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Kings News: Rob Blake's No. 4 jersey will be retired by the LA Kings

funky said:
Been a Kings fan since 88, ya one of many who followed Gretzky from the Oilers. I watched Blake come up with the Kings and he quickly became my favorite player. I was crushed when he left as most were and resented the fact he did.

It was some very dark years for the Kings, nothing went right, every star player got injured and beyond our top lines was roster fodder.

I was pissed and I wasn't happy when he came back as he wasn't the same high end player that left. But I put myself in his place and I would have done the same thing. He had no chance of winning in L.A at the time. Hell Gretzky did the same thing when he went to St Louis, and I can't be mad at him.

The one thing Blake did do to win me back is one very cold winter morning in Calgary, players were running from the hotel to the bus to avoid the frigid weather Blake and Matty N seen two of us standing outside in Kings jerseys and detoured over to talk and sign autographs. Not only did the two do that but they talked for ten minutes about the team, the rookies and a prospect named Jack Johnson. It was interesting on Blake's take. I was really surprised when Blake went back to the bus and brought out a bunch of the team to sign autographs. He was very professional and really loved the game. That brought me back on the Blake train. The funniest thing was a gust of wind came up and blew an autograph card down the street and it was Blake that gave chase and retrieved it, guess it brought out a human side in him that I didn't expect from a high paid star athlete.

Anyways I am going to look at it as I spent 10 years cheering for him, now he's back helping our current winning organization. I am happy to see him get his number retired, happy to have Gretzkys statue out front and glad to see Luc get his due, because every time I see one of those things I can conjure up many happy memories from a pretty crappy time in our teams history.
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Great story. As I have said here and in other forums, I have no hatred for Rob Blake. I don't know Rob Blake the person at all. I still don't think he is "rafter material" as a Los Angeles King. My bar is apparently much higher than some of the bars for other people. I think his uninspired play in his 2nd stint with the Kings is what did it for me.

My problem at this point is more with the organization and how tone deaf it is to the fans that supported them through some tough times. If there are fans that don't want to see Blake's number retired they come from that segment of the fan base.
 
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KINGS17 said:
Great story. As I have said here and in other forums, I have no hatred for Rob Blake. I don't know Rob Blake the person at all. I still don't think he is "rafter material" as a Los Angeles King. My bar is apparently much higher than some of the bars for other people. I think his uninspired play in his 2nd stint with the Kings is what did it for me.
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yeah, but his uninspired play in his 2nd stint got the Kings Drew Doughty...

That alone gets Blake in the rafter imho... :p:
 
Reclamation Project said:
This thread is like monkeys at a zoo throwing **** at each other.
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Blake is a polarizing figure in Kings' history and any thread here on him is going to reveal that. If this board's population is a true reflection of the Kings' fan base, then the organization's intent is clear in my eyes: "let's get this abortion over with now and be done with it." The HHOF decision made all the difference. How else to explain the quick decision to put him up in the rafters but still with no legends night?
 
You may notice the giant mushroom cloud rising from the last 100+ posts of this thread.

Respect one another's opinions and their right to hold them.
 
yWPitoP.png
 
KINGS17 said:
Really? Please quote a single post where someone said it was all Blake's fault.
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There won't be anyone able to come up with a single thing. It's just beyond hilarious at this point, at the beginning of this thread we had someone proclaim that anyone who was against Blake's number going up should not be a fan of the team, then we had you know who making posts telling us that we "really didn't think that way" when we said we were done booing but didn't want his jersey retired and now more fallicies from these guys.
 
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jfont said:
yeah, but his uninspired play in his 2nd stint got the Kings Drew Doughty...

That alone gets Blake in the rafter imho... :p:
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As I said, for some it's a really low bar. Perhaps if Blake had to use your bar for the limbo, we would have seen the organization make the right decision.

Herby said:
There won't be anyone able to come up with a single thing. It's just beyond hilarious at this point, at the beginning of this thread we had someone proclaim that anyone who was against Blake's number going up should not be a fan of the team, then we had you know who making posts telling us that we "really didn't think that way" when we said we were done booing but didn't want his jersey retired and now more fallicies from these guys.
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Well the Kings have won two Stanley Cups now. According to some that means the organization has our leave to put whatever crap laundry up that they want to hang in the rafters. It's a shame, because it diminishes those that will follow that are much more deserving of the honor. As a King, Rob Blake can't carry Dustin Brown's jock.
 
KINGS17 said:
As a King, Rob Blake can't carry Dustin Brown's jock.
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That's EXACTLY it. Was Blake a great player? Absolutely. Was Blake a great Captain for the Kings organization? Hardly.

His finest moment was being a stellar acquisition for the Colorado Avalanche....so let him go to Denver and have them raise his number to the rafters.
 
Whiskeypete said:
retired numbers, legends nights and statues are a reflection of a team's past history and the players that are endured to its fanbase.

it is tough to give a thumbs up to any player that has a negative polarizing effect with its own fanbase
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i go back to my second post from weeks ago. this is why the announcement of this is toxic. weeks later and pushing 300 posts......this is why it is a poor decision.

Blake is and will remain a polarizing influence when it comes to fan's reactions. there is no black or white on this topic, only grey.

i find it hard for any team (not just the Kings), to retire or honor a player that creates this type of dissension among its own fanbase. some will like seeing 4 hanging in the rafters, others will not like it.

i dont recall ever seeing or hearing anyone *****ing about Rogie, Marcel, Wayne, Dave or Luc's #s in the rafters ever. Rob won't have the same welcome
 
Different bars for different people. I don't see why that's so shocking and I hate that it drives people against each other but I understand.

