Apparently former Vancouver Canuck forward Todd Bertuzzi wasn’t satisfied with his on-ice, career-ending, blindside attack on Steve Moore that happened in 2004. On Friday he blind-sided his then coach Marc Crawford by petitioning an Ontario court and Moore to add the former Vancouver coach as a co-defendant in the ongoing 38 million dollar civil lawsuit — to which Moore and the court accepted, due to evidence which was heard in a sworn affidavit last summer. Last summer evidence emerged that Crawford had stated in the locker room that Moore must “pay the price” for his open-ice hit on Bertuzzi’s team-mate Markus Naslund. The hit resulted in a concussion to the Vancouver captain, but was deemed by the NHL to be a clean hit.
Okay, blindsided may be a stretch as it was expected by most whom have followed this case, but it was a gutless move any way you slice it. It doesn’t surprise me one bit that someone as classless as Bertuzzi would attempt to drag his former coach under the bus with him, with a 38 million dollar lawsuit behind the wheel of said bus. It’s incredible how quickly the “all for one, one for all” attitude that athletes and teams pride themselves in goes flying out the window when money is on the line.
It may be worthwhile to point out that although Crawford is now officially a defendant in the lawsuit alongside Bertuzzi (and thus on the hook for a percentage of a potential settlement) it’s quite possible that the judge hearing the case could deem that Crawford bears no responsibility for what happened while Bertuzzi does — and I hope that’s how this unfolds.
At what point is a player solely responsible for his own actions? This analogous to the mantra of “If someone tells you to jump off a bridge, would you?”, excecpt in much more vague terms. Crawford’s defense to this claim is simple — “pay the price” does not mean blindside him and drive his face into the ice. It’s too ambiguous. Bertizzi’s claim? If he didn’t listen to his coach, he is hurting his chances of future employment as he will be labeled as a player who doesn’t follow orders from his superiors. What about Moore’s chances for future employment, you self-centered pompous asshole? I’m sure the entire 2007-2008 Los Angeles Kings roster can provide enough proof that nobody listens to Crawford anyway.
The sad part is I think Bertuzzi knows he’s streching with this move, but will roll the dice regardless because at the very least it slows the entire judicial process down. Instead of determining if Bertuzzi is in fact guilty (which is pretty much a foregone conclusion at this point, due to the criminal conviction) and subsequently determining a monetary value to be payed to Moore, the court must now first determine if Crawford is to bear some of the responsibility. As if this case hasn’t been dragged out long enough.
There are no real winners in this case. Just a bunch of shady characters throwing the blame at each other like a drug dealer cutting a deal with prosecutors, folding like a pup-tent on his partners in crime for a reduced sentence. Okay, I may have watched “Blow” recently — but that’s exactly what this is. It’s pathetic and disgusting, and it’s no surprise that the only person who’s acted like an adult through all of this is Moore.
