8/22/09

Hockey Star Faces PR Challenge

Welcome back to the dog days of August. Often it's a time when otherwise mundane stories can escalate into front-page national stories, causing pain and notoriety - whether deserved or not. For Ottawa Senators fans, the handling of star forward Dany Heatley fits into this category of news event. Word had leaked out back in June that Dany was unhappy with the way coach Cory Clousten had been treating him and told Senators management that he wished to be traded (only one year into a six year, $40 million plus contract. Outrage immediately followed - casting Dany as a spoiled, ungrateful brat turning his back on Ottawa fans. [Whoever said politics is mean? Sports fans can show no mercy at all.]

Dany waited all summer, refusing to say anything, and then only days before beginning hockey camp with the Canadian Olympic team, he holds a conference call/news conference.
Did he meet the test? Clearly not. What went wrong? I was interviewed on that and here is the resulting Ottawa Citizen story:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/contradictory+message/1918390/story.html

Upcoming Media Hit....

Check out CBC radio Monday morning (August 24th) for a discussion with moi and two Conservative politicos on the fortunes of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party with regard to a possible election.

http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/

Until next time....

Barry

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