Patrick O'Sullivan: "Burrows is the only guy who said he wanted to hurt me like me father did - why I can't stand him"

[PhillipBlunt]

22 minutes ago, hobart16 said:

As one of the people who indirectly pays these guys' ridiculous salaries, I think it is not too much to expect that they display and live up to values that I am willing to support with my $$. Picking on a guy who was the victim of child abuse is truly disgusting, adds nothing to the game, and is below the standard of sportsmanship I expect from professional athletes. If he said this, it's bull$&!# and indefensible. That's not the way to win. It isn't worth it. Can you imagine Bobby Orr doing something like this? Sorry, defending Burrows on the grounds that "it happens" and is part of getting under a players skin is placing the bar too low.  Kids look up to these people though god knows they shouldn't. It is bad for the league and for the Canucks organization. 

People make mistakes. They say crazy things in the heat of battle. Apologize and mean it.  

So because you're a fan and you choose to pay money for a ticket to watch the team, you expect that every player on that team has to align themselves with the same moral code you subscribe to?

I might do better not trying to project your expectations on things you can't control. It's pretty self serving to think otherwise.

[*Buzzsaw*]

3 minutes ago, thema said:

Tell you what: go and find any current or retired NHLer who has played against Burrows; it shouldn't be all that hard around these parts. Ask them what they think of Burrows, honestly and off the record. Then get back to me.

Why don't you actually, since you are suggesting this is fact.  The burden of proof is on the accuser, not the target.

But you obviously are uninterested in truth, you just want to smear Burrows with whatever dirty speculation you can find.

[PlanB]

2 minutes ago, thema said:

Tell you what: go and find any current or retired NHLer who has played against Burrows; it shouldn't be all that hard around these parts. Ask them what they think of Burrows, honestly and off the record. Then get back to me.

Fair enough, not that I run into retired NHL'ers daily though.

Tell you what in return however, find a retired NHL'er who will go on record with comments such as the one you 'conjured' up in your earlier post and I'll show you a guy who wasn't likely very popular in his own room to begin with.  There's a reason why stories like this get a lot of publicity when they hit the media - it's because the NHL is a closed-circle and they don't like anyone in the circle or formerly in the circle to be blabbing about their circle. 

[Rocksterh8]

I'm not a burrows fan anyway, would be great if he were traded, but in saying that. Hello.....  O'Sullivan has a BOOK out, this is a great way to advertise it.  by the way it's on sale at Chapters, go get it!

[Nucker 67]

@Buzzsaw - I agree, the timing just doesn't seem right. Why didn't we hear about this Burrows incident 8 years ago when it happened? Maybe he saw how well Fleury's book did and decided to write his own.  This Burrows Tweet will probably sell 1,000 more books. Inquiring minds want to know who else he's throwing under the bus.

[TOMapleLaughs]

7 minutes ago, thema said:

Tell you what: go and find any current or retired NHLer who has played against Burrows; it shouldn't be all that hard around these parts. Ask them what they think of Burrows, honestly and off the record. Then get back to me.

Considering he's an agitator, it of course would be more valid to ask those who played with him, wouldn't it?

 

I don't know why we have to still have to apologize for Burrows.  Is it a Vancouver Canuck fan requirement to apologize for Vancouver Canucks?  Because i'm getting kinda tired of that.  You do not see LA Kings fans apologizing for Brown, Bruins fans for Marchand, etc.  

I get that the team is doing poorly now, but this pity party that we like to have for ourselves and our team needs to end someday.

edit:  Good God my sig is ironic.  But no, i'm not apologizing for that.

[CeeBee51]

Burrows isn't the only player that yaps on the ice. I think bringing this up 8 years later smells a bit fishy. Definitely made all the news pages for what it'$  worth.

[Kevin Biestra]

3 hours ago, Positive Canuck said:

4.5 Million $&!#ttttalker that hasnt done jack this year.

Burrows probably get chirped so hard out there right now.

If someone told me that I make $4.5M to do nothing...and it were true...

