Apologies to Asiaoil, who I foolishly took offense to after seeing my thoughts on this worthless prospect seemingly turned into a personal attack on myself.
Asiaoil usually makes great comments, and if I wasn't so fucking tired right now I might haven't have responded in the petulant manner which I did.
Still, Riley Nash strikes me as an idiot of the first degree. Woo Hoo, going to an Ivy League college, to reprise Ryan O'Neil's role from Love Story, or whatever the fuck else he's there for.
He's a first round NHL draft pick for fuck sakes. Fuck school when you're a miserable BC hockey league star, miraculously drafted so highly. You call that good business, turning down the shot at playing professional hockey, after getting chosen in the first round draft of the greatest pro league in the world?
Not me. I call that bad business. There are times to bide your time, and times to jump into a pool of sharks. Times to play safe, and times to go for broke. Seems to me like Riley wants to go to his college, party and fuck co-eds, then sashay over to the pro ranks, and somehow, despite the fact he's not even developing properly anymore, show his first round credentials and waltz into the Oilers lineup. Sorry shmuck, that's not how it works.
It's a marathon, winning the game of life, and a marathon making a pro sports career. I was talking on Lowetide's blog the other day about how young players foolishly stop developing their weaknesses, right at the last post, when they're in major junior hockey, not understanding that they're still so many fish compared to the 1,500 active professional players at any given moment.
Just because you're drafted highly, doesn't mean fuck all, not unless you develop and develop and develop until the head coach of your pro team simply cannot afford to ignore you at training camp.
What's Nash done? He's fucking regressed, that's what. Okay, enjoy your education, and forget the pros. You're not going to make it sucker. That kid riding the Saskatchewan bus wants it more than you do, is working harder, is probably younger, and by the time you're facing off against him in training camp, will have forgotten more about what it takes to succeed as a hockey player than you're likely to ever know.
Rant over.
