Toronto Reporter Calls Out Brian Burke for Visiting Troops

MR Burke I salute you.

USAF Disabled Veteran
Gulf war 1991-1995

fighting in a country full of people who hate you simply for being alive

As a 1st-generation American of Iranian descent, I have to say that the “anti-American” sentiment that people think us Middle Easterners have is really overplayed. I for one, know that not everyone in Iran hates the United States, and it’s assumedly the same in Afghanistan. So please don’t paint us all with the same brush.

Other than that, I agree wholeheartedly with your post and think that Simmons should show a little more appreciation for the troops.

First, I applaud Burke for his decision to visit real heroes during the upcoming holiday. It’s good for the troops to know firsthand that their sacrifices are appreciated.

Second, and I may not be a total expert, but I feel that Burke is taking the same direction as the Wild and building a solid core of players. Who was he actually going to overpay that would make Toronto a real contender? The Leafs are making shrewd decisions, building for the future, and I personally think they have a great young core that will allow them to be competitive down the road.
People honestly need to look at Brad Richards and realize he’s on the wrong side of 30 and is only a “win-now” piece. In five years, he won’t be the same impact player that he is now, and the Leafs are building a good future.

Good for you, Burke. Shame on you, Simmons.

While I do want Burke doing his job as a GM, he actually did take care of it (was on the phone to the Leafs brain trust all day, and they had a planned pitch to Brad Richards). The Leafs basically have a 5man GM team, a group that was smart enough to avoid all the nonesense that happened today.

Speaking as someone who knows to well, Simmons is a moron.

Rec’d!

Steve Simmons is a d-bag.

This would be a non-issue if the Leafs had signed someone….anyone today. As it is it looks like Burke being out of town COULD be the reason they didn’t sign anyone.

I mean, Simmons qualifies his statements by essentially saying “this is a fine thing for Burke to do, on any other day”.

If July 1st isn’t the most important day for a GM, what is? It’s not disrespectful to point this out.

I am sure this trip was cleared weeks in advance by Burke’s boss though, and obviously Nonis is experienced enough to handle the workload. Simmons might be a fool, but even a broken clock is right twice a day. He does have a point.

Having said all that, it is the Leafs we’re talking about here. Instead of arguing, can we just laugh at their sorry franchise together?

Long time clicker, very rare commenter

Couldn’t agree with you more. Burke in outer space wouldn’t matter with the technology he has, i have always respected him as a GM and the fact he and Fletch stayed out of this 300 million dollar madness today has only raised my confidence in the direction the Wild are headed.

IFIT In Fletcher I trust

I’ve been resistant to respect Brian Burke. But with his support of his son, and now this, I just can’t resist anymore. Burke has my respect.

I have no problem with where Burke was or what he was doing yesterday. I care that he is good at his job, but it also matters to me that he is a good man. Burke chose his priorities yesterday and he chose them well.

Excellent post. I get what Simmons is saying and if Burke had been anywhere other than where he was, he’d be right. But Brian Burke made a statement yesterday, he reminded all of us that there are more important things happening in the world than inflated FA contracts.

PS Blackhawks fan here who’s very excited for Brunette to join the team :)

Maybe it was for the best that Burke was far away from the phone. The Leafs have deep pockets and have been known to overpay for mediocrity, and I can’t think of a better headline for yesterday’s league-wide shennanigans than that.

Now, that said? Even if Brad Richards was standing outside Brian Burke’s office ready to sign for league minimum for 10 years, Burke’s still in the right place right now. Hockey is a fine and wonderful sport, but it’s not important. If there’s a lockout, we’d be bummed. The fighting in Afghanistan and elsewhere, that’s real. That’s important. What goes on there affects us in a way far more real, far more profoundly, than where some millionaire goes for how many years to play a game.

Incidentally, I didn’t know he was American until now, I don’t really pay attention to the East—let alone the East’s GMs and their nationality. Kind of nice seeing an American visiting Canadian troops. Wonder if he’ll be there for the 4th.

Has Don Cherry been reached for comment?

I don’t agree with Simmons- pretty cool of Burke to take time out to visit troops on Canada Day.
 However, it doesn’t change the fact that Burke has a job to do. While you note you spend a time of time trying to help and honor our troops, do you ignore your obligations to do so? I think the people who meeting returning troops at the airport are fantastic, but if someone decided to just not show up to work one day so they could do so, they should be fired. I’m sure Burke was in contact with everyone in Toronto. I’m sure he had clear instructions on who they wanted and what they would pay set. I’m sure shit was getting done. But I can also see why someone would question why the GM of a team that’s struggled for decades isn’t around on one of the biggest days for his job.

