Day 125 - A Fighting Chance

I didn't get to see Saturday's game because I was hitting the slopes (actually at that point I was hitting the dance floor and even managing to "pump it" with a short sleeve shirt on) but was really happy to read that Riley Cote challenged Parros in the third period, after being the recipient of a crushing uppercut in the second. Between apres-ski and watching a friend fall asleep on the bar only minutes after doing "the canoe", I read on dropyourgloves that Cote had been tko'ed by Parros, and my first instinct was to hope that he would try to redeem himself. And that he at least tried I think is great.

I like Riley Cote and think he is an incredible middle-weight fighter. But he is consistently going to have trouble with the real big guys in the league. I have no doubt at all that he's willing to go with them, and to a certain extent that is all that's required. But he is not feared by the elite and you can tell when they square off against him (McGrattan being a prime example - and he paid for it). I don't think that any amount of practicing or jazzercising is really going to change this. He'll never dominate everyone in the league. Some guys that aren't huge just have "it" - Tie Domi, Tony Twist, Marty McSorley. This is why I think at some point you're going to see Jesse Boulerice back with the big club, at least for a couple games - he is crazy. Cote is a fighter by trade and he works at it. Boulerice more than likely has serious mental issues, and to a certain extent you need this to be feared.

It's hard to discern whether fans, including myself, actually like Riley Cote the hockey player. It's a well-known fact that enforcers are usually the biggest jokesters on the team and the guy you'd want to have a couple beers with at Applebees, so that he's likeable is a given. But where it gets tricky is that any fighter in a Flyers uniform is always going to be loved. So I wonder if fans actually love him or the role he fulfills. The Flyers haven't had a long-term fighter since Brashear, and I feel like it takes a couple seasons at least for the fans to develop a true association with the player and not just the "Flyers Enforcer."

That's why, while I really do like Cote and have to check my diaper every time he gets a shot off, and will root for him as hard as anyone, I think Boulerice should get a couple games so we can see just how nuts he really is. If we could get a Parros, Boogard, Shelly, King, or Laraques of our own that'd be a player the Flyers fans could really hold on to.

I'm not willing to put my heart out there quite yet just to have it Eagered again.

Listened to: The Magic Numbers - Undecided Love