Okay, so you’ve got Rick Nash via satellite, or teleconference, or even Skype. You’ve landed a five-minute sit-down with the most talked about man in hockey (this week) and here is your chance to ask him all the questions that you – and Canada – have been wondering.

“Rick, why did you want to leave Columbus? … Did you not want to play in Canada? … Did you always want to go to New York? … Do you understand why some people haven’t thought highly of you in these past few months?”

You don’t have to grill the guy, but get some answers, dammit! And so, what does Evanka Osmak do?

Osmak: “Can you tell us how difficult it was to play out the end of last season with everything that was going on?”

… Okayyyyyy? Sure, that’s not a bad start. Seems a little bit leading, though. It’s certainly a pointed question. Sure seems like you’re on his side. “Can you tell us how difficult it was for you?” Why didn’t you just brush his shoulders off and ask for his autograph?

We’ve always been big supporters of Nash throughout this process, but why would Osmak presume in the question that he’s been hard-done-by, or malnourished, or that he’s suffered here? Nash got everything he wanted, and Osmak is treating him like the victim, like she’s afraid to piss him off.

Okay, anyway. What’s next?

Osmak: “Rick… did you ever consider playing for a Canadian team?”


Rick: “Yes, there was a time when I did.”


(Osmak moves on to another topic.)

Wait, are you kidding us?! ASK HIM WHAT TEAM!!! Everyone in Vancouver is watching this, wondering whether the Canucks had a shot at him and, if not, why he wouldn’t want to play for us, and you just let him off with, “Yes.” Same goes for Calgary, and Toronto, or Montreal, even. How about Ottawa, where Bryan Murray made an actual push for him and got rebuffed. Wouldn’t they want to know why?

Who taught you to ask questions? Did you show these to him beforehand? Did you play golf with him on Monday? Why are you being so easy? Seriously, even if that was Nelson Mandela across from you, ask him a real question! You don’t have to interrogate him, but what kind of an answer is, “Yes”?

——————–

Since Rick Nash requested his trade in the winter, or spring, or whenever it was, we’ve all had questions for him. Why? Why now? Why did you sign the contract if you didn’t want to play there? When did it change? Where do you want to go?

Nash is entitled to his privacy like anyone else, but what is the point of a media corporation that refuses to pull a punch or toss in a wrench?

Seriously… Jesus.

This is a network that spends most of its time running its own ads for the Toronto Blue Jays, a baseball team that is owned by Rogers! There’s more corporate confusion in Sportsnet than there is in a Romney White House. The fact that Sportsnet continually pumps up the Jays like they’re a successful team is insulting to anyone with an Internet access who can find out in three seconds that Toronto hasn’t made MLB’s playoffs in almost 20 years.

“Oh yeah, you should really watch these guys… after all, nobody’s going to the games.”

I mean, really, if this is the kind of pandering, gutless interviewing we’re going to have on TV, we may as well stop ordering it, stop watching it, and stop producing it. If this is all we get – some kind of country club relationship between Sportsnet’s talent that treats NHL players like they’re Mickey Mantle taking us out in Times Square – then it’s all nothing more than irrelevant.

Congrats, Rick Nash. I’m sure we’ll hear from you again in eight years.