The Year of the Villain

So, it looks like I picked a bad time to start caring about hockey again. The Big Red Machine just traded for Bertuzzi (Along with an earlier trade for Calder, it's pretty clear the Wings are looking to get tougher for the post-season as well to shore up their forward position.) which should be a good thing as Bertuzzi was an amazing player and, should he return from his current injury (The one that's left him playing only seven games this season) and regain his previous form, he'll add a lot to the team. The problem? Well, I think he's a thug who should be in jail and not on the ice. This goes beyond the usual crime blotter of the sports page and into the realm of permanently injuring someone and costing them the rest of their career. And I find it hard to support any team that would offer him gainful employment just because of his athletic talent. Even my beloved Wings.

This is the Red Wings. The same team that saw a similar incident with a, fortunately, happier outcome with Kris Draper. That lead to the famous brawl, of course, where the sort of revenge mentality that got Bertuzzi into trouble played itself out. But there's a big difference between enacting some small measure of revenge for the sorts of brutal acts which don't belong on the ice and committing that act. It's just, personally, I find Bertuzzi to be more like Claude Lemieux than Darren McCarty. And I really don't want to root for that kind of player.

But this sort of thing isn't exactly atypical in the metro area sports scene this year. Chris Webber, who while not solely responsible has been ducking the responsibility for destroying the UofM basketball program for years now, wound up playing for the Pistons. And the Tigers have acquired their own mini-Barry in Gary Sheffield. A player I just got done with satisfactorily hating in the last playoffs.

It's just a sign of the times and the era of free agency, I suppose. But it seems my favorite teams are filling themselves up with players I can't stand. Players who, were they on another team, I'd have no problem booing as loudly as I could. And I'm left with the choice between cheering for my team and supporting someone I have no desire to or abandoning my teams because of such players.