It happened.
Yes, it actually happened.
Per the NHL on January 2 of 2016, news broke. John Scott, yes THE John Scott of the Arizona Coyotes, was voted as the Pacific Division All-Star captain for the 2015-16 NHL All-Star game. Congratulations to everyone, everywhere that voted. You did it.
In a microcosm, NHL hockey fans just showed why democracy is both an excellent tool and a downright scary one. With enough people latching on to "a thing" or a movement, they voted a player who was waived by the Coyotes no more than a month ago into a competition of the NHL's best of the best. In a division that holds the likes of NHL elite and hi-level talents like Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Jeff Carter, the Sedin twins, Taylor Hall, Mark Giordano, Martin Hanzal, Johnny Gaudreau, Patrick Marleau and countless others... the people voted John Scott.
Yes, this John Scott:
If John Scott has a shred of dignity, he will thank fans for their support and immediately resign as NHL all star and captain.
— steve simmons (@simmonssteve) January 2, 2016Way to ruin the fan vote for everyone, people. Good job. Feel good about it. Make sure to bitch about the NHL removing fan voting next year.
— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) January 2, 2016According to at least some, the whole morality of the subject, the whole dignity of it, falls on John Scott's shoulders. If he has any, he will remove himself from the game. Never mind the thousands of fans who voted Scott into the game, it falls on him. Be that as it may there is really one simple thing to say to all this:
It may go against what many are thinking right now, but who cares?
The league has a fan vote because they want fan interaction. They got it. They voted the least likely guy into All-Star game. Was it abuse of a privilege? Yea, it probably was. Excuse me for a moment though when I try to recall when the NHL ASG actually took itself seriously.
Maybe it was during last year's fantasy draft.
Might have been between all the 15-13 games where no defense is played, goalies are hung out to dry, and there is absolutely no contact between players.
Maybe it was during this moment:
Fan voting has always been a bit of a wildcard sort of thing. The NBA does it, and often runs into criticism for voting in popular players versus players who actually have earned it by a single season basis (Cough* Kobe Bryant). As media let's step off our soap boxes for a moment and realize that we too are guilty of such transgressions.
In 2010-11 the media voted to give Nick Lidstrom, at age 40, a Norris trophy. It was altogether a pretty poor year for the Swede taking in the scope of his career and the play of other defensemen around him in the league. Chara, Weber, Visnovsky, and Letang all had wonderful years worthy of the award. Nevertheless, it was a vote that he carried due to his prominence in the game and his overall career. He was retiring the following season, offensively he had a good year, the opportunity for media to latch on to "a thing" became real. It was a lifetime achievement award for a hall of famer.
That "thing" is just like the fans with this John Scott vote.
There was a major difference though, that's true. The vote to give Lidstrom a Norris trophy ACTUALLY MATTERED. John Scott playing in a glorified media driven weekend of ridiculousness, in the grander scheme of things, matters about as much as you and I getting voted into an all-star game. Last year no one said a word when Zemgus Girgensons was voted in. Why? Because altogether it was a feel good story for the young Latvian who had a respectable year on a bad team. This matters a lot though, apparently, because people do not like John Scott, it does not have a warm fuzzy feeling to it, and it feels like a slap in the face to perceived integrity to a meaningless event.
I say again, who cares, really?
So John Scott will play in a 3v3 tournament. Are you not going to be more willing to tune into that then watching a boring and meaningless 3v3 tournament to begin with? I highly doubt he will be picked for any sort of skills competition (Although lord I hope he skates out for fastest skater). So what does it matter? Yes, it's true, one player will miss out on the all-star weekend in favor of Scott if he actually accepts and stays on the roster. Oh no, what ever is that player going to do with their time off to rest, relax, and heal themselves over the break? What a rough go.
Did the fans take things to a ridiculous level by voting Scott in? Yea, they kind of did. However, if you do not want those things to happen, do not allow a fan vote. Fans, if you want to be mad next year that they took the fan vote away, remember this. Really though, overall, should we care as fans or even as media about Scott making the team? Not in the slightest. If anything, it adds an element of entertainment and intrigue to the game that was probably not going to be there before. It is hard to make a mockery of something that is entirely unserious to begin with. But hey, continue to be outraged if you are, because this thing truly matters. Like baseball's all-star game, which also has its fair share of critics for that.
Rage on. I am going to get my John Scott ASG jersey ready.
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