Phil Kessel

[TML fan]

I love how the media has turned the Leafs first playoff appearance in 9 years into a story about themselves.

But it's not. This was Kessel's choice and the story now is all about Kessel. To me, that's why Kessel's behaviour isn't just selfish but ultimately self-defeating. By making this choice he's made his actions the big story and drawn a ton of media attention towards him.

He could have answered their inane and pointless questions about the trade and why he doesn't score against Boston, and then it's all about that. He does this and now it's all about this. It's a lose lose situation. The media just wants to poke at him. Either way, it was always only going to be about Kessel.

I disagree. If he just answered their stupid questions, they will eventually go away. The team has a slew of PR people that would be more than happy to spend time with him coaching him on dealing with the media. He doesn't have to say anything thought-provoking or interesting.

The media was going to rip him for a bad series regardless, but now he gave them a little bit more oomph if he doesn't perform.

Go away? Ha! They've been harping on him for 4 years!

Go away....that's funny.

Did anyone ever find out the actual REASON he didn't talk to the media? Or are we just speculating that he just didn't want to? Maybe he wasn't feeling well, or he had to take a dump or something?

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Well he just met with the media today. I don't have a video of the link, but here's a quote:


"Nothing changes, right? We're going to have to go in there. They're a great team. We're gonna have to battle" - Phil Kessel.

There. They have what they need. He fulfilled his "obligation". Feel better now?

Mind. Blown.

 

[Kin]

The issue isn't the obligation Phil Kessel has to the media, it's the obligation he has to the Leafs.

The Leafs organization has a responsibility to protect their assets.  If they don't want him getting banged up in a barrage of questions by the media, they'll not let media get to him.  I remember when I was covering the Leafs, there were many nights that Felix Potvin didn't want to speak to any media.

Maybe Kessel only wants to speak to female media members

Careful now. Too many more insinuations like that and you could be the target of Brian Burke's next lawsuit.

 

[Kin]

There. They have what they need. He fulfilled his "obligation". Feel better now?

Well, I do. I just hope Phil Kessel is able to recover in time from such an ordeal to be able to play Tomorrrow.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

The media could have just interviewed other players, and maybe Kessel would have come out today regardless and we'd not have lost anything.  Or they could have quietly asked someone in Leafs management to make sure he's available.  Instead they all wanted to pile on him and embarrass him.

 

[Derk]

I swear, the media in this market gets downright hissy sometimes....

Not surprised that Cox was leading the charge, though. I suppose I'll get to hear all about it on the FAN this evening. :

 

[PG]

The media could have just interviewed other players, and maybe Kessel would have come out today regardless and we'd not have lost anything.  Or they could have quietly asked someone in Leafs management to make sure he's available.  Instead they all wanted to pile on him and embarrass him.

But again, he could have avoided this by doing what every other player on every team is doing. And again, something he is contractually obligated to do.

I know nobody can criticize him without you getting on them but he brought this on himself. Playing in Toronto means being in tune with how the media is here. Are they boorish and unprofessional? Absolutely. But that's out of his control.......and so is deciding not to talk to the media.

And what I meant about going away is that if he faced them dead on, the difficult questions will stop. It didn't take long for the questions about Wendel Clark to stop because Sundin never once shied away from the media.

 

[Kin]

The media could have just interviewed other players, and maybe Kessel would have come out today regardless and we'd not have lost anything.  Or they could have quietly asked someone in Leafs management to make sure he's available.  Instead they all wanted to pile on him and embarrass him.

Seriously. The media is really falling down on their fundamental responsibility to protect Phil Kessel's feelings.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

If there's a league fine for refusing to speak, I wonder what it would be.  Kessel may be happy to just pay it and clam up.  Or make a $1000 donation to charity every time he declines to talk after a game during the playoffs?  That would defray at least some of the criticism.  Let's find out how much Phil is willing to pay to not talk!

The problem of it for me, and this wouldn't really be handled by charitable donations, is something that Cox brings up and is 100% right about. Dealing with the media is a chore. Even a guy like Steve Nash, smart and affable, has described it as such. Phil Kessel saying he isn't going to participate in something everyone is obligated to is a little bit like living with a bunch of roommates and saying "I don't like doing the dishes, you guys do it". That's not the right attitude for a teammate, or roommate, to have. You take your lumps.

I don't disagree at all.  The gray area for me, I suppose, is how much  Kessel's shyness veers (or doesn't veer) into what could be clinically considered a mental illness.  I'm no psychologist, and I can't make any pronouncements here.  But assume Kessel is or could be clinically diagnosed with whatever variant or classification of a social anxiety disorder.  Is there a difference between compelling a guy to do interviews when it's merely a nuisance for him versus if it literally causes panic attacks and depression?  Does the (speculative) emotional and psychological harm to an individual warrant putting a guy through that when it's fully known that it will yield no useful information from him?  I'm not answering those questions, I'm just posing them.

It's fine if you just want to say "suck it up" and you're justified enough in saying so.  He's required to make himself available, so if you want to say, "hey, he signed the contract, he has to fulfil all that  goes along with it", you're also justified in saying so.  I just think that at this point, every single media person knows that Kessel has no insight to offer, but many of them just want to force him to talk out of principle.  It's like they're saying "this part of our job sucks, so we're going to make sure it sucks for you, too".

 

[Bates]

So as we head into the playoffs for the first time in forever against a team that we have had limited success against TML fans are perfectly OK with the media being able to grill our top offensive player about "the trade" and his inability to play well against this new opponant???  If I was running the Leafs they would be told to pound sand.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

The media could have just interviewed other players, and maybe Kessel would have come out today regardless and we'd not have lost anything.  Or they could have quietly asked someone in Leafs management to make sure he's available.  Instead they all wanted to pile on him and embarrass him.

