Ducks Daily Stirs Controversy on Edmonton Radio (Audio Excerpt)
By jer
On July 12th, I posted an article about Justin Schultz and the cold reception he received from Ducks fans when he returned to Twitter. The article picked up quite a bit of attention, and soon Edmonton media was interested in the story. The following day our story was discussed at length on Edmonton radio station 630 CHED. Oilers radio analyst Bob Stauffer brought up the post on his show Oilers NOW, reading some of the tweets highlighted within the article on the air and taking calls to discuss the issue.
Stauffer and I certainly disagree on the Schultz situation, but that’s understandable. Stauffer does raise interesting points, however, regarding the vitriol of some fans towards players and whether or not it’s justified, which is s a valid conversation to have. “Have we raised a generation of people that can gutlessly character assassinate via things like Twitter?” Stauffer asks his audience.
Stauffer looks in his own backyard as well, reminding Oilers fans that there are those among them that are just as guilty. Stauffer warns Oilers fans that they “can’t be holier than thou, because if I recall correctly, it was pretty nasty on the Chris Pronger front going back five or six years as well.” Stauffer goes on to discuss the similarities between the Justin Schultz and Chris Pronger situations and the history of bad blood between Oilers and Ducks fans.
When asked if any of the “hate tweets” or vitriol from Ducks fans towards Schultz were justified, Stauffer’s cohost Reid Wilkins stated “Well, look, if you’re a Ducks fan, sure there’s justification to be upset. You thought this player was your property, you heard he’s a pretty good player, now you’re disappointed that he’s not coming … On a visceral level, is there justification to be upset? Sure. Is it necessary to personally attack a guy and call him out and insult him?”
Stauffer went on to claim these negative fan reactions to Schultz and Pronger are akin to
“guilty ex-boyfriend syndrome,” stating that “if you’re the type of guy that has recently ended a relationship with a women and you don’t want her to be happy, you’re a loser.”
What do you think? Have platforms such as Twitter allowed fan/player interactions to go too far? Here’s a quick excerpt from the show (used with permission of Oilers NOW, on 630 CHED).
This edit is just a small clip, but you can listen to the whole first hour of the show that discussed the article directly on 630 CHED’s website. Look for the July 13th episode in their Oilers NOW archive. The Schultz conversation jumps around a bit from segment to segment, so you might want to listen to the whole thing to get the full picture.
Was your tweet read on the air? How do you feel about Stauffer’s opinions? We’re listening!
Jer is ready for your Twitter vitriol. Follow him on Twitter @JerMeansWell.