I just don't think I could bear it...

[Mcfly]

3 hours ago, skategal said:

I like Burrows and I respect the work and the journey he took to get to the NHL, but I have to wonder if when there is so much smoke, there might be fire as well.  In a perfect world, there are things that should be off limits, but I guess people will do anything to get an edge.  Lucic and his on ice antics, Burrows and others who trash talk.  I wish that players would let their play do their talking for them like the Sedins, but I know I'm dreaming.  

Completely agree.

Some players use it as a psychological edge and attempt to throw players off their game. Kesler likely falls into this particular basket as well, since we are talking about recent trashy talkin' canucks. I won't go into the Matt Cooke days...

 

Not Burr bashing here... The guy is one of the greats in Van, no doubt... scored one of the biggest goals in our history so he has the skills to back it up at least.

Though I like a lot of these players that use this strategy, I can hardly imagine somebody talkin about my wife or kid while I'm trying to focus on so much. At the NHL level you can only imagine some of the way's players try to get into eachothers heads.. Though some might consider it part of the game, I wouldn't be one of those people. If anything, I think it sparks some guys to play better... thinking Iggy.

Skill is one thing, but sportsmanship is what separates the true hero's from the villains. Though Burr is a hero here, he is unfortunately grown his reputation to Marchand-like hatred amongst division teams.

It's only that much more reason to understand why guys like the Sedins and the Trevor Lindens of the world are revered as such respected individuals, by fans and players.

Interesting subject...

[PlanB]

19 minutes ago, Fanuck said:

OTOH, you can't tell me that this is even close to the worst thing said/done on the ice to a player.  Back in the day when there weren't many ethnic minorities playing primarily 'white' sports (not like there are a lot now either I know that) can you imagine what they went through?  You don't see Willie 0'Ree or Larry Kwong 'tweeting' about how they were victims of racism and discrimination (and that torment was probably WAY worse than what O'Sullivan endured on the ice knowing how racism was way more tolerated back then).  You also didn't see guys like Bob Probert (rip) calling out all of his former adversaries who undoubtedly tormented him to no end when he was going through his troubles in the NHL.   

 

 

Back in the day there was a code and players respected it.  Happens on the ice stays on the ice. 

Now-a-days, the only code is 'PAY ME!. 

This unsubstantiated tweet reeks of 'book promotion tour hype'. 

[*Buzzsaw*]

Here are the facts:

-  Burrows is disliked because he pulls off all kinds of plays which come close or cross the line re. what is allowed in the NHL... all these incidents come under the heading of harrassment... no physical injuries... we are talking bumping the goalie, clutching and grabbing, hooking, PLUS having a smart comment for the opponent in the face to face after the whistle is blown.

-  But unlike a LOT of other NHL agitators, as for example Matt Cooke, Dustin Brown, Duncan Keith, etc, etc.... Burrows NEVER deliberately tries to injure anyone... please find me an instance where he has put someone out of a game... you won't find it.

-  But my God, those comments Burrows makes... gee whiz those hurt... those big tough NHLer's tender ears.  Makes me wanna cry....

-  Meanwhile, these other players who DO deliberately injure people... for some reason, everyone in the league is quiet about them... NEVER do we hear anything but respect for Keith... it's all about what a terrific player he is, not about how he deliberately injured Daniel Sedin and a number of other players, and put them out of the game.

BULL$&!# BULL$&!# BULL$&!#.

[billabong]

Unless everyone wants to pick on burrows than where there's smoke, there's fire. 

 

I wonder at what point does burrows not fit into the "character guys" mould that Benning continues to talk about and wants around his young players...

 

[poetica]

If it was truly important to him, O'Sullivan could have reached out to Burr at any time to talk to him directly about what happened, explained how it hurt his feelings and asked that Burrows take responsibility and apologize. In doing so, he would have also given Burr the chance to respond, either to apologize sincerely if he did know or to explain that he didn't know and that he was just talking generic trash that he hadn't realized would be taken so personally by some. Either way, it would have given both men a chance to be heard and a chance to heal and/or grow from the experience. That would have been the mature manner in which to handle the situation, but O'Sullivan opted against that route. Instead, he held this in his back pocket for years and then publicly accused Burrows by name (rather than just referencing "a player") in order to garner publicity for his book. And it's worked. TSN already has an "article" detailing the accusations.

