Bundy is a pretty funny guy on twitter.
- flyers4487

The back and forth between he and Tocchet can be pretty entertaining.

Bill, I think you're over thinking things on Bundy.

People I know got on him for one reason; he wasn't as mean or as physical as people like to see out of defense men his size.

When you play a sport with size and you don't use it, that tends to draw negative attention.

It's the same negative attention that pure power hitters in baseball deal with when they strike out too much.
- johndewar

Kjell Samuelsson, Chris Therien, and Jeff Carter all received that criticism. Next up: Vinny Lecavalier!

Bill,

How can you leave Gord Murphy out on that list of Scape Goat D-men....I never heard a nice thing said from fans in the Spectrum his whole time there.

i think he was kind of like Bryz in that he brought a lot of it on himself.
- PhillySportsGuy

I think you have to remember who our press hounds are and were and also that Cechmanek didn't use the media the same way Bryz did. Getting no goal support is not "bringing it on one's self."

Philly media has gone to such sh!t. Writers with such little understanding of the area or the teams.

Just a quick Bernie story...

I was 11 years old, rather plump, a bit of rosacea on my cheeks, and a burning, yet still developing passion for hockey. Every single day my younger brother, and our neighbors all got our rollerblades on and set off to the local abandoned tennis courts. Those courts were our First Union Center. We all selected our favorite players: Me- Forsberg, My brother- John LeClair, my buddy next door and our goalie- Bernie Parent... We are talking about 98-99. Ten to twelve year old boys playing roller hockey, selecting their favorite players, and Bernie Parent is in net.

None of us ever had the chance to watch Bernie play in a real game. We saw snippets or old videos and what not, but never got to witness the man in action. So why does this matter? Because my buddy Chris was more in love with the idea of being Bernie Parent the icon, then Bernie Parent the player.

So when in June of '98 we found out that some of the Flyers were going to be coming to our town... OUR First Union Center... for a town celebration, we were excited.

We all took bets on who would be doing the signings. I (ever the optimist) guess Lindros and LeClair. My brother thought it would be Zelepukin.

Well when the day came, we were all wrong. It was Bob Kelly and Bernie Parent.

It is still one of the more vivid hockey related (hell non hockey related as well) days of my life. There we are four young boys, all standing in front of Bernie Parent. Nobody said anything.. we kinda just stood there staring at him. He said to us "You boys look like hockey players!" We all nodded and muttered some sorta yes. "Well, no matter what, make sure you have fun". The best advice I ever got from anyone, hockey related, came from Bernie Parent. Next, he let us all try on his Cup Rings. I remember thinking I'd never seen a ring so big in my life.

From that day on, Bernie Parent has been one of my favorite sports related people in the world. I have one autograph in my house. Bernie Parents.
- jak521

My son was able to meet Bernie when my mom-in-law let us go to the game where his book was given out. So, I took the book to get signed and Bernie let my son put on the ring. He asked the same sort of question and gave similar advice. Talk to my son about Bernie Parent and you'll get the same reaction you wrote about: He'll never forget it. Thanks for sharing, jak.

I think you have to remember who our press hounds are and were and also that Cechmanek didn't use the media the same way Bryz did. Getting no goal support is not "bringing it on one's self."
- Flyskippy

If bryz put up the numbers roman did I doudt he gets bought out.

I think you have to remember who our press hounds are and were and also that Cechmanek didn't use the media the same way Bryz did. Getting no goal support is not "bringing it on one's self."
- Flyskippy

Blaming your teammates and throwing temper tantrums is

Bill,

How can you leave Gord Murphy out on that list of Scape Goat D-men....I never heard a nice thing said from fans in the Spectrum his whole time there.
- Pyzik

This may be true, but as I seem to recall, Terry Carkner was a far bigger whipping boy than Gord Murphy was.

The years that Murphy played here were not exactly glory years for Flyers d-men.

I think the loss of Matt Carle is felt both in his ability to move the puck, his outlet passes and his ability to fill the resident position of whipping boy. As of now that position is to be held by either Coburn or Meszaros... I don't think there is currently a clear favorite yet.
- flyler

Streit is projected to be good for this role as well

Philly media has gone to such sh!t. Writers with such little understanding of the area or the teams.
- PhillySportsGuy

It's more than that, though. "Even bad press is good press," meaning that they'll write drivel like that Hayes opinion in order to get folks talking about it/them and drumming up sales/clicks on their webpages.

anyone have a link to hte article so that i can go on and express my opinion...

Blaming your teammates and throwing temper tantrums is
- PhillySportsGuy

I'll wait for MOAT to chime in on this. I had no problem with him yelling at those softies who couldn't score while he was abandoned out there.

Philly media has gone to such sh!t. Writers with such little understanding of the area or the teams.
- PhillySportsGuy

Marcus Hayes has proven himself to be bad at writing about all 4 major Philly sports teams.

That's a special kind of incompetent.

