An Open Letter to Ilya Bryzgalov
Dear Ilya Bryzgalov,
Can we call you Bryz? We feel like we’ve gotten close enough by now that we’re past even a first-name basis, and we’ve entered the “nauseating pet name” phase of our relationship. Plus, it’s like, a lot of work typing out “Bryzgalov” over and over again. So Bryz it is.
Anyway Bryz, I think there are some important things we need to address. It’s come to our attention that you think we care too much here in Philadelphia, that we have a tendency to scapegoat, to “point to one guy and say we’re losing” because of him. That might be true. We do care a lot. We care enough to sell out Citizens Bank Park 204 times in a row. We care enough to keep buying Eagles merchandise even though the team has never won a Super Bowl (and even though, like you, some of their players don’t seem to understand us either). And we certainly care enough to pack the Wells Fargo Center on a nightly basis, wearing our $200 jerseys and dropping $90 for a ticket, $20 for parking, $14 for a cheesesteak and $8 for a shitty light beer. Man, caring is expensive, but we keep on doing it, despite the fact that many of us have had to make significant sacrifices in other areas of lives, thanks to that whole “economic crisis” thing. But you wouldn’t know too much about that, because you just signed a 51 million dollar deal this past offseason. You know how many shitty $8 light beers you can buy for 51 million dollars? Neither do we.
Pictured: one of Bryzgalov's 14 saves this season
And Bryz, even beyond that, you’re still kind of right. We here in Philly have a well-earned reputation for being hard on our athletes, for demanding the best and voicing our displeasure when we feel as though we’re not getting it. Ask Cole Hamels, across the street. We booed the ever-loving shit out of him at the start of the 2011 Phillies season (a year in which his team would go on to win 102 games) and even though most of us agreed that was a pretty shitty thing to do, Cole was pretty cool about it. “You don’t catch yourself or understand when you’re booing,” he said. “It’s just that you know (the target) is a very good player and you expect him to go out and be perfect. At the same time, you know nobody is perfect.” Man, that Cole Hamels is a really smart guy, despite the fact that some people around here have been hard on him from the start for some seriously ridiculous reasons. Even after he won us a World Series practically single-handedly and won a World Series MVP award, we still got on him cause he was “too California,” or cause he “didn’t seem to want to win as bad as Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee.”
See, that’s the thing that really irks us about what you said, Bryzy. We’ve been harder on Cole Hamels than on just about anyone else. We judged him from the beginning, and even though he’s accomplished a whole lot, we still get on him sometimes. But you? We haven’t even really been that hard on you. You haven’t been very good all season, yet we’ve mostly given you a pass. For awhile, we blamed the defensive zone coverage. We blamed the injuries to the guys in front of you. We laughed with you (or maybe at you) on 24/7. We said, “ah, he’s starting slow, but he’s a good goaltender, he’ll come around.” And yeah, we weren’t exactly giving you a standing ovation every time you gave up a weak goal (and there were a lot of those times), but we barely booed you either. In fact, I’d say considering your massive contract and the expectations, nay, the hopes and dreams that we finally had a franchise goaltender, we’ve been pretty understanding of your situation. Hell, we mostly still think (here at the Orange Update, anyway) that you’re going to right the ship at some point. Even if it’s not necessarily this year.
But then Saturday happened. Remember that? It kind of seemed like you weren’t even trying. And so we booed. What did you want us to do? Oh, that standing ovation thing? You wanted us to cheer, so that we could give you the positive reinforcement you needed to shake off that disappointing outing? How inconsiderate of us. Come to think of it, every time we’re late to the office, every time we don’t make deadline, every time we generally screw up, our entire office gives us a standing ovation too. Duh. How did we not think of that?
Bryz, you have to understand that we’re really not all that demanding. There’s actually a very simple secret to dealing with us, so simple that we’re amazed that so few of your professional athlete brethren have figured it out (though some have). Instead of telling us we’re all assholes after we get on you for an abysmal performance, you could say this: “Guys, I was terrible. I haven’t been good all season and I’m not living up to your expectations, let alone my own expectations. I wish I could tell you I knew what the problem is, but I don’t. What I do know is that I will continue to work my ass off to fix this, because my teammates and my town deserve better.” Boom. Problem solved. You might still hear some boos, but we guarantee you we’ll respect you a whole hell of a lot more. That might buy you some time to get your head on straight, to find peace in your soul, so to speak.
And guess what, Bryz? Even though you told us in so many words that our passion for sports is a waste of time, that there are more important things to care about—and maybe there are—we will still fill the arena every night, hoping that that’s the night you turn things around. We will still be the first ones on our feet giving you that standing ovation, once you do something ovation-worthy. And we will still line up along Broad Street, decked out in $150 worth of championship gear, should you backstop us to a Stanley Cup.
