The Boston Bruins completed their sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins Friday night to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. One of the lasting images of the series was Boston forward Gregory Campbell having his leg broken on a shot by Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin during Game 3 and finishing his shift.
It was a moment that embodied the toughness of hockey players.
A moment that inspired Boston Bruins announcer Jack Edwards to once again take a leap into an alternative dimension.
Edwards is known for his complete and utter over-the-top homerism that leads to him jumping off the edge of a cliff with comparisons between sports and real life. Now, I'm not one of those wet blanket types that thinks words like "heroic" should be banned from the sports lexicon because people who play a game for a living aren't true heroes. Seriously, get over yourselves.
But even I know when someone needs to back away from the ledge and gain perspective. Jack Edwards is that someone.
Earlier this year he compared Pens forward Matt Cooke to assassin Sirhan Sirhan and had to apologize for it. Earlier this week in an essay for Boston radio station WEEI, Edwards took the other side of the coin and directly compared Gregory Campbell's heroics to soldiers who died on D-Day since they just happened to occur on the same date in history. Really. Just listen as Edwards' words and the string music in the background pay the most absurdly overdramatic tribute to a hockey player ever seen…
"In Gregory Campbell's actions, we see the legacy of what those incredibly heroic soldiers fought and died for in the safety comfort of what Dic Donahue and his brothers and sisters in service provide us now.
H/T Sporting News
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