Seravalli comes in hot with an all-time tone deaf season prediction

[StreetHawk]

What's even scarier is that he is president of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

This wasn't a twitter/X post to get something out there quickly. He took the time to write out his predictions for all clubs and worded it the way he did....

 

[thaman8765678]

Can we just cancel this guy, that phrasing is so tone deaf.

He also is a massive Oilers fan, and media personnel are supposed to try to be unbiased. Which he isn't. Because he has McDavid and Draisatl jerseys framed in his house.

 

[Osprey]

Why he felt the need to include any reference to the death at all is beyond me.

I imagine that it's because he really did mean that they would be that bad because he passed and wanted to communicate that, but he didn't want to say it outright, so he tried to hint at it with phrasing that he thought would sound better.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

that's the sitting president of the PHWA, for the record

 

[Figgy44]

It honestly feels like he was trying to maximize clicks by shoehorning Gaudreau as a keyword. Optics wise, it understandably blew up in his face.

It's not a problem for him thinking CBJ is a candidate for the draft lottery. But him trying several times to salvage that message with the Gaudreau death in it intact... dude wtf.

 

[HugeInTheShire]

This. Doesn't matter how many times he tries to rephrase it, it's not getting any better after he screwed it up as badly as he did the first time. If he legit thinks CBJ will win the lottery this year, for whatever reason, just start with "The Columbus Blue Jackets will win the lottery this year."

I can see what's going on here, he knows what he meant and can't interpret what he said as having any alternate connotation than that (everyone does that from time to time) but when you've got this many people telling you you're a moron, you should probably back off entirely, not keep trying to slightly adjust wording. It just makes you look too out of touch to do your job correctly.

Pretty much a lost cause at this point, there is no phrasing that will make it better. Once you went with the original phrasing and it was interpreted the way it was, there was no coming back.
Just apologize for your poor choice of words and hope it blows over.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Can we just cancel this guy, that phrasing is so tone deaf.

He also is a massive Oilers fan base, and media personnel are supposed to try to be unbiased. Which he isn't. Because he has McDavid and Draisatl jerseys framed in his house.

Cassie Campbell's husband is an AGM with the Flames and she openly pulls for them all the time. Kelly Hrudey is near tears with every Flames loss.

Frank sucks and is an idiot but fandom shouldn't get someone cancelled.

 

[Oscar The Grouch]

There is absolutely no way on Earth he is 36 years old. This is a lie.

 

[Svechhammer]

This wasn't a twitter/X post to get something out there quickly. He took the time to write out his predictions for all clubs and worded it the way he did....

Not to mention it had to pass through the DailyFaceoff editors before going live.

 

[BLNY]

WTF? How does anyone come up with a comment like that let alone let it through a major publication.

Does anyone consider the Daily Faceoff a major publication? There's a reason, when print media was king, that editors were in place. "Talent" wrote the copy. Someone else edited it. Even sports.

DF is a blog site. Yah, he's making money at it, but when you are your own editor you open yourself up to blunders like this.

 

[Scrantonicity 2]

What happened to sports writers being... you know, good writers?

 

[tfwnogf]

That's gotta be one of the worst things that one could come up with to say about the whole situation.

 

[Bubbles]

that's the sitting president of the PHWA, for the record

Just had a quick look at some past presidents...Mark Spector, Larry Brooks...yikes

 

[Figgy44]

Cassie Campbell's husband is an AGM with the Flames and she openly pulls for them all the time. Kelly Hrudey is near tears with every Flames loss.

Frank sucks and is an idiot but fandom shouldn't get someone cancelled.

Agreed. Media personnel do not need to be unbiased IMO. But I think they need to clearly communicate where their bias shows up and they also need to take time to ensure that they provide objective media as needed by the majority (not minority) of the viewers.

Someone who does this well IMO is Bieksa.

 

[AvroArrow]

Seravalli is a f***ing clown and deserves every bit of heat that he's gonna get for that. Holy shit that is horrific.

 

[1989]

I almost have to laugh at how absurdly poor the phrasing and the content is.

Is it only "a little" because Gaudreau was a small player?
Is the loss of a beloved life really remedied by a non-guaranteed (the exact opposite, in fact) lottery system?
What is the "hope and help" if the draft lottery is not won?

Considering the prior information by posters above, how could this post possibly pass muster from the President of the PWHA??

My junior high English teacher would have torn him into a pitiful pile of pulp.

 

[SteelCityCannon]

Piece of trash continues to be a piece of trash. More at 11.

 

[LemonSauceD]

Our whole board hates Seravelli and this is just icing on the cake. f*** that guy

 

[GeeoffBrown]

He's saying that Gaudreau will help them in the ping pong lotto draw, like "destiny was on their side", "someone up there was looking out for them" kinda thing, when you get a lucky break.

What I don't think he meant is "because their leading scorer from the last two seasons passed away, they will be the worst team"

Oh yeah. That's how I read it like poltergeist Johnny influencing the balls. I never even thought to think of it like CBJ being low in the standings. From that perspective, it came off as cheesy to me and not offensive

 

[weastern bias]

Frank Seravalli is such a f***ing dipshit

No shock here

 

[oXo Cube]

What happened to sports writers being... you know, good writers?

They never really were, but they did used to have to work for major established publications that required you to push any piece through an editor.

 

[StreetHawk]

Agreed. Media personnel do not need to be unbiased IMO. But I think they need to clearly communicate where their bias shows up and they also need to take time to ensure that they provide objective media as needed by the majority (not minority) of the viewers.

Someone who does this well IMO is Bieksa.

Media that concentrates on a certain team will always be biased. That's a given. Now, once you get to the National stage, that's when the bias needs to be limited.

 

[belair]

Meh.

 

[LemonSauceD]

I’m not surprised an Oilers fan boy would say some dumb ass shit like this.

 

[josra33]

I have zero problem with making that prediction as Columbus is a pretty bad looking team. Saying it is a consolation prize is weird though, but there is nothing wrong at all with predicting Colombus will be really bad and could win the draft lottery.

I think it’s more the “thanks to Gaudreau” part