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Why I Could Never Root for this Year's U.S. Olympic team.


Neb00rs

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Russia's tactics suck too.  I agree that the big ice has hurt my enjoyment of the tournament, as well as the timing of the games - I wouldn't mind if they didn't go to South Korea in 2018.

I think McKenzie tweeted yesterday that a lot of NHL brass are dead set against Korea 2018.  I can't remember the last Olympics where this many players have been injured.  Tavares, Zetterberg, Barkov, Kopecky, Martin and Zuccarello is a pretty impressive list

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I think McKenzie tweeted yesterday that a lot of NHL brass are dead set against Korea 2018.  I can't remember the last Olympics where this many players have been injured.  Tavares, Zetterberg, Barkov, Kopecky, Martin and Zuccarello is a pretty impressive list

 

Not to mention that these are severe injuries too.

 

Barkov is about a month.

Zetterberg is 8 weeks.

Zuc is 4 weeks.

Martin was just an illness I think.

Kopecky is indefinite.

Tavares is out until September.

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If the US won the gold you wouldn't even have posted this thread. You're a joke.

 

You made a weak and mean-toned point and I made a joke, lighten up. You don't decide how I feel or if I wouldn't have posted this thread if the USA had won. The article I posted in the OP is what spurred me to make my post.

 

On a side note, I am really surprised at all the personal insults coming from people today. It's like: we're NJDevs, we don't do that kind of stuff...usually.

Edited by Neb00rs
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If you can't root for your own country regardless who is on the team you can go fvck yourself.

Agreed, Team USA is more important than the New Jersey Devils.  One is our country and one is a business.

 

I know Islanders fans were rooting against Team USA simply for leaving Okposo off the team.

I'm sure most Islanders fans were rooting for USA, but the ones who weren't can go fvck themselves.  I don't care if Team USA was comprised of the entire Rangers' roster, I will root for USA. 

 

This isn't some blind patriotic mumbo-jumbo either--I hope I don't turn this thread too political but I haven't been a fan of our government for over a decade, but that doesn't stop me from rooting for my fellow Americans in every competition.  I know some people that are indifferent to Team USA because of their disagreement with the government and I find that ridiculous.  The athletes representing the United States have more in common with me and you than the politicians we may disagree with, and they also have much more in common with us than the athletes of any other nation.  If I was good enough at anything to be eligible for the Olympics, I would be representing the US regardless of political beliefs.  International sports is about the athletes, not about the government spectators, and not about the club teams that the athletes play on during non-international competition.  Go Team USA.

Excluding the inferior teams that I play on, Team USA is my favorite hockey team.  The New Jersey Devils are second.

Edited by devilsfan26
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While I find it very funny that the OP used a joke column by a Canadian writer to help his point (not a joke in that it is crap, but the point of the column was meant in jest), and while I think his reasons for hating each player a little ridiculous, it's perfectly fine that he couldn't get into rooting for Team USA. Not sure why he deserves a lot of hate.

 

You spend all year, every year rooting against these players, and they get re-branded as Team USA for two weeks every 4 years and you HAVE to love them, now?

 

For some Team USA > NJ Devils and the NHL. For some it isn't. There doesn't have to be a right or a wrong.

Edited by devilsrule33
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You made a weak and mean-toned point and I made a joke, lighten up. You don't decide how I feel or if I wouldn't have posted this thread if the USA had won. The article I posted in the OP is what spurred me to make my post.

 

On a side note, I am really surprised at all the personal insults coming from people today. It's like: we're NJDevs, we don't do that kind of stuff...usually.

not enough mods on here and the one or two that dangle around never do a thing.. HF forum is much more policed
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Personally I hope the nhl does not participate in the Olympics anymore. Not only because of injuries but a lot of people seem to still root for individuals instead of the team itself. That's just not what the Olympics is supposed to be about.

There's a good chance we would be sending over people like Schneider, Larsson, Greene, and possible a couple of others in 2018. I wouldn't I wouldn't want any of them getting injured like Tavares.

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It's a good thing Brown, with all his "heart", was selected so he could ride the bench this game.

Because it's not like Bobby Ryan could've helped with his scoring ability..

I hope Burke has nothing to do with the selection process next time. If the NHL participates

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It's a good thing Brown, with all his "heart", was selected so he could ride the bench this game.

