McDavid promotion and the hatred from fans?

[rypper]

Don't hate the player, hate the team, fans etc. He's just catching strays.

 

[BFLO]

From my perspective:

I don't get the same warm and fuzzy feelings from McDavid as I do from other star players like Crosby, Ovechkin, Kucherov, Hughes, etc.

There's no doubt that McDavid is the best player in the league. I get that the NHL wants to market that, but I think there's a way to do it without undercutting other teams and players.

If you look at the commentary and analysis from the SCF, there's a clear picture being painted - "Edmonton is the best team ever and McDavid is the best player ever and...oh, there's another team here too...ummm...Florida?" When the play-by-play commentators and analysts are falling over themselves to gush about McDavid and the Oilers despite them being down 3-0 at one time, it completely undercuts the performance of Florida and its players. The general sentiment being pushed is - Florida isn't winning...Edmonton is just losing. That's not fair to Barkov, Matthews, Bobrovsky, etc and it gives unearned credit to the Edmonton team that, again was down 3-0 at one time.

When a single-player is hyperbolized and pushed to the extent that he is, it gets tiresome, especially when hockey and a cup run are a team effort.

Matthews plays for the Florida Panthers? I guess this is a leafs thread now

 

[Hennessy]

The persecution complex from certain fans doesn't help.
And obviously there's some salty folks from within the same province that will criticize anything done by the other team.

As for myself, I was sick of McDavid before he was even drafted, and that constant barrage hasn't exactly slowed. It's the exact same reason and circumstances as to why I didn't like Crosby.
Has nothing to do with the player, just the incessant media attention all the freakin' time.

 

[Canovin]

what is your kind of player?

They have pretty different styles.

He likes his players wearing bikinis

 

[Beezeral]

It was annoying when he was getting talked about as the Conn Smythe winner when down 3-0 in the series. Now that he's dragged the Oilers back into the series on his back, he deserves all the praise he's been getting.

 

[stealth1]

The persecution complex from certain fans doesn't help.
And obviously there's some salty folks from within the same province that will criticize anything done by the other team.

As for myself, I was sick of McDavid before he was even drafted, and that constant barrage hasn't exactly slowed. It's the exact same reason and circumstances as to why I didn't like Crosby.
Has nothing to do with the player, just the incessant media attention all the freakin' time.

I feel opposite. IMO the media attention is what's needed in the NHL. IMO it's a major reason they can't draw more casual fans in the US. Your average casual fan wants to see stars and dominance. I'm enjoying watching him dominate with 8 points in 2 games.

I honestly think the league and a lot of it's fans are too old school in believing the team game junk.

 

[BLNY]

Reading through the different playoff threads, I've never seen so much hatred for a top player in the league in my life. I don't get it. For the longest time it's been said the league doesn't promote its stars enough, they finally do and people hate on it.

My question is why?

I recall more vitriol for Sid - especially in the first ten years of his career. It stemmed largely from the fact he developed a reputation early on for whining and being lippy with the refs.

It was annoying when he was getting talked about as the Conn Smythe winner when down 3-0 in the series. Now that he's dragged the Oilers back into the series on his back, he deserves all the praise he's been getting.

Even if they got swept, he'd have deserved serious consideration. It's not an award for best Finals performance. I would likely have leaned towards Bob or Sasha though. His effort in the last two games, even if they lose tonight; it should be his. Record for assists in a single playoff. Only third player to exceed 40 points in a playoff.

 

[M88K]

A lot of the hate is driven by the broadcast.
They literally drop to their knees with their mouths open at every little thing he does.
Same shit happened with MacKinnon in the Stars-Avs series.
Guy was a nonfactor in 90% of the series and they wouldn't shut up about how great he was all the while the on ice results were directly contrary to praise.

