Thursday, November 30, 2006
Hoist 'er Up!
Item: Flames set to retire Mike Vernon's No. 30
Good deal. It's been a long time since the club did this; the only other number Calgary has retired is Lanny's #9 (I had the good fortune to be there, too, before a game in the 89/90 season against Hartford). I was never really a "fan" of his, but I evolved over time into a supporter.
Mainly, I felt like the average fan was way too hard on him (Calgary fans pre-Kipper were brutal on goalies in general). I thought the criticism about not making the one big save, especially contrasted against the constant BS praise for Grant Fuhr, was bogus.
[I still remember the first time I heard the ancient goalie joke, Calgary variation:
Friend: Hey, did you hear Mike Vernon almost got hit by the C-Train yesterday?
Matt (genuinely intrigued): No, really?
Friend: Yeah, luckily he squared up and it went through his legs.]
Vernon is also a hometown boy (first hockey game I ever attended, he was in net for the WHL's Wranglers), and he's a genuine character. There's always been rumours about him, and by "rumours" I mean "things that are obviously true, but that media are too polite to discuss directly". Al Macneil was on the radio yesterday talking about him, and said roughly, "You know, he liked to have a good time, but on game day he was always ready to play." Peter Maher and Rob Kerr were discussing him back in the summer, too, I believe in reference to his future in the game (i.e. scouting, coaching, broadcasting, none of the above). I paraphrase:
And the legend lives on -- here is the song that one corner of my C-Train car was singing after the G6 victory to win the '04 WCF (I report, you decide):
I swear I'm not kidding.
Good deal. It's been a long time since the club did this; the only other number Calgary has retired is Lanny's #9 (I had the good fortune to be there, too, before a game in the 89/90 season against Hartford). I was never really a "fan" of his, but I evolved over time into a supporter.
Mainly, I felt like the average fan was way too hard on him (Calgary fans pre-Kipper were brutal on goalies in general). I thought the criticism about not making the one big save, especially contrasted against the constant BS praise for Grant Fuhr, was bogus.
[I still remember the first time I heard the ancient goalie joke, Calgary variation:
Friend: Hey, did you hear Mike Vernon almost got hit by the C-Train yesterday?
Matt (genuinely intrigued): No, really?
Friend: Yeah, luckily he squared up and it went through his legs.]
Vernon is also a hometown boy (first hockey game I ever attended, he was in net for the WHL's Wranglers), and he's a genuine character. There's always been rumours about him, and by "rumours" I mean "things that are obviously true, but that media are too polite to discuss directly". Al Macneil was on the radio yesterday talking about him, and said roughly, "You know, he liked to have a good time, but on game day he was always ready to play." Peter Maher and Rob Kerr were discussing him back in the summer, too, I believe in reference to his future in the game (i.e. scouting, coaching, broadcasting, none of the above). I paraphrase:
Kerr: Vernon's never really been known as a thoughtful type, a student of the game, has he, Pete?
Maher: [eight-second belly laugh]
And the legend lives on -- here is the song that one corner of my C-Train car was singing after the G6 victory to win the '04 WCF (I report, you decide):
He's up,
he's down,
he's-at The-Rose-and-Crown,
Mikey Veeeee....
They shot,
he missed,
He's al-ways f***-ing pissed,
Mikey Veeeee....
he's down,
he's-at The-Rose-and-Crown,
Mikey Veeeee....
They shot,
he missed,
He's al-ways f***-ing pissed,
Mikey Veeeee....
I swear I'm not kidding.
# posted by Matt @ 10:33 am 
Comments:
here is the song that one corner of my C-Train car was singing
Why do I have the sneakin suspicion that you were the only one in that corner?
Oh, and Mike Vernon sucked.
If Mike Vernon had the arms of a gorilla Terry Crisp would still have job.
- Don Cherry, Rock 'em Sock 'em II as Mike Krushelnyski knocks a puck over a sprawled Mike Vernon to eliminate the Flames.
That, and the game 7 in 89 against the Flames are my enduring memories of him.
