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The War of 2024 is finally going ballistic in Florida, with sports commentators riled up about Canadian hockey chauvinism, including the harsh reaction of Canadian fans and commentators to the statement from Miami Herald sports columnist Greg Cote that Edmonton Oilers ace Connor McDavid is over-rated because he’s never won the Stanley Cup.
“Now that Canada is being all Judgy McJudgy over Greg Cote, and now that they think that they are holier than thou, I hope the Panthers win,” said Miami sports commentator Billy Gil on the popular mainstream Dan Le Batard show in Miami. “And I hope that Canada never wins the Stanley Cup again. And these miser canucks who think they’re better than the rest of us, they know hockey better than anybody else. Get the show? How about you get the Cup, which you haven’t for 30 years? And you’re not gonna this year. Because Connor McOver-rated is gonna choke and vomit all over himself all over again because he is no Wayne Gretzky who did it all on this own, and he had no help, ever.”
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My take
1. We’re not Judgy McJudgy in Canada. We’re Judgy McJudgyboat-face. Get it right, man.
2. Gotta love some perfectly ridiculous, over-the-top trash talk, all of it meant to incite and delight.
I don’t take seriously a word out of Gil’s mouth but he gave me a good laugh.
3. I am a proud Canadian hockey chauvinist. No doubt folks like me are insufferable to Americans, Russians, Swedes, Finns, Czech, Slovaks, and every other hockey nation that Canada so often beats on the world’s biggest hockey stages. I mean, it’s not me personally beating those countries, but it sometimes feels like it.
4. Make a list of greatest 10 players in hockey history. How many Americans on the list? Not one. But Connor McDavid is working his way onto that list.
Enough said.
5. It’s true what Gil said about Gretzky. Gretzky had no help in winning Stanley Cups, not ever, not unless you are a miserable Canuck stickler and include Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri, Grant Fuhr, Glenn Anderson, Kevin Lowe, etc.
Of course, whatever Gil said, he did it tongue-in-cheek to rile up fans of McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. He’s not going to succeed, because we put zero weight in what he has to say, but it looked like he had some fun doing it, so kudos to Gil.
Hockey commentary can be boring and deadly serious, full of head-scratching stats and obscure discussions of tactics. I appreciate Gil’s attempt to spice it up.
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