Flyers Jagr Lets Pittsburgh Fans Have It and Scores Philly Points
The acquisition of Jaromir Jagr had many Philadelphia Flyers fans scratching their heads last month. Granted, the move did come completely out of the blue, and it did follow two of the craziest trades in franchise history, but even in that light, it's still difficult to fathom that the once sworn enemy Jagr, has joined the ranks of the orange and black.
Pittsburgh, in case you haven't heard, is not taking Jagr's new Philly address well. The fans there are up in arms, and have sworn that Jagr is public enemy #1 now.
While I may have questioned Jagr's motives initially, I'd at least like to believe that Jagr came here for the right reasons. He knew the Flyers were trying to win, he knew he'd have significant ice time here and most importantly he thought his skills and the skills of others on this team would mesh well. He insists that he didn't sign in Philly because of the money, even saying that he turned down richer offers to land here. The fans in Penguin land have other ways of looking at it when it comes to Jagr. Jaromir Jagr, on the other hand, has his own unique way of looking at the situation.
“I know I’m the number one enemy in Pittsburgh. I don’t know why. And I don’t care. It’s like when a boy breaks up with a girl and the boy is totally over it.” Jaromir Jagr said yesterday.
Jagr's verbal undressing of the Pittsburgh fans may be the first thing he's done to make me like him in a Flyers uniform. The Penguins are a cross-state rival, and are also one of the better teams in the division and league, but more importantly in this case are Jagr's former team. Hell, he won a Stanley Cup with the Pens. But the truth is that the fans in Pittsburgh are still crying about all of this well over a month later. Hey, get over it. He picked another team to play for... so what? Stop acting like jilted lovers.
It was nice to see Jagr, a person I used to associate with that team, step up and let them know where it's at. It was very... PHILLY of him. Kudos to you, Jaromir. Maybe this won't be all bad after all.