It's one thing when it's back to back 4p nights to will you team back into a series to start praising him, but when they're down 3-0 and all they're talking about is how great McDavid is (which is obviously true), all the while the Panthers are handedly winning it's tiring. Especially when he wasn't much of a factor in the outcome despite the non-stop drooling over his play
Nobody turns on a game to hear them talk incessantly about 1 player, who at that point hadn't done much. Then factor in, that this far in the PO you can't just turn to an alternative broadcast to avoid it. You're left with mute and/or trying to sync up radio broadcast, which just builds the hate.


They literally did the same shit with Bedard and the "Chasing Greatness" Gretzky counter when he scored his first goal.
only 893 to go. I get Chicago has nothing going on outside of Bedard, but they're literally doing everything in their power to make sure nobody watches with that shit.

 

[CanadienShark]

Crosby got more hate for sure. But lately McDavid has been getting hate on especially from Pens fans. First from McDavid dethroning Crosby and eventually Mario in the next coming years.

Mostly just @daver and some very loud Canucks and Flames fans.

 

[Canovin]

It was annoying when he was getting talked about as the Conn Smythe winner when down 3-0 in the series. Now that he's dragged the Oilers back into the series on his back, he deserves all the praise he's been getting.

McDavid had 34 points before the 8 points in 2 games. 34 points isn't considered worthy of Conn Smythe to you?

 

[stealth1]

A lot of the hate is driven by the broadcast.
They literally drop to their knees with their mouths open at every little thing he does.
Same shit happened with MacKinnon in the Stars-Avs series.
Guy was a nonfactor in 90% of the series and they wouldn't shut up about how great he was all the while the on ice results were directly contrary to praise.

It's one thing when it's back to back 4p nights to will you team back into a series to start praising him, but when they're down 3-0 and all they're talking about is how great McDavid is (which is obviously true), all the while the Panthers are handedly winning it's tiring. Especially when he wasn't much of a factor in the outcome despite the non-stop drooling over his play
Nobody turns on a game to hear them talk incessantly about 1 player, who at that point hadn't done much. Then factor in, that this far in the PO you can't just turn to an alternative broadcast to avoid it. You're left with mute and/or trying to sync up radio broadcast


They literally did the same shit with Bedard and the "Chasing Greatness" Gretzky counter when he scored his first goal.
only 893 to go. I get Chicago has nothing going on outside of Bedard, but they're literally doing everything in their power to make sure nobody watches with that shit.

As I posted earlier, it feels like the hardcore NHL fan is too old school in their mindset. Stars are what casual fans want. They want to see the stars shine and dominate.

 

[CanadienShark]

People were still calling him out for lack of leadership and playoff performance before this year's playoff, when he had gone close to 2P/G in the previous two. Some are just arguing in bad faith, but plenty of people are just stuck in how they decided to feel about McDavid several years ago.

The best players in the game often have haters though. The way people talk about Crosby now is a far cry from how people used to talk about him.

I like how Crosby has this new narrative that he was always an elite two way centre, even though he didn't develop that aspect of the game until he started to fall off offensively. Full credit to him adapting though.

 

[JianYang]

This isn't unique to hockey. Another example is LeBron, or even Michael Jordan before him. There will be people who love them and others who will hope for their failure.

When you are anointed as the the 'next one", it's going to illicit reactions on both ends of the spectrum, and it's usually when a player of that caliber retires is when they get more universally appreciated.

 

[M88K]

As I posted earlier, it feels like the hardcore NHL fan is too old school in their mindset. Stars are what casual fans want. They want to see the stars shine and dominate.

says you.
I don't know any casual fans that care about player a, just that team a wins

 

[stealth1]

says you.
I don't know any casual fans that care about player a, just that team a wins

Look at the NBA, people tune in to see guys like LeBron and Stef

 

[Killer Orcas]

Don't hate the player, hate the team, fans etc. He's just catching strays.

This sums it up best and every fan base has them including ours. People who just spout out the dumbest stuff. Oilers in final of course those people will be spouting like I said every fan base has them. Some teams just have more fans so looks worse. Enjoy the game people.