Again, I point to the Flames/Theo Fleury as maybe a semi-parallel example. Great player? Abso-freaking-lutely. Number still hasn't been retired, and maybe a local can chime in a bit more, but my understanding is his actions divided the fanbase a little bit. http://www.calgarysun.com/sports/hockey/2010/08/21/15094301.html

Will he get it eventually? Probably, as Blake is here--but it's contentious.

And again, that's just if you buy the off-ice stuff. I personally just think he's borderline for on-the-ice stuff but I'm still pretty ambivalent about the whole thing.

Edit: Whiskeypete said it better than I did. As usual!
 
Brad Doty said:
Different bars for different people. I don't see why that's so shocking and I hate that it drives people against each other but I understand.

Again, I point to the Flames/Theo Fleury as maybe a semi-parallel example. Great player? Abso-freaking-lutely. Number still hasn't been retired, and maybe a local can chime in a bit more, but my understanding is his actions divided the fanbase a little bit. http://www.calgarysun.com/sports/hockey/2010/08/21/15094301.html

Will he get it eventually? Probably, as Blake is here--but it's contentious.

And again, that's just if you buy the off-ice stuff. I personally just think he's borderline for on-the-ice stuff but I'm still pretty ambivalent about the whole thing.

Edit: Whiskeypete said it better than I did. As usual!
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on a side note and something far more interesting than this topic and speaking of Theo.

NHLN had the '96 world cup game on last night US vs. CAN. god that was a great tournament. of course Theo was on team CAN. within 5-minutes of watching the game, my hatred for that F came back.

it was terrific to sit there and watch that again. i probably see re-airings of it every few years. that may have been the best all around 'world' tourney in modern history.

the amount of talent on the ice for the big countries was an all-star / HHOF listing of players from the 80s to the 00's. absolutely amazing hockey to watch. anyone to young to have watched it live back in the day, i encourage you to find the games and view them.

i still have the entire tournament on VHS someplace in the basement....now if i only had a VCR
 
CBGB said:
How old are you Ziggy?

Were you one of the fans that believed the lies Rob told time and time again? I've interviewed EVERYONE (except Blake who refused) about this situation and have written about it many times.

We're LOYAL FANS.

And the LOYAL FANS who were lied to by Rob Blake, will NOT forgive Rob Blake for what he did and to simply say "Grow Up" is pretty immature on your part.

It's how we FEEL and have carried with us for years.

Rob Blake lied to the fans. Us. You and me. Period.

He said he wanted to test free agency. He didn't. He took LESS to stay with Colorado than the Kings offered (the Colorado deal was 5 years with an OPTION for the 5th which they did NOT pick up).

The fans that choose to boo (myself included) have a RIGHT to boo.

To have his name in the rafters over Simmer or Hrudey is blasphemous.

You say "What did Vachon and Dioone ever do? Okay, WHAT DID ROB BLAKE EVER DO FOR THE KINGS?

I won't be attending the game and I probably won't be attending others after that. For the Kings to reward a player for screwing over the fans (twice) is not an organization I care to support.

That's just how I feel and many others do as well.

Staples will still be filled with fans who were just kids when the Blake fiasco happened and don't care.

We do.
l
So no, I will not "grow up" - Enron lied. Grow up. Madoff Lied. Grow up. Nixon lied. Grow up.

A liar is a liar.

I hope the mods find this rant civil.
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All I can say is hurray...

I in turn have will become a big Clippers hater with them reportedly hiring that clown Timmy L back.. I thought LA had a bunch of crap fans according to him..
 
Whiskeypete said:
on a side note and something far more interesting than this topic and speaking of Theo.

NHLN had the '96 world cup game on last night US vs. CAN. god that was a great tournament. of course Theo was on team CAN. within 5-minutes of watching the game, my hatred for that F came back.

it was terrific to sit there and watch that again. i probably see re-airings of it every few years. that may have been the best all around 'world' tourney in modern history.

the amount of talent on the ice for the big countries was an all-star / HHOF listing of players from the 80s to the 00's. absolutely amazing hockey to watch. anyone to young to have watched it live back in the day, i encourage you to find the games and view them.

i still have the entire tournament on VHS someplace in the basement....now if i only had a VCR
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Was this the U.S. team that Ron Wilson coached while sporting the crew cut?

If it is, yes that was an awesome game.
 
CBGB said:
How old are you Ziggy?

Were you one of the fans that believed the lies Rob told time and time again? I've interviewed EVERYONE (except Blake who refused) about this situation and have written about it many times.

We're LOYAL FANS.

And the LOYAL FANS who were lied to by Rob Blake, will NOT forgive Rob Blake for what he did and to simply say "Grow Up" is pretty immature on your part.

It's how we FEEL and have carried with us for years.

Rob Blake lied to the fans. Us. You and me. Period.

He said he wanted to test free agency. He didn't. He took LESS to stay with Colorado than the Kings offered (the Colorado deal was 5 years with an OPTION for the 5th which they did NOT pick up).

The fans that choose to boo (myself included) have a RIGHT to boo.

To have his name in the rafters over Simmer or Hrudey is blasphemous.

You say "What did Vachon and Dioone ever do? Okay, WHAT DID ROB BLAKE EVER DO FOR THE KINGS?

I won't be attending the game and I probably won't be attending others after that. For the Kings to reward a player for screwing over the fans (twice) is not an organization I care to support.

That's just how I feel and many others do as well.

Staples will still be filled with fans who were just kids when the Blake fiasco happened and don't care.

We do.

So no, I will not "grow up" - Enron lied. Grow up. Madoff Lied. Grow up. Nixon lied. Grow up.

A liar is a liar.

I hope the mods find this rant civil.
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There is NO forgiveness.

I was there and suffered from the selfishness.

If you don't approve, you weren't there to suffer the humiliation
 
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