But that isn’t really my problem. My problem is your replies to everyone who disagrees with you on this, BReynolds. It’s pretty sad you can’t engage is discourse without sinking to “blow me.” That’s an understandable reply to someone pointing out Marty Havlat is a glass man who only performs in contract years, but not to someone disagreeing on a serious subject and stating their view. Especially when the TOS agreement has this on it:

Don’t be mean.
Post Often.
Love Hockey.

You disagree with Simmons? Cool. But when you start “wishing the worst on him” and shit talking everyone who disagrees with you, you just sound like a child. You may love the troops but this whole thread makes it look like you don’t have the first clue how to live in the civil society they fight to defend.

I would recommend that no one further engage “Temujin” on this or any other thread. His record with SBNation is not a good one. While we here at Hockey Wilderness do not ban people for expressing their opinions, nor can I think of a time we have deleted comments save for spam, we highly recommend that you not engage this person any further.

Thank you.
    
         The management.

of pissing off the management, a couple thoughts occur to me as I read thru the comments here in this thread. Please note, these are my opinions, and obviously disagreement is expected. First off, let me get this right out in the open: simmons is an idiot, and nobody in the hockey world should give a rats ass if burke is making calls from kandahar airfield or from the Maple leafs dressing room. It just doesn’t matter; the free agency circus is a telephone based event, and he can do the job just fine from anywhere. So lets just stop worrying about that at all.

So here’s what I noticed in this thread:
1: the troops are over their fighting for our freedom. Um, no, they most definitely are not. Our freedom is not the battle here, and never was. Before anyone throws a rock at me, let me make this clear: I fully support Canadian and American troops out there fighting the good fight, I’m not for a second saying I don’t. But, no they are NOT fighting for our freedom here. Afghanistan is no threat to our freedom. Iraq was no threat to our freedom. Iran is no threat to our freedom. The closest statement you can make to that is that in a somewhat obtuse way they are fighting for our safety…but even that could be argued. Frankly all we’re doing is pissing off the terrorists in other countries that support the taliban. If this war was against a real power, then maybe I could agree with that statement, but no, this is a police action, not a fight for freedom. At least, not for our freedom. Whether we have the right to decide what level of freedom other countries get is a whole other discussion, and I have my opinions on that which are probably contrary to some peoples’ and in line with others.

2: The nazi comment was ridiculous, but I do know what the person was trying to say…and they aren’t completely wrong. There seems to be a certain level of kneejerk reaction to words in this thread (on both sides of the argument); obviously it’s very sensitive subject matter and really ranks up their with gay marriage and abortion in provocative-ness level. If you view any argument from a holistic standpoint, you can see that not all opinions here are purely black or white…there’s alot of gray. For myself, (warning: provocative statement coming…) I totally disagreed with the invasion of Iraq, thought it was an illegal war based on lies, and the invasion of Afghanistan is not too far removed from that. BUT I understand why we’re there. Regardless of my feelings for either war, I don’t (and can’t) have any ill feelings to our troops who are out there putting their lives on the line because they were asked to, and it doesn’t make me hate my country for being involved. I guess what i’m saying is that someone can disagree with the war but not hate their country… This is something that really bugs me about discussions of the war, maybe more so in the US, but here in Canada as well: Just because someone doesn’t support the war doesn’t mean we hate the troops, our country or you. Likewise the other way around: just because someone does support the war doesn’t mean they hate all Muslims, hippies or the rights of a country to make it’s own decisions as to it’s style of government. At least I hope not.
3: Temujin can be troll-y but I thought he was fairly reasoned here, even though he had the unpopular side of the conversation. Maybe his point was more tenable than his way of putting it across. Maybe not, I dunno.
4: You keep saying hockey is just a game. Really, it’s not. NHL hockey is big business. It’s a game to us watching it, but to the teams and management, this is a large enterprise. If you look at it from a different perspective it’s hard to argue that it has less worth than anything else. Some anthropologists would say that the entertainment industry becomes more important to a society’s survival and well being during hard times, so maybe hockey management IS pretty important.

Finally, I hate Brian Burke. He’s a weasel and a tool. I hated him when he was here in Vancouver; not because of anything he did with the team, but because of his arrogance and off-putting general douchebaggery. But…he does do some good works (like most people), and I can applaud him for visiting the troops and other things he’s done. You can like and respect someone’s actions and still not want to hang out with them. Just saying.

Based on the contracts handed out on July 1, I’m glad Burke was overseas.