So this whole Semin situation just gets weirder and weirder, rendering my earlier tongue-in-cheek attempt at being witty and urbane completely lacking, a little mean, and if you read the comments, pretty much inaccurate. Except for the flight info, which I stand by.
But I leave it up here for public scrutiny - here in the Cheap Seats I accept when I have been wrong and choose to dedicate myself to spreading the correct information.
Anyways, according to this report and this one, things are not as the Russian Federation would have us all believe. What was first seen by many as just another example of Semin's need to mature and learn his place is now appearing more and more like he just got royally screwed. It's a bizarre thing for the Russian team to do and you have to wonder not only what their real motivation was but also what the impact will be on the morale of the Russian team. It seems that Ovechkin, at least, is taking it pretty hard. They're professionals and I'm sure they'll play hard, but they may find it difficult to go all out for a man who cut their teammate so suddenly.
Semin for his part seems to be responding in a mature and professional manner (so take that!), and in an interview with a reporter from Russia's Sport Express he said the following:
I wanted to play at the World Championships very much! I came to Moscow on the day I was told, but I couldn't make it to Novogorsk in time for the start of the camp because of the problems with tickets. I'll repeat again: Coach has the right to decide who to take and who not to take.This story is far from over...we'll see what happens in the next few days.
7 comments:
Ummmm.... Are you actually working today? :)
Oh my...well that is strange. Good thing he is being a man about it. Kind of interesting that they cut him though. Silly silly choice.
HG: 2 posts, that's it! I swear I'm working. Really. Look, if I wasn't working, it'd be 3 or 4 posts at least...come on, you've seen it happen. :)
I still think your flight info was a worthy contribution to the debate, and much more timely than the mainstream media's late take on this all.
oh grow up! it wasn't a silly choice! he knew what he had to do - yet completely ignored it. You want to be with family? That's great, then don't agree to come to the Worlds. Everybody would understand and whatnot! Don't make a commitment and then not uphold your end of the bargain. Russian National team has been plagued with bad discipline. And for once, one coach finally is doing something about the NHLers view on the team! They act as though they belong there - no, wrong, you have to earn your place! Yes, it might be harsh, but discipline is discipline. If Bikov lets it go, it creates ground for more incidents to come. And besides, it isn't the first time that it happened to Semin. He has done this before, in the junior team! Repeated offender. So maybe it was slightly harsh, but come on, the team there looks to win the championships, they can't be bothered with people like Semin. Besides, you should stop criticising if you do not know both sides of the story.
Hey Anonymous....who are you?
Anon: You make no sense.
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