Tobias Rieder

[Surly]

I'm not on the ice, I'm in a forum. I understood what they were trying to say.

Does Branch consider Euro a slur? Is Euro a slur? I searched the interwebs to find out and couldn't find anything. A albeit small sampling of people no one knew Euro was a slur. Its a denomination of currency, its also believed a catch all term for anything European including but not limited to; handbags, clothing, music, and people, pretty much anything that was european where a specific country wasn't named. I considered it slang, like Canuck, Yankee, Aussie, Euro. Does the OHL have a list of what they consider slurs?

There is a band called Slur who released a record called Euro. Perhaps the the PC police need to speak to them...

[rgr4life]

This is getting silly.

The reason people have been suspended is because of context...and it was likely preceded by an f-bomb or similar. There are a bunch of words like that--it depends on who uses it, or how they use it.

[qqp]

I cancelled my subscription to the record 2 years ago because of something Hicks wrote.

I can't remember for what anymore.

I will consider renewing it once he is gone.

That could be a problem however, I think he is younger than me.

I dont miss the record and the only time I hear anything about Hicks is in here.

Things have not changed a bit I see.

I would cross my fingers hoping he will leave someday but the arthritus would be too painful.

[Surly]

is there anything you get in the paper version that's not in the online? I've never had a record subsription and still get to read the stuff Hicks writes along with the "my neighour's dog barks too loud" letters to the editor.

the reason i ask is because you could cancel a susbscription and still read the parts you wanted to.

[ronbholmes]

Most of what's in the print version of the Record can be found online. They will leave stuff out of the online version from time to time in the hopes that you will go buy a paper.
There is nothing of substance that will not make it on to the NOOF or Rangers Rush so all those people who whine constantly about Hick's but buy the Record because there is no way to get info on the Rangers otherwise, are just wrong. Everyone here could cancel their subscriptions and still get plenty of Rangers or local news for free.

Here's a question. Why would the Record fire Hicks?
There's already 3 pages of this hijacked thread dedicated to him. There have probably been hundreds of pages about him here and on the NOOF. There a definitely dozens if not hundreds of links to his blog and his articles on several Jr. hockey forums.
His boss will definitely see all this as a testament to how many papers Hicks helps sell with his writing. Love it or hate it, as long as you read it and talk about it he will stay employed.

[BB]

Every once in a while Hicks seems to get bored, and decides to stir it up. I have no doubt that he gets off on it...and reads everyone of these posts. Probably shows his wife, and brags about what an investigative/controversial reporter he is. "Ooooh you're so edgy honey!" Not that I want someone that just gives the positives, and ignores obvious negatives, but this article is clearly a case of him trying to stir the pot, and take another shot at the Rangers.
Hasnt been much going on in Rangerland I guess, being summer and all, so time to get something started. Wether he likes it or not, Rieder will show up here and will be a better player for it, and the Rangers will continue to be one of the elite organizations in the OHL, attracting elite jr players from north america and europe. I just dont get why he feels the need to try to bash the organization every so often, but it seems to be something personal.
The Record was a lot better newspaper when Tom Conaway was reporting on the Rangers(ie:worth the money!). I want to read a story on a hockey team, not his National Enquirer style of reporting. Go do gosip reporting if that's what turns your crank Hicks. Leave the writing of hockey stories to others...PLEASE! Unfortunately we're probably stuck with this crap for another 20 years...who else is going to hire him really!?
Hope you enjoyed all this Hicks! See ya back here in another few months when you can come up with another gem of a story like this one!

[ORYX]

Freedom of speech, simole as that. Also you have the CHOICE of reading it. Don't like what he writes? Then why read anything he writes at all?

Simple solution is instead of posting pages bashing his writing in hopes that you will feel better about yourself, choose not to read the stuff this guy writes. That way your blood pressure and stress levels wont go through the roof as you've proclaimed.

IMO he has a point. other then the few recent successes if you can even call them that, The Rangers have not turned many Europeans into everyday NHL'ers. You can also debate that many of the ones that didnt make the NHL DID play fantastic in Kitchener and it was perhaps their lack of progress after the OHL that spelled the end of their NHL careers.

Valabik was 10th overall, and has really only played two seasons of NHL hockey despite being drafted in what, 2003 or 2004?
Kindl was a highly touted prospect, played well in Kitchener and hasnt cracked the NHL
Weber, played fantastic in Kitchener, has played a handful of games only.
Boedker, highly touted, expected 1st rounder, cracked the Coyotes as an 18 year old, where has he been since?

I get his point, there really is not much of a reason in terms of "The Kitchener rangers will turn me into a pro player" that we all proclaim should entice Reider to come here.

The OHL is a development league, while the goal of the team is to win the OHL, it is the coaches duty to develop professional athletes, something that this organization hasnt had great success with in terms of its European players.

I would imagine that the ratio of NHL games plyed of Europeans who played here and the quantity of Europeans to ever play here is no worse then the ratio you would see in "Home grown" talent however.

