It has been argued by some members of the media that one of the reasons for the Flyers collapse last season was due to their younger players partying too often.
I will take a stand immediately and say that I do not agree with this idea, but you draw your own conclusions.
Most of the team used to reside in the South Jersey area but since the team has gotten younger over the past few years, these players have opted for the Center City lifestyle instead. The veterans with families tend to live in the suburbs and the younger, single guys have moved into the city.
Flyers captain Mike Richards, leading goal scorer Jeff Carter and the recently departed Joffrey Lupul, were among some of the players that seemed to fade down the stretch and into the playoffs. Was this due to a hectic lifestyle or is this the natural maturation process that young players in all sports are faced with?
Either way, it doesn’t help their case when you can simply type their names and the word “party” in Google Images and see pictures of them chugging alcohol straight from the bottle. Although, I must admit that I am envious of Mike Richards with Gina Lynn sitting on his lap.
The Facebook revolution is truly a killer for athletes to do anything today. We all understand that with this technology, you can have your picture taken at a club and within minutes it will be posted to someone’s Facebook page. Flyers’ players partied hard during the great years and during the not-so great years, only now, there is legitimate proof.
Ultimately, the players need to be more responsible for their actions. If you are at a club drinking and someone asks for a picture, it’s a simple process. Put your drink down, put your arm around her, smile, the camera goes “click” and you can than get back to work.
The candid shots are just as easy to take down. It’s acceptable to drink alcohol from a small glass. It’s unacceptable to drink from the bottle in which the contents of that bottle would be poured into that same small glass. Also, if you think that you can fight the urge of doing a keg-stand, I think you will end up doing just fine.
