The Visnovsky story
Those of you who follow the Kings closely online have probably already seen the story out of Slovakia in which, when translated, Lubomir Visnovsky seems to be doing a fairly good job of trashing coach Marc Crawford. I don't want to post it here, but if there are a couple people out there who can translate the language and can independently confirm the translation, I would go with it. That's not a knock on the person who did the translation, because I'm sure it was an honest effort. But too many times in the recent past, we've seen stories from overseas get blown out of proportion because the athlete was either misquoted, taken out of context or improperly translated. Believe me, the very next time I see Lubo -- which probably won't be for a while, unfortunately -- I'll ask him about it, but until then I wouldn't worry too much about the story.
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About Rich Hammond
Rich Hammond has covered the Kings, on a full-time or part-time basis, since the 2000-01 season. He was the beat writer for the entire John Torchetti era and has witnessed Bob Miller singing country music in a Nashville honky-tonk bar. A native of Los Angeles, Rich has worked at the Daily News since 1999 and also serves as the paper's deputy sports editor. E-mail Rich at rich.hammond@dailynews.com.
Rich...totally agree with you. Seems like every time Lubo gives an interview to the Slovakian media and it's "translated," there's always something that gets translated totally wrong. We'll have to wait and see how accurate this one is.
I wish he'd work on his English. Maybe he should take lessons from Kopitar. It was a joy to talk to the wonderkid from Slovenia last season. Not only was he fluent in English, including most American coloquialisms and slang, but talk about humble!
Rich...thanks so much for the great blog on Kings. I access this site most every workday to get my Kings fix. I agree that Eastern European interviews can get "lost in translation" when they arrive in our media.
As for Kopitar, I remember in a TV interview he said that his mother teaches ENGLISH back in Slovenia. Perhaps a good reason why he is so fluent in English. Also, his family owns a restaurant and he has been a waiter quite often (he mentioned that he can balance 4 plates of food!). So, I would imagine he has a humble ego that comes from a teenage background of serving customers, taking orders, clearing plates - lots of hard work!!!.
Craig
I definitely agree with both of you guys. Certainly, European players can thrive in the NHL without speaking English well, but it would seem that those who do speak well have an advantage in terms of communicating with teammates, coaches and the media. Lubo has improved over the years, but it's a shame that he hasn't improved more because he's actually a very funny and personable guy.
Kopitar is definitely an example of how to do it correctly. I believe it was his grandmother who was a teacher and encouraged him to learn English, and I think it served him very well in his first full year in America.
letsgokings.com strikes again.
Rich, can you find out what the Kings intend to do with Kostopoulos?
So let me get this straight:
A coach get the best out of beach going, surfing hockey players, and he's "insane"?
Lets ask the Ducks players how they feel about their "insane" coach and where he got them.
So long Lubo.
I'll try once again to translate it, but onlz the part about the coach>
What has changed in the club with the arrival of the new GM and coach?
Basically everything. The dressing room, the playing system. I played on the right side, now I play left. I got used to something and then boom. Coach Crawford is lunatic. He uses hard, practically communistic style. He is rude on players, he insults them. I was shocked from the fact, how an NHL coach can communicate that way. This season was the worst in Kings history. With the previous coach Andy Murray I had created a very good relationship and not only me, but also Pavol Demitra after one year. When the player has been working his butt off and working hard for the team, the coach showed respect. Now if you work, this guy isn't respecting anyone. That's the difference. But I'm just a player and he is my boss, that I have to respect.
I did my best. :)
This is not a good thing at all. It would be hard to say this was something that got mixed up in the translation of the interview. There are a lot of comments here that got mixed up, if thats what happened. I hope Lubo stays, because he is a hell of a player. I can count 2 times this season that he came back after getting hit in the foot with a puck. Probably more that I missed. I hope this isn't how he really feels. If it is, then a coaching change should be considered because Lubo gives his all on the ice every game.