Seriously. The media is really falling down on their fundamental responsibility to protect Phil Kessel's feelings.

Strictly speaking, their fundamental responsibility is to provide me and all fans with interesting, useful and insightful information.  I expect them to explore more fruitful avenues to find it.  They'll get as much useful information from interviewing Kessel as they would from interviewing a potato.

 

[Highlander]

Let him talk with hard rubber!!

 

[crazyperfectdevil]

should he have stuck around to speak to the media?  yes.... is this a story worth as much copy as has been written about it?  no..

but the media's favourite story is always about the media...and until any hockey is actually played..there's not much else to write about ..other than how the world has changed since the last time the leafs were in the playoffs....

 

[Kin]

I don't disagree at all.  The gray area for me, I suppose, is how much  Kessel's shyness veers (or doesn't veer) into what could be clinically considered a mental illness.  I'm no psychologist, and I can't make any pronouncements here.  But assume Kessel is or could be clinically diagnosed with whatever variant or classification of a social anxiety disorder.  Is there a difference between compelling a guy to do interviews when it's merely a nuisance for him versus if it literally causes panic attacks and depression?  Does the (speculative) emotional and psychological harm to an individual warrant putting a guy through that when it's fully known that it will yield no useful information from him?  I'm not answering those questions, I'm just posing them.

Well, it's interesting that you phrase it as such because this year in the NBA there was a bit of a parallel with that with regards to a player by the name of Royce White. White, who does have a clinically diagnosed anxiety disorder that apparently affects him greatly on flights, has sought special consideration from the Houston Rockets that would allow him to both play professional basketball as well as manage his condition.

And to that effect, if Phil Kessel had a real, diagnosed case of social anxiety disorder or something along those lines I would 100% be on board with him and the Maple Leafs working out an arrangement that would allow him to manage the situation in a way that was amenable to everyone involved.

However, and trust me I know firsthand that this can be difficult, the responsibility there is on Kessel to proactively make the people around him aware of his condition and how to deal with it. If it does veer into mental illness then in order to get special allowances for it, he has to work that out with the team. The fact that Nonis responded the way he did is pretty good proof he hasn't.

It's fine if you just want to say "suck it up" and you're justified enough in saying so.  He's required to make himself available, so if you want to say, "hey, he signed the contract, he has to fulfil all that  goes along with it", you're also justified in saying so.  I just think that at this point, every single media person knows that Kessel has no insight to offer, but many of them just want to force him to talk out of principle.  It's like they're saying "this part of our job sucks, so we're going to make sure it sucks for you, too".

I think that if you listen to enough beat reporters talk about athlete's they'll typically say that the value in talking to a guy like Kessel is two fold. One is that even the most blank slate may say something interesting every now and again and two is that "not having anything to say" could be a pretty easy and effective shield for most athletes in terms of dealing with the media.

If you feel as though the media and the leagues they cover have a symbiotic relationship, and it's pretty clear from their media policies that the Leagues themselves do, then you can't let players decide for themselves whether or not they want to take part because, as I sort of reference in the post you quote, just about all of them would choose not to.

 

[Zee]

Did he give an emotional soliloquy today to the media where he laid out all his hopes and plans for the series?

 

[Champ Kind]

If I was a player picking based on city.. I'd probably pick San Jose or Anaheim. Detroit, Toronto, Dallas, St. Louis, LA would be at the bottom of my list.

I missed it earlier but the idea of Anaheim at the top and LA at the bottom is hi-larious. I mean, unless you're the world's biggest theme park fan.

I'd feel safer and more at home in Anaheim. Plus, look what growing up in LA did to Gretzky's daughter. Perhaps that's just what American culture turns women into, but still.. It's probably more evident in LA.

Is that you, Don Cherry?

 

[Deebo]

markhmasters: Kessel on declining interview requests: 'You guys don?t talk to me that much during the year & you need me yesterday?'

markhmasters: Kessel on media silence yesterday: 'I didn?t think it was that big a deal ... you guys made a bigger deal about it than it is'

 

[chestyleroux]

Did he give an emotional soliloquy today to the media where he laid out all his hopes and plans for the series?

Haiku-style...

I score goals to win
The star won't leave me alone
Go to hell Seguin

 

[Kin]

Strictly speaking, their fundamental responsibility is to provide me and all fans with interesting, useful and insightful information.  I expect them to explore more fruitful avenues to find it.  They'll get as much useful information from interviewing Kessel as they would from interviewing a potato.

I think the media's fundamental obligation when covering a team is to present as accurate a portrayal of what's happening as possible. Saying "Phil Kessel skipped out on his media obligations" is just as legitimate a thing for them to report as say him skipping out on practice is. In that situation their responsibility isn't to shield Kessel from the consequences of his own decision, it's to give me that information and let me decide how I feel about it.

If you're(royally) the kind of person who doesn't care about how a player conducts himself or if they skip practice or whatever so long as they perform in a game, that's valid. If you think that sort of thing can be corrosive to a team, well, there's an argument for that too. Regardless, that's up to us to decide.

 

[Champ Kind]

markhmasters: Kessel on declining interview requests: 'You guys don?t talk to me that much during the year & you need me yesterday?'

markhmasters: Kessel on media silence yesterday: 'I didn?t think it was that big a deal ... you guys made a bigger deal about it than it is'

And there you have it.  The reality of the situation: this hockey-mad market is trying to derive meaning from meaningless things.  Also reaffirms Cornflake's take on the whole thing.

Let's get back to our regularly scheduled programming.