But it all comes back to if you don't like hicks do yourself and other posters a favour and dont read it.

[Surly]

Freedom of speech, simole as that. Also you have the CHOICE of reading it. Don't like what he writes? Then why read anything he writes at all?

Simple solution is instead of posting pages bashing his writing in hopes that you will feel better about yourself, choose not to read the stuff this guy writes. That way your blood pressure and stress levels wont go through the roof as you've proclaimed.

people have the right to read it and complain.

anyone else find it terribly ironic you put down posters for putting down Hicks so they can feel better about themselves? you just did the very thing you are telling people not to do! don't like when people complain about hicks? don't respond.

i do feel better now.

[DB]

ORYX,

You also miss a very important distinction in referring to this as freedom of speech. That freedom allows people to speak their mind regardless of how uninformed or ignorant their opinion may be.

HOWEVER (and it's a big however)... Hicks is a journalist. It is his job to research all angles of a story and provide the facts on each side. He has failed grossly to do so in this article. A journalist should be held to higher standards than just some joe on the street stating an opinion. Any journalist worth his ilk is obligated to present all facts.

In a previous post I highlighted several of the dozens of factors and pieces of information that Hicks chose to ignore in this article, so I won't re-hash any of that. But in the vein of free speech, I'll just re-state that it's my opinion that he blatantly skewed the facts to validate his opinion. Tobias Reider has a lot to be gained by playing in Kitchener. Is it a guaranteed route to the NHL? Of course not. But me acknowledging that is showing some balance on the subject that Hicks chose not to.

[Kenny the Rat]

Totally agree with DB on this issue. This is a Ranger forum after all. The title of the thread is Tobias Rieder. Hick's chose to write an article about him at the precise time the thread was in process. Just a conincidence but it added fuel to the fire on this forum which is in fact a good thing in the summer because it keeps things interesting and moving. Hicks chose a negative slant as usual and never told the whole story. Tobias Rieder's chances of making the NHL on a permanent basis as they say are slim to none and slim left town. This guy might be a good player for his age group but he is not the second coming of the Great One. If Hicks took the time to give the ratio of how many imports make the NHL from across the CHL or how many teams are even as successful at finding decent players through the Import Draft as the Rangers have been recently then you could call it fair journalism.

[friendlyusher]

Ya you tell 'em Kenny,(is thatgrade 8ish enough like Hicks' writing).Jeff Hick is nothing more than a hack journalist (and I use the term loosely.)

[ORYX]

My point is that after every Hicks article the same posters come on here complaining about how crappy his article are etc and that you are going to discontinue your subscriptions, but then next article your back complaining.

This is a cyclical debate every couple articles of his. Its like reffing, sometimes its alright, other times its crap and its never good.

You have the freedom to complain all you want, but when you complain every week about an article of his it gets old and rather pathetic. This board has this discussion every couple months.

He sucks at writing big deal, dont read it. If you do have the desire to read it (your choice) but you expect it to suck then why are you getting all prissy about it?

Like i said you have a choice to read it or not, and you all know as much as i do 1/10 articles is actually alright, so am i suprised your complaining? not at all, but it makes you look like a big whiner when after every crappy article you complain about him.

Getting old thats all, but then again its the summer so what else do you have to talk about?

[jonny three time]

Oryx, I agree that it gets a little old everyone saying that they won't read him again, when many keep on reading him after saying so.

I'm going to read any article in The Record written about the Rangers regardless of who writes it and what slant they put on it. At the same time though, there is nothing wrong with dissecting the articles and pointing out WHY they are biased and what I like or don't like about them. Everyone has that right, just as Hicks has a right to write what he wants.

Just as you gave this advice to people who complain about Hicks articles after they've read them, I give this advice back to you in regards to Hicks-complaint-threads that will obviously continue to pop up on here...

If you do have the desire to read it (your choice) but you expect it to suck then why are you getting all prissy about it?

[DB]

I just have one more thing to add to this before I shut up.

I feel this thread/debate was hijacked a little by the old "I hate Hicks" vs. "then don't read him" argument. Even though I jumped in with a scathing rebuttal to this particular article, I am not one who regularly bashes Hicks on here, nor do I expect anyone else to care what my opinion of his writing is.

This is not about that. It's about disseminating inaccurate or biased information via mass media, which corrupts public opinion. So this can not be solved by saying "if you don't like it, don't read it." Whether or not I read it is irrelevant. Thousands of less-informed people do read it and walk away with a very incomplete and brain-washed perspective. That's the issue.

This isn't a personal attack on Hicks. This is an expression of extreme derision towards a particular article.

There, I'm done.

[Surly]

Read Hick's article on the Guelph Royals vs the Kitchener Panthers, its actually coherent and easy to read and you don't get the feeling the first draft was written in crayon. Why can't he write like that regarding the Rangers?

(I mean without the dumb nick names and the other stuff, he'll always have bias.)