Regardless of whether or not it's true, Burrows' reputation will suffer further because people are so willing to believe any bad thing said about him even without a shred of proof or consideration for the details (like what if Burr didn't know about the abuse). And anything Burr says now will be held against him. If he apologizes it'll be seen as self serving and insincere, as merely confirmation that he's the big bad bully people already believed him to be and if he doesn't apologize or says he didn't know that'll be seen as proof that he's an unrepentant bully with no regard to other people's feelings. No matter what he does, no matter what the truth is, Burrows gets the blame and O'Sullivan gets sympathy and publicity. That's some gamesmanship all right, it's just not Burrows'.

[thema]

9 minutes ago, Mcfly said:

 

Skill is one thing, but sportsmanship is what separates the true hero's from the villains. Though Burr is a hero here, he is unfortunately grown his reputation to Marchand-like hatred amongst division teams.

It's only that much more reason to understand why guys like the Sedins and the Trevor Lindens of the world are revered as such respected individuals, by fans and players.

Interesting subject...

Well put.

[peanutflower]

1 hour ago, milk and honey said:

I honestly want burrows off the team. I respect and admire his way to the NHL without being drafted and being the best Sedin linemate we have seen. I admire his goal vs Chicago but like Kesler we need a culture change and trading Burrows would be a good way to do that. Burrows is our Marchand both players are idiots and I don't want Burrows on the Canucks showing Bo and young guys the wrong way of acting. 

 

What a low-class comment. This is sick and absolutely disgustingly wrong. I understand sometimes the moment gets the better of the players and lots of things are said to each other on the ice, but this is a step way too far past the line. I hope management talks to him about this, his actions is on the radar and not welcomed. So many incidents with Burrows he is without a doubt on the same level as Marchand. 

 

Hopefully Patrick is doing well now a days and doesn't waste his time thinking of such a low class person as Burrows is.

you realize, of course, that these alleged comments -- alleged -- happened at least five years ago and probably long before that...

[SaintPatrick33]

Too much media interference in the game today. Now everyone wants to hear all the trash talk. In the old days if Burrow said something like that, he would pay for it in the same game. Today these guys resolve issues on twitter. I guess the old code is gone, and it shows in the corporate-style way the league is presented. 

[coryberg]

Burrows is the Eminem of the NHL. Nothing is too hard core for him.

[Twilight Sparkle]

alex burrows is the best heel in the business

[coastal1]

4 hours ago, westcoast said:

4 hours ago, skategal said:

I like Burrows and I respect the work and the journey he took to get to the NHL, but I have to wonder if when there is so much smoke, there might be fire as well.  In a perfect world, there are things that should be off limits, but I guess people will do anything to get an edge.  Lucic and his on ice antics, Burrows and others who trash talk.  I wish that players would let their play do their talking for them like the Sedins, but I know I'm dreaming.  

 

 

Are you suggesting that the Sedins have not heard it all over the years, playing on the same line as him? If they were such good sports, you would think that as leaders of the team and as his linemates they would ask him to tone it down. Ttust me, the Sedins have not succeeded in this league by being choirboys!

[gforce31]

I'm beginning to realize why so many teams absolutely hated Kessler/Burrows....However, at the same time, is this now a thing for players to run to the media with what was said to them in a game?? I've had some terrible stuff said to me while I was playing (goalie here), but at the end of the game you shake hands and walk away. 

I'm not defending Burrows but players will do/say whatever it takes to throw a player off of his game. I can understand clamping down on racial stuff, and I thought Ferraro was saying that there is an unwritten code about leaving out kid/wives/girlfriends. 

I don't know - it's like we don't have enough things to worry about with this team/group, and now this...