oh noes, controversy!

Lately I have been seeing even more rumblings, gripes, opinions or whatever adjectives you feel like using when describing people's feelings on the infamous Eklund. So I figured, why the puck not put in my two cents. When in Rome right?

***Disclaimer: I am NOT Eklund in disguise (as has been suggested that he does this from time to time to defend himself or whatever)***


I will preface this blog by saying this will not necessarily be a pro/con Eklund rant, so much as it is will about common sense, because people seem to be losing it. Hockeybuzz seems to be the myspace of hockey sites, with all the hate it seems to receive (it would be the facebook if people liked it more). Why do I say that? It's a place where hockey bloggers league wide come to talk about their teams. Without it I wouldn't be familiar with a lot of the Western Conference teams writers, since in the East, those teams receive little to no coverage during the season. It's actually been nice to read guys like Matthew Barry or Shaune Vetter, LA Kings and Calgary Flames bloggers respectively. I actually give one iota of a puck now about the daily mess that is Calgary after reading some of the blogs. Essentially I view hockeybuzz as a place to go to read other people's opinions about the sport we all love. I know I won't always agree with what someone else is saying, but I'm also given a new way to look at certain teams from time to time throughout the season.
Now onto the man, the myth, the legend. There is at least one twitter account that I know of, @StopEklund, to go with numerous atricles on websites and even videos attempting to thwart his reign of tyranny over the hockey community! You can't see it, but I started shaking my fist menacingly at my computer. CAPS LOCKS FOR RAGE! This is where my common sense comment comes in. In today's day and age you can get your information from almost anywhere, so why do you get so worked up about one guy? Maybe it's because I view the site differently the most. At least I assume I do since i don't get worked up about every little thing I read on there. I take the rumors with a grain of salt, and have even referred to Ek as Eklolund (which i also used in an email to him) due to the nature of some of his rumors. At the end of the day though they're just that, rumors.
Yes some of them are far out there, but that's the nature of rumors. They might not always make sense or even be plausible to you or me, but it's still out there. Do I see the validity in the argument that he reports rumors simply to get hits on the site? Sure. But I also see all those hits as a choice. If you don't like it, don't read it. There are puckloads of sites out there that you can choose to give your bandwidth too. If reading hockeybuzz is so offensive to you, or fills you with such a deep seeded rage...stop. The best thing you can do is ignore it. Constantly griping about draws more attention to what you're trying to stop. If asked about it, offer your opinion and explain why you don't like it. Running around damning both the site and the dude as a person just makes you look ridiculous. There are a great many websites (among other things out there) that I do not like. So guess what I do. C'mon guess. I AVOID THEM! I won't go to their pages, I won't read their articles, I won't watch their channels. It's simple.
Honestly, I can understand your frustration people. Especially in today's day and age where information is readily available. Use twitter and follow guys like Dreger, McKenzie or LeBrun and see what they're privy to. Eklund is truly a unique animal. While not recognized by the PHWA, he still has access to most things that we can only hope to have. So maybe that's what it all boils down to. He's just an average joe who can go places we can't, get access to sources we don't even know and manage to tell us what he hears. Are we all that jealous of one guy? Are his rumors really that inflammatory to where we must take up our digital arms and strike out against the hockeybuzz dragon? I have read some rumors and shared them with friends, and while we ended up scoffing at them, we'd also continue to talk about the game we love. Is that such a bad thing?


So I say, don't do this.



just pucking relax.