Personally, I was always Mike Vernon when I played road hockey because he had such a good glove hand. And because I couldn't pretend to be Allan Bester.
Mike Vernon finally gets his due. The only team the Flames couldn't get around was the Oilers. I don't see why that always hangs on Vernon. If he's immortalized in the eyes of Oiler fans for that Gretzky blast, what of the other 700 goalies Gretzky made look stupid at one time or another? Did they all suck, too?
There's always been rumours about him, and by "rumours" I mean "things that are obviously true, but that media are too polite to discuss directly"
He slept with Chris Pronger?
constant BS praise for Grant Fuhr
Fuhr: four Cup rings as a "starter" (noting that he split time during the 84 and 85 finals with Moog).
Vernon: two cup rings, one of which was with Detroit in 1997, and hell, just about any goalie would have looked good behind THAT team (see next season with Chris Osbad mending the twine).
BS Praise? Hardly. Which of those two is in the hall of fame, Vernon or Fuhr?
I do agree with whomever said it, how he's going up before #2 in Calgary is a head-scratcher indeed. MacInnis is a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer.
My question is this: beyond those three (Vernon, MacInnis, and MacDonald), who else is due to have their number go into the rafters of the Saddledump one day?
Niewendyk seems like a slam dunk, but beyond that....Suter perhaps? Gilmour didn't play there very long. Joey Mullen maybe? The real wildcard might be Theo Fleury....
In Edmonton, it's rather obvious that 11, 9 and 4 will go to the rafters (probably in that order). In Calgary, it's not as black-and-white.
You guys are fucking assholes. Give the man his due.
As if AL FUCKING HAMILTON is an immortal.
"Men, too, secrete the inhuman. At certain moments of lucidity, the mechanical aspects of their ges-
tures, their meaningless pantomime, makes silly everything that surrounds them. A man is talking on
the telephone behind a glass partition; you cannot hear him, but you see his incomprehensible dumb
show. You wonder why he is alive. This discomfort in the face of man's own inhumanity, this incalc-
ulable tumble before the image of what we are, this 'nausea' is called the absurd. Likewise the stranger who at certain moments comes to meet us in the mirror, the familiar and yet alarming brother
we encounter in our own photograph, is also the absurd."
-- Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus
You know, you fucking clowns are pathetic. Keep slapping each other on the back because you aren't the least bit clever. Especially you, Grabia.
Ya Cosh, ya fascist pig. You and your fat pockmarked fanboy pal wouldn't know a great player outside of Rectal Place. You suck.
ahh, you guys all think you're so clever - Sid's right.
Especially Andy - so clever in his cleverness it makes me ill.
Like that Camel guy said, Andy, go phone Cosh whilst staring in a mirror or at least at a picture of yourself in your orange Oilers' jacket - then we'll see who laughs last.
Hmmm?
HMMM?
I have been on this with my Flame fan friends. Mikey V was railed out of the this city back in the day. Now years later they want to embrace him a hero. wtf?
I don't say he was bad goalie just what message are the Flames saying here.... in 10 years or so they are they are going to be embracing Turek as a conquering hero?
I believe Pepper or Otto should be up there 1st because they got some really good beat down from Cement hands back in the glory years.
But hey it is all good he had fairly good numbers just odd the way he was treated by the fans at the end of his run..
I guess it is just another example of revisionist history at work
Fluery has to get up there, right? He has to. And though even I liked Otto, I don't know if his number should be retired.
I liked Vernon (and met him once - what a nice guy!) but I would say MacInnes first and foremost and then start talking about the rest.
And Theo would have to be there, no doubt.
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here is the song that one corner of my C-Train car was singing
Why do I have the sneakin suspicion that you were the only one in that corner?
Oh, and Mike Vernon sucked.
If Mike Vernon had the arms of a gorilla Terry Crisp would still have job.
- Don Cherry, Rock 'em Sock 'em II as Mike Krushelnyski knocks a puck over a sprawled Mike Vernon to eliminate the Flames.
That, and the game 7 in 89 against the Flames are my enduring memories of him.