Because it's not like Bobby Ryan could've helped with his scoring ability..

I hope Burke has nothing to do with the selection process next time. If the NHL participates

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

Why stop at Burke...clean out all the old guard too like Poile and Don Waddell.  Maybe next time they shouldn't mock Dean for giving a Keith Yandle thesis.

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Agreed, Team USA is more important than the New Jersey Devils.  One is our country and one is a business.

 

I'm sure most Islanders fans were rooting for USA, but the ones who weren't can go fvck themselves.  I don't care if Team USA was comprised of the entire Rangers' roster, I will root for USA. 

 

This isn't some blind patriotic mumbo-jumbo either--I hope I don't turn this thread too political but I haven't been a fan of our government for over a decade, but that doesn't stop me from rooting for my fellow Americans in every competition.  I know some people that are indifferent to Team USA because of their disagreement with the government and I find that ridiculous.  The athletes representing the United States have more in common with me and you than the politicians we may disagree with, and they also have much more in common with us than the athletes of any other nation.  If I was good enough at anything to be eligible for the Olympics, I would be representing the US regardless of political beliefs.  International sports is about the athletes, not about the government spectators, and not about the club teams that the athletes play on during non-international competition.  Go Team USA.

Excluding the inferior teams that I play on, Team USA is my favorite hockey team.  The New Jersey Devils are second.

 

It has nothing to do with politics.  Team USA is a group of All-Stars that get together randomly for two weeks every four years.  There's no emotional investement in that team just because they have the uniform on.  Granted you don't see any of the Olympians really between Olympics but at least with amateurs you know they train their whole life for this.  The pros train their whole life to play in the NHL and win the Stanley Cup, they're just hired guns in a competition like this, much like the basketball Dream Teams. 

 

If anything I'm at the point where I'm glad they're getting shown up now so they DO clean out all the old guard in management.

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It has nothing to do with politics.  Team USA is a group of All-Stars that get together randomly for two weeks every four years.  There's no emotional investement in that team just because they have the uniform on.  Granted you don't see any of the Olympians really between Olympics but at least with amateurs you know they train their whole life for this.  The pros train their whole life to play in the NHL and win the Stanley Cup, they're just hired guns in a competition like this, much like the basketball Dream Teams. 

 

If anything I'm at the point where I'm glad they're getting shown up now so they DO clean out all the old guard in management.

Agreed. The Devils are much more important to me than Team USA.  I easily spend a dozen hours a week watching games, chatting, visiting message boards, etc. Team USA, not so much

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It has nothing to do with politics.  Team USA is a group of All-Stars that get together randomly for two weeks every four years.  There's no emotional investement in that team just because they have the uniform on.  Granted you don't see any of the Olympians really between Olympics but at least with amateurs you know they train their whole life for this.  The pros train their whole life to play in the NHL and win the Stanley Cup, they're just hired guns in a competition like this, much like the basketball Dream Teams. 

 

If anything I'm at the point where I'm glad they're getting shown up now so they DO clean out all the old guard in management.

There are no hockey players that train all their life for the Olympics.  If the pros weren't in it, it would be guys who just weren't good enough to go pro or haven't been drafted yet.  It wouldn't be guys who dream of playing in the Olympics, and the same can be said of any sport that has professional leagues.  That doesn't change the fact that this is a team of elite hockey players representing my home country against the best that other countries have to offer. 

 

International sports mean more than the pros to me because there are no salaries and the players are playing for their country, an entity that has real meaning, rather than playing for whatever billionaire owner gave them the biggest contract to be a product in their business.  Players can't be traded or sign with another team, their country is always their country.  There is no entry draft in place to promote every team getting a chance to contend every few years, the countries just need to produce better players.

 

While I am a fan of the NHL, it just doesn't have the same meaning to me.  The Devils' players generally speaking really don't have much attachment to New Jersey.  They are just hired to play here.  "New Jersey Devils" is really just a business, but Team USA has meaning outside of hockey.  In international sports, and in college too, the players have the same connection to the team that the fans do.

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I didn't and still don't like some of the selections that made the team and some of the ones that were wrongfully left off, BUT I still rooted all olympics and was proud to do so.  I don't think guys like Calahan, Stepan, Orpik, Pacioretty, etc should have been there, while Ryan, Okposo, Greene and a few other should have been there.  

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