(WECK 1230) — I make no bones about Theo Fleury being one of my favorite hockey players of all-time. He was pugnacious and skillful, the sort of player I wanted to be in the NHL. Behind the scenes he was fighting the sort of personal demons so relentless that they drive some folks over the edge.
A substance abuser who was also sexually abused, Fleury’s 2009 book “Playing With Fire” details that fight bigger than hockey. This was my first chance to talk to Theo, so we touched on that as well as some expected honesty and wit about today’s NHL. Here are some highlights, and at the end I’ll paste in the entire audio interview.
On how the book helped him heal: “Yeah, because it wasn’t a secret anymore. A lot of times we’re only as sick as our secrets.”
On being an undersized hockey player: “When I look in the mirror, I don’t see somebody who’s small. I see somebody who has never been afraid of hard work. A guy that’s determined, a guy that’s passionate, caring, loving and all those things. All those things together in one package made me the player I was.”
On being driven to win, and being one of the few players with a Cup, a World Juniors title, a Canada Cup win and an Olympic gold: “I grew up playing hockey in Small Town, Canada. It just so happened that I was with a group of kids and a group of parents that we had a lot of fun together, but at the end of the day we were all passionate about winning. Every single rink I ever played in had a scoreboard… that means somebody’s gotta win and somebody’s gotta lose. I’d rather be on the winning side.”
On if the NHL needs to clean up the game: “Hockey is — what? — the 100-and-some-odd popular sport in the United States? We need to take the stigma of violence away from the game of hockey because hockey played well and hockey played skillful and hockey played hard is an amazing sport. Most people in the United States can’t skate or never played hockey before, they don’t fully understand the beauty of the sport and how much skill it takes to play the sport we play… The best player in the game has been out for three months with a concussion. We have a-ways to go, but I think there are lots of things we can to make the game safer and expose the game for the true talent that the game has.”
On the Buffalo Sabres: “I love their team. They probably have one of the best goaltenders in the league. I love their fight and I love their character. They’ve come from a long way back and it seems every single year they are right there til the end. Lindy Ruff has done a fantastic job… They’re fun to watch and I’ve always admired the heart and passion they do play with.”
On being personally lambasted by Canucks fans recently for critical comments he made about the Vancouver club’s fortunes: “It’s been a fun day. What people don’t realize is I no longer play the game. I have my own radio show in Calgary every Friday. We were talking about the playoffs and people asked my opinion on the Vancouver Canucks and I told them, like many things I’ve said in my life, how it is in my opinion and the Vancouver fans have plastered my Twitter page with all kinds of comments. They have crossed the line as well. I think it’s quite funny how some people react to certain. I love the passion the Canucks fans but on the other side of the coin, I always though trash talking was about being witty and clever and not personally attacking somebody. If you’re personally attacking someone, you’re not witty and you’re not clever.”
Email: nickonweck@gmail.com
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Terrible article. Basically, said nothing.
Oh yeah, I just started and want to continue, listening to WECK. It’s diffucult to listen when I hear you say ridiculous stuff
I heard you on a Tuesday evening, right after the Sabres were sold, talking to your dopey cohort.
The 2 of you were self rightiously commenting on how you need to seperate Mr. Pagula’s buying the Sabres, from his previous (bad) gas drilling business.
The 2 of you were attempting to sound environmentally correct and critisized hyrofracking (which you obviously didn’t research) and stated that you 2 haven’t done your part to eliminate the need for his drilling. You actually,(really stupidly) stated that you haven’t done your part, parked your cars or taken busses enough, to eliminate the need for his drilling. You insinuated that you were part of the problem.
Obviously you don’t realize his company drilled for natural gas. Unless you drive a natural gas powered vehicle, parking your cars and riding busses wouldn’t affect his previous business. You would need to turn the heat off in your stinking 1 bedroom apartments to affect his previous business. For the record, Natural gas is clean, inexpensive and should be powering our vehicles. Hydrofracking can and is being done very safely. Not doing it (properly) is irresponsible energy policy. It is a fabulous, and available natural resource.
Just comparing natural gas drilling with crude oil drilling (that powers cars), shows how really stupid you are !!!!
Please do some research before you bloviate about something you know nothing about.
Meanwhile, I’ll continue to try to find time slots I can listen to WECK where the hosts know what they are talking about. Bill O’L is a start.
oooooh, so you’re an old out of touch republican white dude. now we get it. have fun.
Marvin,
I can appreciate your viewpoints. I agree about natural gas being important and clean. You completely glossed-over the potential hazards of hydrofracking, which I can appreciate given your financial interests. Perhaps I’ll go back and listen to the segment in question.
Cheers,
Nick
Hi Nick,
What financial interests are you referring too? The only financial interest I have is that Natural gas is inexpensive to heat my home. It can also be an inexpensive fuel to power my car, although not developed yet.
I didn’t gloss over potential hazards. I didn’t address them. That wasn’t my point.
My point was that you were demonizing Pagula’s crude oil drilling when he didn’t drill for crude oil. His company drilled for natural gas. You and your buddy can park you car all day long and take busses all over the city, and it wouldn’t have affected his business one bit. Listen to the tape. You and your buddy were way off. Made my ears bleed.
Most all legitimate power sources have POTENTIAL risks. Nuclear, crude oil, hydrofracking, etc. However, when done properly they are also done safely.
Cheers,
Marvin
Please find me the segment. Seriously. The furthest I’ve gone is to say “There could be political trouble and an end to some of these honeymoons when people start to look into it.” Please show me the segment. All of my shows are available at http://www.weck1230.com. Then i can tell you what’s “dopey” about it. Also, aren’t you selling natural gas-powered stoves at summitstoves.com?
Craig,
What makes you think I am Old, White or Republican? The last thing I am is Republican. and if you’re a teenager I probably am old. I’m from Tunisia, guess what color I am. So that you don’t have to look it up, Tunisia is in Africa.
My point was that Pagula’s drilling business was not about drilliing for crude oil that powers cars, it drilled for natural gas that heats homes.
I must be pretty out of touch when I hear uninformed, dopey radio hosts bad mouthing a guy who just saved our hockey team and were dead wrong on every one of their points.
You, my friend, are pretty out of touch.
Listen to the radio segment that I was talking about, do some hydrofracking research, understand that all business has risks and get yourself “in touch”.
Cheers,
Marvin – A pretty young, old guy, not republican who is from Tunisia (am I white or black?) think about it.
Marvin
Seriously, this is what is getting the most comments? Nick’s comments on environmental issues? I liked the show and website better when it was more focused on sports. I would think the Sabres’ playoff push and the NFL Draft (and whether there will even be a season) would be enough to talk about. If not, there’s always MLB Opening Day, NCAA basketball championship, etc.