An Open Letter To Andrew Raycroft:
Dear Andrew. Resisting all temptation to scream, curse and belittle you, I am trying as hard as I can to be objective. The fans hate you, the coach has replaced you with the guy he brought in to mentor our junior goal-tending prospects, and you appear to have lost all confidence in not only yourself but the players in front of you on the ice. Now, I don't blame you for feeling like this, since you have been hung out to dry more than an OCD's laundry and have been made to look like much worse a goaltender than you are....BUT.....It has come the time to do something about it. You have three options at this point in your Maple Leaf career. Since you are not the aggressive 'screw em all, I'll show em' personality choice one is to just plane give up. Let them drop you to waivers and hope that some other NHL team takes pity and sees that you aren't really that bad a goaltender and gives you a small market to rebuild your career in. Choice two, get back on the horse. Demand some game time and let the world know why you won the Calder cup. Even if you still loose every game, do it in a way that everyone knows you are not the problem, the defense in front of you is. Getting scored on on continuous odd man rushes and repeated power plays can't be pinned on the goalie. Just assert yourself and stop letting those fluke 'razor burn' goals in and maybe someone out there in a low rent team will see that you could be an asset to them.
Choice three. Sit down and think for a second. You are getting paid Two Million dollars a year to play a sport. That is a blessing. Not only a sport mind you, hockey the worlds greatest sport, and for the greatest team in said sport, the Toronto Maple Leafs. You, Andrew, are one lucky SOB. Living the dream of millions of kids world wide. Does it really matter that the fans and media are on your case? I can imagine the pressure you are under, but guess what, it's gone. from now on in, they already have an opinion of you. They aren't going to think you suck more than they already think you do. And that should be freeing. Why is that? Well I'm sure you've heard the terms 'nowhere to go but up' and 'nothing to loose'. Well those little ditties applies to you. Your competition is out injured, or sucking it up pretty bad, and you are a talented hockey player. Now, Andrew, it is time to step up and become number one again. Unless you think thats too much work, there is always choices one and two.
Don't become the next resident of Potvin Purgatory.
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2 comments:
I like these open letters--will they become a regular feature?
I do enjoy writing them so it is a definet possibility. I stole the idea from another blogger, I can't remember who though....I think it was Margee at sportsquee though.
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