Quote:
Originally Posted by Strange Brew
Was this his defense? That he was still messed up and concussed?
I seem to recall many people analyzing the video, looking at how he turned his skates etc. and then arguing it was an accident.
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We never really heard his defence, which is sort of a shame. Except for after the game when talking with the media, when everyone was of the sensible view that it was simply an accident (which I think is all he really indicated at the time).
But then the tantalizing 4 second gif got shown on repeat with no context. I can see how so many reached the 'vicious attack' conclusion based only on that.
Unfortunately, the only other thing we ever seem to have heard from Wideman's side were the leaked texts that reflected poorly on him (especially if taken out of context - I think he was referring to the refs union turning it into a political issue).
All the concussion stuff really just muddied the waters. I'm surprised he never came out and said "I wasn't even thinking...just on autopilot going back to the bench...I know I must have been looking in the right direction, but I honestly didn't see it coming until he was right there...and I just reacted..."
I still wonder if there are any more than the two camera views we saw (one of which was from the rafters).
I've still never seen anyone else deliver an obviously intentional/vicious cross check in that manner. He still gets the benefit of the doubt from me. It's amazing to me that most casual (and many hardcore) fans probably view him as worse than Bertuzzi at this point.