Dishonour Roll: Steve Downie & Bobby Clarke

These two really do deserve each other.

One is a jackass forward for the Philadelphia Flyers, the other is a former jackass forward for the Philadelphia Flyers who has been involved with running the team pretty much since he hung up his skates. Neither has any business around the NHL.

Let's start with Steve Downie.

He was a pest and a shit disturber in junior, getting shipped out of Windsor because one of his rookie teammates wanted to beat the living daylights out of him over a hazing incident. Fine, he was a kid. Kids do some stupid things.

During the pre-season this year, he laid out Ottawa Senator forward Dean McAmmond with one of the worst hits I've seen in all my years of watching hockey. He took a big, premeditated run at a guy who didn't have the puck and was coming around the back of the net. Plus he left his feet, which is an absolute no-no. McAmmond didn't stand a chance and was carted off the ice on a stretcher. Somehow, not a single Senator managed to get a shot in on Downie. The league suspended him 20 games, a penalty that some saw as too harsh, others saw as too lenient and I thought was just about right.

So what does he do when he finally finishes serving his suspension and gets into an actual NHL game? He gets in a little skirmish with Toronto Maple Leafs forward Jason Blake and when the linesmen have grabbed a hold of both guys to break up the wrasslin, Downie pops Blake in the face one more time for old time sake.

Then we have Flyers Senior VP Bobby Clarke. This guy is a first class jackass; always has been, always will be. He must have pictures of Flyers owner Ed Snider, a donkey and a can of Cool Whip or something because Clarke never accomplished much as a General Manager over the years and somehow still gets to collect a pay cheque from the Flyers.

Anyhow, Clarke's slash to the ankle of Valeri Kharlamov in the '72 Summit Series and his asshole treatment of Eric Lindros at the tail end of his Philly tenure aside, Clarke gets this honour for his bullshit comments on TSN's Off The Record earlier this week.

For those of you outside of Canada, TSN is our version of ESPN, except the hosts are annoying for totally different reasons.

Back to Bobby... when asked about the Downie sucker punch, Clarke said that he loved it and that Blake should have expected retribution for opening his mouth about Downie's hit on Dean McAmmond. He also said that he thought Downie's initial suspension was unfair and likened his hit to those doled out by bonecrushing New Jersey Devils Captain Scott Stevens over the years.

I didn't watch the whole Q&A because I was already yelling at the TV too much and needed to make dinner, but I'm guessing that Clarke also saw no fault with Jesse Boulerice's crosscheck to the face of Ryan Kessler, Randy Jones' hit from behind that left Boston's Patrice Bergeron out cold and still on the shelf or Riley Cote's hit on Dallas defensemen Matt Niskanen either. Yes, all these guys are Flyers and all of this has happened this year...

The bottom line for both of these jaggovs to use a favourite of my one Philly friend Meech is that no one - and I mean NO ONE - in the NHL with an ounce of respect for their colleagues sucker punches a guy like Downie did the other night. Fighting is a part of the game and that is why you'll see guys give each other a pat on the head after a good tilt - they know they were both doing their job. Downie suckering Blake is akin to Albert Haynesworth stepping on Andre Gurode's head last year or Andrew Golota repeatedly smashing Riddick Bowe in the nuts for fight fans. It was just plain dirty.

These two douchebags deserve each other... and they deserve their place on the Dishonour Roll.

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