Quote:
Originally Posted by Infinit47
Similar to the feeling when your team and it's fans throw their support behind a 140lb kid to make the show, then embrace him and his family as local heroes only to have him move in the middle of the night???
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Yeah probably similar to be honest…but likely a lot worse.
At the end of the day we are just fans. Our lives go on, we go to our jobs, and we spend time with our families. Give it a year and we will have new local heroes to cheer and get mad at (Johnny had his fans but he had a lot of detractors as well).
But for him this was actually his life. A moment he dreamed about as a kid that he never thought would be reality (remember he was 140 lbs, he probably never thought it would happen).
Then all of a sudden he’s actually drafted (he was surprised at the time he was even drafted iirc), then he’s scoring the winning goal in the NCAA, he wins a Hobey Baker, he signs with the Flames, scores in his first NHL game and suddenly that dream of being an NHLer has actually happened, and that dream of playing for the Flyers actually seems in reach.
Then you spend the next 8 years an NHLer in Calgary. You grow to love the city and the fans love you back, and you don’t complain or ask for a trade even when the times are tough, and you’re last season is the best of your career and you’re a UFA .
It’s a tough decision because Calgary was a great home for you but that dream you had as a kid feels like it might finally happen, you might finally be able to play for the Flyers. It’s been rumoured for 8 years from before you even signed with the Flames, and the Flyers fans have been clamouring over you on social media, articles are being written about the hometown kid coming home.
Then suddenly once you’re UFA the Flyers aren’t there, your agent is telling you no offer is coming, that the best deal is from Calgary and that you should take it. You make the call to go to UFA potentially against your agents guidance, now you’ve ruined your relationship with an organization you considered family, and the Flyers don’t come…now you’re signing in Columbus.
I could see why Johnny has looked and sounded about as excited as somebody going to the dentist these last two days.
In the end no matter how much money there is, or how much you’re just playing a kids game for millions of dollars, it still doesn’t change you from being Human and having insecurities.