 

[Treb]

Envy for the best ......quite common

Nothing to do with envy, everything to do with how obnoxious people have been with both.

Is McDavid a great player? Yes.

Would I want McDavid on my team? Absolutely.

Do I like him or his cult following? No.

 

[Based Anime Fan]

The hate he's going to get is gonna be unreal when he does what Gretzky lacked the balls to do, come back home and win a cup for #CanadasTeam.

GTFO with this shit.

 

[M88K]

Look at the NBA, people tune in to see guys like LeBron and Stef

That's the NBA, which isn't comparable to the NHL at all.
Basketball is barely a team sport at the NBA level.
I turned some of the finals on this year, because the mavs made it and while i don't really give a f*** about them, it was something to fill the time.
And I think I'd rather be stabbed than watch an NBA game. That shit is so boring. If you don't have a vested interest in a specific player, you can't enjoy that shit. I don't know that it's even better than Soccer or Baseball anymore.
I don't know how long it's been like that, but they clearly made the rules so that "star" players can pretty much do as they damn well please.
They basically geared the entire game towards allowing stars to dominate games. Clearly it works for them, but that'll never work in Hockey. It's not something the NHL should try and emulate either.

 

[NVious]

GTFO with this shit.

Deal with it anime boy, he's #ComingHome

 

[stealth1]

That's the NBA, which isn't comparable to the NHL at all.
Basketball is barely a team sport at the NBA level.
I turned some of the finals on this year, because the mavs made it and while i don't really give a f*** about them, it was something to fill the time.
And I think I'd rather be stabbed than watch an NBA game. That shit is so boring. If you don't have a vested interest in a specific player, you can't enjoy that shit. I don't know that it's even better than Soccer or Baseball anymore.
I don't know how long it's been like that, but they clearly made the rules so that "star" players can pretty much do as they damn well please.
They basically geared the entire game towards allowing stars to dominate games. Clearly it works for them, but that'll never work in Hockey. It's not something the NHL should try and emulate either.

I disagree. I don't think the NHL needs to go as far as the NBA goes for their stars. I do feel the NHL needs to go back to how the game was called coming out of the first lockout. Call everything, and let the speed and stars shine.

One thing I can't stand is when a player dumps the puck into the corner and the d man is allowed to interfere with the player that dumped it in so his partner can get the puck.

 

[PhysicalGraffiti]

Hard to promote a guy who has the same personality as a cardboard cutout of a player.

I don't hate him, and it's fun to watch him when he isn't playing my team.

But it sucks the best player is such a dullard. He doesn't have to be crazy and wild, but I don't know how often I've even seem him smile.

 

[M88K]

I disagree. I don't think the NHL needs to go as far as the NBA goes for their stars. I do feel the NHL needs to go back to how the game was called coming out of the first lockout. Call everything, and let the speed and stars shine.

One thing I can't stand is when a player dumps the puck into the corner and the d man is allowed to interfere with the player that dumped it in so his partner can get the puck.

There's adjustments the NHL could make, which is more about enforcing the rules as they're written and allowing less interpretation.
Scoring is already up a ton, it was even higher than 2005 this year.

 

[Hoglander]

It's definitely broadcast-driven (and a small portion of Oilers fans that make the rest of the fanbase look like obnoxious imbeciles).

Just watch a highlight package after watching some of the games. The other team scores a nice goal on a pretty passing play, but they skip that to instead show a McDavid burst of speed through the neutral zone that ends in a blocked shot. They drool over nothing-plays, as if he's the only player that matters.

Something recent that annoyed me, was Craig Button on air demanding that there be a suspension to the Canucks (Soucy), but the guy was M.I.A when Bennett and Draisaitl made blatant headshots that actually knocked star players (Marchand and Barkov) out of the games. It's the obvious fanboy favoritism that pisses me off.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

This is pretty soft.

I don’t hear a lot of hate for McDavid.

More hate for the Oilers.