I love reading Justin Bourne's blogs

[inthebrain]

Some of the best writing in all of sports. I got hooked on this kids pieces when he wrote guest blogs for Chris Botta's Islanders Point Blank. Has that rare talent of being a kid who never succeded in the game of hockey but really can write about the game like no other. Very rare talent this kid has that's very hard to find in any sport.

His last blog he wrote about why kids with less talent make the NHL over the ones loaded with talent was really good as well.



Bourne Blog: Why I hate hockey agitators and phony pests

When I saw Chris Neil(notes) of the Ottawa Senators bloody Dennis Seidenberg(notes) of the Boston Bruins with a few glove-on left jabs before "fighting" him, I had one simple thought: "Man I hate agitators."

I always have.

I hated playing against them, I hated them being on my team, and I hated them in the scheme of competing for jobs.

Wouldn't you be embarrassed to play that role?

I was one of those players that got the "if you can't crack the top six, you can't crack the team" treatment. (Justifiably so. I got knocked off the puck a lot, didn't knock anyone else off it, and generally bounced off the people I tried to run. At 6-foot-2, that's an impressively soft feat.)

So I played for top six spots, which can be a tough nut to crack.

Yet somehow, there was always one spot reserved for this kid who played the agitator role, a job where talent isn't necessarily a prerequisite. I'm fine with that spot existing; you just hate seeing a guy play in a league above you who isn't as good at hockey, but makes it because he slips in as many cheap shots as possible when the ref isn't looking.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Bourne-Blog-Why-I-hate-hockey-agitators-and-pho?urn=nhl-281882