All of A Sudden, I Have A Startling Urge To Throttle A Couple of People...

...specifically, a certain bald egomaniac and attitudinal defenseman who *really* needs to retire.

Remember the Mark Messier Leadership Award? It's not just a monthly thing...there is an annual version too. And the winner of it? For those of you who couldn't figure it out from the opening sentence of this entry: Chris "I'm friends with Alan "Steve Dallas"* Thicke!" Chelios!!

Whenever I get good feelings about the colorful tapistry of hockey history and the individuals who have made for that (as a matter of fact, last night, I ordered a book about one of the sport's absolute true good guys AND great coaches in Roger Neilson...the overall subject of this post makes me want that book to get here that much quicker), along come one or both of those a-holes to drench that tapistry with a freakin' huge bucket or two of black paint (or in Mess' instance, blue, and for Chelly, red).

Why do I feel that way about those two? Oh...I'll just let my fellow Score Boarders do the talking...just to prove how I am definitely not the only one.

"I heard them saying on XM the other day ago that (Chelios) didn't shake hands with Anaheim when they lost.

What's worse is that the XM hosts were defending him for it, applauding his discipline for not starting trouble in the handshake line by simply not doing it.

What a bag of crap."
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"You're being far too kind. Don't forget the great job he did captaining the 1998 Olympic team in Nagano. After finishing 7th or whatever, they trashed their rooms.

How do you win "Leader of the Year" if you're not even an Alternate on your team?"
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"He somehow managed to avoid trouble when he shook hands with the Flames and Sharks after Detroit WON those series. What an a-hole. And Messier just continues to make me wish he'd go away with such a weak award. Just another horrible decision by the NHL to put this attention hound front and center.

At least call it what it is, the "Mark Messier Cronies Award," and don't let him get away with making this look legit."
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As posters like to say at Television Without Pity, WORDY MCWORD to the Mark Messier Cronies Award thang. I don't know what angers me more about the "Leadership Award": The fact that there are AT LEAST TEN, IF NOT MORE current/former Captains I can think of who were/are far better at the position than Messier could ever hope to be; AND/OR how this is adding fuel to the Messier AND Chelios ego-fires.

That said, I seriously cannot think of a better closing remark AND potshot than this...

"It's amazing that Messier can walk upright-- I'd think with a head that large, he'd keep falling face first."

Current Music: "Stop the Rock" by Apollo 440

* - Have any of you seen the Tahiti Village ads with Alan Thicke? In the final few seconds, when they pan away from Thicke, he looks *just like* Steve Dallas from the Bloom County and Opus comic strips!! It's those sunglasses and Hawaiian shirt, I'm tellin' ya...and he looks so much like Steve, I keep expecting Opus the Penguin and/or Bill the Cat to emerge from the swimming pool/"lagoon". o_O