing penalty. 

For all the talk of him leaving his feet all the time for hits, Ovechkin has exactly four (4) charging penalties. 

Ovechkin only ever had one (1) kneeing penalty before the Gleason hit.  I believe the Gleason hit was worthy of a 2-minute penalty.

Before the Kaleta hit, Ovechkin only had 4 boarding penalties , including the major on Briere in 2006. 

Nice typo in paragraph 5, by the way.  And god job misspelling Patrick Kaleta's name, too.  Do you even watch hockey? And if Leonsis is one of the NHL's clearest thinkers, why is he suddenly irrational.  Maybe it's not him that's irrational. 

I’m not some couch slouch, I’ve coached four different sports, I’m a trained hockey referee, and I’ve been a hockey fan for 22 years.  I’ve also got a master’s degree in political science.  I’m not some homer or some idiot.  I watch Alex play all the time, he reminds me of Mark Messier and Maurice Richard, and even Dale Hunter, not of Marty McSorley, Donald Brashear, Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan Marchment, or any of the other vicious players who have played the game.  Alex is a good person, show-boating and fun-filled, but he respects his opponents and the game.  I bet you if you counted up the cheap shots he takes versus the ones he gives out, it’s 2-1 or 3-1, not counting the cheap shots that his teammates Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Mike Green take on a regular basis that they don’t retaliate for.  If you’re going to write about how horrible someone is, look in the mirror.