Personally, I was always Mike Vernon when I played road hockey because he had such a good glove hand. And because I couldn't pretend to be Allan Bester.
Mike Vernon finally gets his due. The only team the Flames couldn't get around was the Oilers. I don't see why that always hangs on Vernon. If he's immortalized in the eyes of Oiler fans for that Gretzky blast, what of the other 700 goalies Gretzky made look stupid at one time or another? Did they all suck, too?
# posted by 
: November 30, 2006 2:48 pm
: November 30, 2006 2:48 pm There's always been rumours about him, and by "rumours" I mean "things that are obviously true, but that media are too polite to discuss directly"
He slept with Chris Pronger?
# posted by : November 30, 2006 5:30 pm
: November 30, 2006 5:30 pm constant BS praise for Grant Fuhr
Fuhr: four Cup rings as a "starter" (noting that he split time during the 84 and 85 finals with Moog).
Vernon: two cup rings, one of which was with Detroit in 1997, and hell, just about any goalie would have looked good behind THAT team (see next season with Chris Osbad mending the twine).
BS Praise? Hardly. Which of those two is in the hall of fame, Vernon or Fuhr?
I do agree with whomever said it, how he's going up before #2 in Calgary is a head-scratcher indeed. MacInnis is a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer.
My question is this: beyond those three (Vernon, MacInnis, and MacDonald), who else is due to have their number go into the rafters of the Saddledump one day?
Niewendyk seems like a slam dunk, but beyond that....Suter perhaps? Gilmour didn't play there very long. Joey Mullen maybe? The real wildcard might be Theo Fleury....
In Edmonton, it's rather obvious that 11, 9 and 4 will go to the rafters (probably in that order). In Calgary, it's not as black-and-white.
You guys are fucking assholes. Give the man his due.
As if AL FUCKING HAMILTON is an immortal.
# posted by : November 30, 2006 6:53 pm
: November 30, 2006 6:53 pm "Men, too, secrete the inhuman. At certain moments of lucidity, the mechanical aspects of their ges-
tures, their meaningless pantomime, makes silly everything that surrounds them. A man is talking on
the telephone behind a glass partition; you cannot hear him, but you see his incomprehensible dumb
show. You wonder why he is alive. This discomfort in the face of man's own inhumanity, this incalc-
ulable tumble before the image of what we are, this 'nausea' is called the absurd. Likewise the stranger who at certain moments comes to meet us in the mirror, the familiar and yet alarming brother
we encounter in our own photograph, is also the absurd."
-- Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus
You know, you fucking clowns are pathetic. Keep slapping each other on the back because you aren't the least bit clever. Especially you, Grabia.
# posted by : November 30, 2006 7:35 pm
: November 30, 2006 7:35 pm Ya Cosh, ya fascist pig. You and your fat pockmarked fanboy pal wouldn't know a great player outside of Rectal Place. You suck.
# posted by : December 01, 2006 12:03 am
: December 01, 2006 12:03 am ahh, you guys all think you're so clever - Sid's right.
Especially Andy - so clever in his cleverness it makes me ill.
Like that Camel guy said, Andy, go phone Cosh whilst staring in a mirror or at least at a picture of yourself in your orange Oilers' jacket - then we'll see who laughs last.
Hmmm?
HMMM?
I have been on this with my Flame fan friends. Mikey V was railed out of the this city back in the day. Now years later they want to embrace him a hero. wtf?
I don't say he was bad goalie just what message are the Flames saying here.... in 10 years or so they are they are going to be embracing Turek as a conquering hero?
I believe Pepper or Otto should be up there 1st because they got some really good beat down from Cement hands back in the glory years.
But hey it is all good he had fairly good numbers just odd the way he was treated by the fans at the end of his run..
I guess it is just another example of revisionist history at work
# posted by : December 01, 2006 12:26 pm
: December 01, 2006 12:26 pm Fluery has to get up there, right? He has to. And though even I liked Otto, I don't know if his number should be retired.
I liked Vernon (and met him once - what a nice guy!) but I would say MacInnes first and foremost and then start talking about the rest.
And Theo would have to be there, no doubt.
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