Cry me a river

I don't want to harp on the Ryan Smyth trade more than I have to, but I am compelled to comment. Like I said earlier, I believe most of the blame should fall on the shoulders of Oilers GM Kevin Lowe for sending mixed messages to Smyth (he overpays Pisani for one single playoff run, he will not overpay his top scorer for twelve years of loyal service).

That being said, I was somewhat disturbed by Ryan Smyth's emotional breakdown while talking to the media before heading out to Long Island. While I enjoyed making fun of him, and while I have always cheered against him when he wore any jersey without a Maple Leaf emblazoned on it, I have never despised Smyth as I had for some of his predecessors in Oil Drop garb; however, I found his sniffling in front of the cameras to be a bit degrading. Yes, he loved being in Edmonton and, yes, he played a high-stakes gamble and lost, but the man was offered $5 million to stay and play a game and he turned it down, and then cried about it? It was a trade, for crying out loud. It was a business decision. There was no one holding a gun to his head, his family is well-taken care of, and he's playing the game he loved. If both parties weren't so stubborn, Smyth would have realized he was asking for too much, and Lowe would have realized that he ought to have paid for the mistakes he had made since the Cup run.

I can feel for the fans, but Smyth cannot ask me for feeling sorry for his "broken heart", not after he had some control over his own fate and screwed it up himself. There is simply too much pain and suffering in this world to pay any heed to the tears of a millionaire hockey player.

UPDATE: Bruce Dowbiggin has more on tear-dropped Oil Drops:

Now I know why they call him Mess. Could Mark Messier cry a little more? Tell him the Oilers already have a Zamboni for flooding the rink. Sheesh. What happens when he sees an abandoned kitten? That must start a new tributary of the North Saskatchewan.