If bryz put up the numbers roman did I doudt he gets bought out.
- twotoekenn

No question, but Hitchcock was quoted about wanting to ask Cechmanek where it went wrong before Clarke traded him to LA. Hitch should have been wanting to ask his skaters where their hearts were.

My son was able to meet Bernie when my mom-in-law let us go to the game where his book was given out. So, I took the book to get signed and Bernie let my son put on the ring. He asked the same sort of question and gave similar advice. Talk to my son about Bernie Parent and you'll get the same reaction you wrote about: He'll never forget it. Thanks for sharing, jak.
- Flyskippy

I am 26 years old, married, living in a different town, house, what have you. Yet I can remember the weather from that day. I can remember the 4 of us just talking about him the rest of the day.

Amazing really.

It's more than that, though. "Even bad press is good press," meaning that they'll write drivel like that Hayes opinion in order to get folks talking about it/them and drumming up sales/clicks on their webpages.
- Flyskippy

Yes, but what makes no sense is that Bill gets more responses on a daily basis on HockeyBuzz than these other idiots get on major philly websites. Yet, they get the pub like they're real writers.

Hey Philadelphia Daily News columnist Marcus Hayes:

You just got told!!!

Chris Therien was a good -- not great -- but good NHL defenseman for quite a few years, and personally, I never had a problem with him.

As a matter of fact, I remember there were a few years where I was fairly surprised when something bad did happen when he and Eric Desjardins were on the ice together.

He was a good Flyer, and personally, I think he's pretty good on the radio, as well.

Yes, but what makes no sense is that Bill gets more responses on a daily basis on HockeyBuzz than these other idiots get on major philly websites. Yet, they get the pub like they're real writers.
- PhillySportsGuy

It's no different than any of the mainstream media. Folks find other outlets when they find the "popular" and "most prominent" are lacking.

Marcus Hayes has proven himself to be bad at writing about all 4 major Philly sports teams.

That's a special kind of incompetent.
- johndewar

I just don't understand how these people are employed. I know 10 TIMES more than them about all 4 major sports.

They also aren't very good writers. Guys like Panaccio butcher articles and make them difficult to even read.

Chris Therien was a good -- not great -- but good NHL defenseman for quite a few years, and personally, I never had a problem with him.

As a matter of fact, I remember there were a few years where I was fairly surprised when something bad did happen when he and Eric Desjardins were on the ice together.

He was a good Flyer, and personally, I think he's pretty good on the radio, as well.
- AllInForFlyers

I can go along with all of this.

I will also fully admit to yelling "C'mon, Therien, hit somebody!" a bunch of times when he played. I'm fairly certain I wasn't alone there.

Between he and Keith Jones (with Clement pitching in), Flyers fans are pretty lucky, with respect to the color analysts the team has around.

I just don't understand how these people are employed. I know 10 TIMES more than them about all 4 major sports.

They also aren't very good writers. Guys like Panaccio butcher articles and make them difficult to even read.
- PhillySportsGuy

They have very good editors. There was a huge difference between Panotch's articles here and when he was at the Inquirer. I couldn't tell you how his "work" here compares to his CSN articles because I refuse to give him clicks.

They have very good editors. There was a huge difference between Panotch's articles here and when he was at the Inquirer. I couldn't tell you how his "work" here compares to his CSN articles because I refuse to give him clicks.
- Flyskippy

His CSN articles even have mistakes. I'll never forget about his impassioned argumentative piece about how the Flyers should trade Laughton for Iginla last season. This was when the Flyers were off to a horrendous start and weren't close to a playoff spot. He posted that article on here and CSN!

Right before free agency he wrote an article about how the Flyers should pursue David Clarkson because they could sign him to a 3 years $3M deal.

His argument for the salary was taking Clarkson's average goals over his ENTIRE career. The sad thing is that he's one of the voices of the Philly hockey market.

Bill,
So many things, so little time.

1. I wouldn't pay any attention to anyone who claims that Bernie Parent is not the most beloved sports figure or that hockey is a fringe sport. Clearly...doesn't know the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley.

2. While Bladon and Bundy both were maligned in their time in the orange and black, I think that Ron Hextall might be the most "maligned" Flyer. Hexy, while beloved now, was berated and belittled on sports talk here, and in nearly every hockey publication, as having the worst 5 hole in the league (which is funny since most of the people making this assessment didn't know what the 5 hole was, see above "columnist as example"). Hextall was ripped for being soft in the playoffs, for his unorthodox/hybrid style. Hextall was blamed for things that were not the goalies fault...like many goalies....What was missed by the critics was that all Hextall did was give the team a chance to win every time he was in goal. Handle the puck better than any goalie when he started in the league and still better than most when he retired. He made the defense better by move the puck quickly and he knew how to handle the pace of the game and when to freeze the puck and when to force the play and keep it alive. Hextall was not the goalie that Pelle Lindberg was developing into, but he was a remarkable goalie who was never really appreciated until he was gone.