I can’t name many owners of professional sports teams outside of those in Pittsburgh. Sure we all know Jerry Jones, Mark Cuban and a handful of celebrities who’ve ventured into the business end of the sports world. But for the most part, outside of their respective cities, owners are just men behind the scenes, financing and profiting from the games we all love.
And then there’s Eugene Melnyk. First time I heard his name, I thought he was a character in CBS’s latest installment of CSI. Matt Cooke had just torn the Achilles of Ottawa’s star player in a controversial, though I believe fully unintentional, hit. Apparently, this owner, Mr. Melnyk, was collecting forensic evidence to show Cooke’s intent. The name drifted from my consciousness, as I never heard the results of that investigation – until Sunday night.
Melnyk took to twitter, in the responsible way so many sports figures of this generation do, to lament the “profanity” in some of the Penguins fans tweets. He went on to say how “it’s just a game” and that these fans are an “embarassment” (the misspelling is intentional here, I’m quoting directly) to the city, the team, and the players.
Excuse me?
My issue with this statement is three fold. First and foremost, he’s venturing into territory that someone in his position should be above. Like it or not, trash talk is part of sports. On social media, however, it should stay on the level of the fans. Imagine the backlash a player would, and often does, receive for responding to social media taunts. Sure, he has the first amendment right of freedom of speech (do Canadians have that?), but to use the old cliché- it’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Second, how does he feel he is in a position to speak on behalf of a city and team that he is not a part of, but rather opposition to? Mr. Melnyk, I suggest that you concern yourself with the embarrassment your misguided social media statements and forensic investigations bring upon your own team, city and players before you begin criticizing ours. We answer to Uncle Mario- not you.
What I see as the most problematic element of this tweet, though, is the message he sends by saying “it’s just a game”. Professional sports, for better or worse, are so much more than a game to so many. For some, it’s a career. A passion. People lose friendships, marriages, and in rare, unfortunate cases, their lives over these “games”.
Imagine going into work one morning to have your boss, the signer of your paycheck, downplaying the project you’ve poured the proverbial blood, sweat, and tears into as merely “just a presentation”. Imagine how undermined your efforts are going to feel. Now imagine he didn’t say it to you in the privacy of the third floor conference room, but over a loudspeaker in your biggest competitors building. Now imagine the blood, sweat, and tears weren’t proverbial, but quite literal.
If anyone should be embarrassed, it’s Eugene Melnyk. Because it’s so much more than a game. Because it’s the cup.
