What Did I Tell You???

Last week when I commented on the news of A.O.'s curious decision to fire his agent, I said it was quickly descending into silliness and of course I was right.

Eric's partner in crime over at Off Wing Opinion, Ann Scrimenti, does a number on this news. First she links to a post from The Pink Seats (that I saw first thanks to Dan Steinberg's Sports Bog but ignored until now) and says that sums it up "perfectly"?

How so? #1. A.O. is an athlete and not some overdone Hollywood Junior Diva. Divas don't get very much respect from their peers in the NHL. Just ask the Canadian Diving Team Captain about how much respect he gets from around the league compared to A.O. #2. Maybe it needs to be said once again so that it sinks in, but Tatiana Ovechkin won two Olympic Gold Medals playing women's basketball for the Soviet Union. Now while that isn't the same as winning two gold medals in gymnastics, Gold Medalists in the former Soviet Union were treated very well as the Soviets placed a high priority on their sports programs. Tatiana and Mikhail don't need to ride their son's coattails to fame and fortune because they have already been there themselves.

Ann also uses Hockey Passion to bolster her argument. DannyT99 falls short in his comments because it is forgotten (or just not known) that Tatiana Ovechkin once ran the Russian Women's Basketball program. No, that's not being an uber-agent for a stable of high-profile professional athletes, but it does show that the woman does have an idea of how the business side of athletics is run. And personally, I don't think the business world of sports is that darn complicated that you need an uber agent to handle everything for you. Does anybody think that A.O. is go to have difficult negotiations with the Caps when his contract is up? Basically all an agent is going to do for A.O. is sift through the endorsement opportunities for him.

I still think J.P. had the right idea of thinking "Carl Lindros" at first and I wouldn't blame somebody for invoking Richard Williams either but as I said before, there is no evidence of A.O.'s parents being head cases like Carl Lindros and Richard Williams. There is also scant evidence of his parents trying to ride their son's coattails into stardom.

What makes this so silly is that the whole thing is speculation at best. There has not been any kind of announcement that Tatiana was taking over as her son's agent. And when asked point blank by D.C. Sports Chick is she was, she said "no, just the mother".

Now that could have been a diversionary tactic, but considering what high marks those folks get from all corners for raising such a great person, the least we can do is give them the benefit of the doubt should his mother really be taking over as his agent. She's done a great job with him so far, why wouldn't she continue to do the same?