You know those kids, the ones who constantly bug you on the plane by talking all loud, or constantly ask you stupid questions, or throw peanuts at you from the seat behind you? How about those kids in the supermarket that throw tantrums and just can’t behave themselves for 30 freaking seconds? You know what I am talking about right? I mean, we have all seen, dealt with, and contemplated heaving an eggplant at these kids right? Good, so this way I know my analogy will work.
Blame the parents.
Can you really blame the kid who constantly throws peanuts if his/her mother is reading a book instead of telling the kid to stop misbehaving? Can you really blame the kid who throws the tantrum in the supermarket if the parent wont tell them to shut the hell up? Can you really blame the ticked off blogger who heaves the eggplant at the annoying squirt who won’t shut up? Well, ok, maybe that last part you can actually put the blame on the blogger, but the first two parts definitely are answered no in my opinion. You need to look at the parents, the ones with whom these kids look up to, who they respect, who, one might say, set the parameters for what the children do.
So why is it when the Rangers go down 5 on 3 for the 4th time in 3 games does nobody want to blame Renney? Ok, well, most of the boards are blaming Renney, so, good for you guys, I am right there with you. Look, the Rangers played very well for 2 periods, but once again, they took way too many penalties, at the most inopportune times, and they, once again, came out looking totally flat to start a game. They have been last in goals scored for just about the entire season, and when they havent been in last, they have been in 2nd to last by a goal or 2. This is the same team boasting 2 guys who have scored over 600 goals, and 4 other players that have scored 29 or more goals at least once in the past 2 years. Sooner or later you need to look at the coach, and ask yourself, is he the best man to lead this team to the promise land?
I say no, and here is why. Tom Renney has consistently shown an inability to properly react to game situations in a way to help his team. How many times have you seen the Rangers go down 2 or 3 quick goals, how many times does he call a timeout right away? How many times has he tapped Colton Orr’s shoulder and said, Colton, you need to wake this team up, go out there and break a face, it will wake these morons up. Once? Twice? How many times has Tom Renney chewed out his team for one of their numerous flat and uninterested displays on the ice? No, he waits till intermission to try to sort things out. That lets things go from bad to worse. What we need is a coach capable of chewing these guys out when they are flat, lazy, and taking stupid penalties, and equally capable of putting praise on the guys who are doing a great job out there. I have said for a while that Jim Schoenfeld is the man to lead us. I stand by that thought process. Tom Renney is ideally suited to be the friendly assistant coach all the players love and respect, but he is not the guy who is going to get the most out of his players night in and night out.
Blame Renney, and Blame Sather for not recognizing this as of yet.