That’s the thing about us, Bryz, we might care too much, but we have a short memory. We want you to succeed. But you have to want to succeed for us.
Sincerely,
Philly Fans
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Man I can’t agree with this more. So great.
Wow I hope he reads this cause if I was a player and saw this I would go out there like a animal everynight make sure a goal dont pass threw my net and then salute the fans after every win. Lets go flyers, lets go bryz you are better then this Fuck the universe during the,season that net is your universe dont let nothing in it that dont belong, then after the season ill look at the stars with ya, the one that will be hangin at the ceiling in the wellsfargo center sayin stanley cup champions
Amen!!!
Truer words have never been printed! Any way of getting a copy of this directly to “Breeze”, er, Bryz? That should be posted in both daily papers ASAP. Doesn’t this clown realize the origin of the term “fan”? It’s fanatic. It’s a beautiful thing & until he has to go grind a 40 hour per week job, plus a part-time one, then he should shut up, stop pucks and appreciate that the fans care enough to be pissed.
Bryzgalov has repeatedly said that his play needs to be better and that he knows he’s not performing up to anyone’s expectations. Since that requirement has been met several times, I expect more respect forthcoming
Yes, he has said that a few times, but look at one of the recent comments he made in that regard:
“You know, I think it’s an easy life when you can blame one guy…’it’s a bad goalie, it’s the goalie’s mistake.’ It’s easy to find a scapegoat. You point to one guy and say we’re always losing because we have a bad goalie, but I think it’s the wrong philosophy. I know I was frustrated in my game today and I know I have to be better and I will continue to work on this, but….I will try to find peace in my soul to play in this city”
So yeah, he said he had to be better, but he bracketed it with a knock on the fans/media on one side and an insinuated knock on the city on the other.
For those of you saying “I couldn’t agree more”. He has said those words almost exactly several times. Watch the press conferences. He’s frustrated, actually frustrated and visibly frustrated. I’m not defending him, but how many of you succeed at work or anywhere when trying to perform a task while being frustrated?
Pete, of course he’s frustrated. The problem is not that he’s frustrated with himself, it’s that he’s directing that frustration toward the fans. It’s one thing to say “guys I’m not happy with my game right now” and another to say “guys, I’m not happy with my game right now, and it’s kind of your fault because you’re not being supportive and it’s hard to play here and none of you know what you’re talking about.”
For the record, I am totally against the boo in most cases involving home athletes (I absolutely hate when guys get booed for stupid reasons, like what happened with Hamels), and I’m firmly in the “booing is not going to help him, and we should want to help him” camp. But booing is part of the whole “being a professional athlete” thing, and it’s part of the deal he accepted when he became a professional athlete, whether he wanted that part of it or not. And it’s completely unrealistic to think that this fanbase (or any other die-hard hockey fanbase, such as New York, Boston, Montreal, Toronto, etc) would just collectively stop voicing their displeasure in a situation like this.
A professional who is paid millions of dollars a year should be able to enter every game with a clear head. That’s why they are paid millions of dollars a year. That’s why we call them professionals.
I honestly admit I am not an “active” sports person but after reading what Bryzgalov said it made me sick to feel what this player, and I use the term loosely, had the nerve to say. He never had to put up with a 10 year old crying because his team he idolized lost. He is able to afford putting money out for “your favorite player’s” autograph/jersey/plaque/t-shirt and then have him get traded the following year (but you still keep all of the mementos). He never has to patch a hole in the wall that was punched out of frustration and yet anger because the sport….Hockey….which you are told by a 14 year old is his life (not school, friends or family) lost. But that now 24 year old will still watch, cheer, spend his hard earned money on everything and anything pertaining to hockey. PS…not to mention that his Mother reluctantly emptied her family hope chest (containing her memorabilia….wedding album, old family photo’s, christening gowns, etc., etc.) to keep all of his sports memorabilia safe for the eventual day he can afford to buy a house where he can make a “sports” room. Unfortunately that will have to wait several years down the road because he is repaying $100,000 in school loans over the next 10 year. His job does not pay him 51 million dollars to perform.
6,375,000 crappy light beers can be purchased with $51 million. Just sayin’.
This…
“We care enough to keep buying Eagles merchandise even though the team has never won a Super Bowl”
…is a bug, not a feature.
DON’T TRUST THE RUSSIANS – Bobby Clarke
I would agree with everything in that letter i really think they messed up when they gave him his multi million contract cause no matter what he still gets his money from the flyers. They need to trade or just pay him and find someone who wants to play
Well, he’ll get us sooner or later, let’s hope it’s sooner ehh! Just sayin’…