Dater Does Not Dig Dion

by Jes

Most MSM mediots are rather droll and uninspired. Years of covering the same team and beating the same drum seem to suck the life out of most writers, leaving them bitter husks that create stupid trade rumours out of thin air (*cough* Tony Gallagher *cough*), and always whine about how their team/players aren't good enough after last night's 3-2 loss in OT.

It doesn’t help that the papers practice a big load of self-censorship, and don't allow much in the way of true personality to ever be expressed. We can't risk pissing off those lucrative advertisers, or the teams themselves, can we?

Well, author Adrian "The Hater" Dater is one of the few MSM writers that allows his emotions to get the better of him, and it makes for great reading. It helps that The Denver Post allows him this avenue for expressing himself without a whole lot of interference.

Take this recent blog about a Flames/Avs tilt in which Dater rips into Phaneuf.

So here is Dion Phaneuf tonight, laying one big hit from behind after another on Peter Forsberg, and there goes Forsberg to the penalty box for a little tap on some guy’s glove a few minutes later. Same old NHL, where the retaliator is penalized.

Phaneuf is a bit of a Bill Laimbeer on skates, by the way. And some day he’s going to get his, and it’s not going to be pretty for him. He’s going to hit one backside of a player too many, and somebody is going to rip that shield off his face and hand him his teeth. (And yes, he’s an effective player, though, because he DOES get people off their games mentally. And, yes, if I was a coach and he played on my team, I’d probably love him. But not always. You can argue he cost his team a game, with a foolish interference penalty - and blatantly cross-checking Paul Stastny from behind, not long after the Avs scored on his first penalty, didn’t help the Flames’ cause, either).

We’ll see if the Avs have any hair on their chests the rest of the night or not. I said it once and I’ll say it again - you gotta smack the bully in the mouth.

See, this is the kind of stuff the fans want to read. The Laimbeer comparison is quite apt, and Dater expresses many of the same thoughts most non-Flames fans have had for some time. Dater's blog posts show a good range of emotions, and make for far more interesting reading than you usually get from the stodgy MSM.

Other MSM publications should take note of how many comments and referring links Dater's blog has generated, and get a clue.