Despite better judgment to give the video more oxygen than it probably deserves, it’s more important to give props to hard work, determination, perseverance, and achievement instead of undermining, demeaning, and discrediting it. That’s what journalist Andrew Berkshire was trying to do when he posted an insanely out-to-lunch video suggesting that the narrative surrounding Zach Hyman’s 50-goal season was a dishonest fairytale being spun by dishonest media.
The video is reckless, ill-informed, and dangerously close to sending a disastrous message that hard work doesn’t pay off. It’s a disservice to Hyman and his teammates and it smells of bias, as if Berkshire has some sort of axe to grind. While he tries to stand on his soapbox about journalistic integrity, what Berkshire is actually doing is sending a miscalculated message to hundreds, if not thousands of young athletes, that hard work doesn’t pay off.
What Was Berkshire’s Argument Against the Hyman 50-Goal Season?
Hiding behind the acknowledgment that Hyman is a hard worker and that he’s willing to go to the tough areas of the game to score goals, Berkshire spends far more time in this video weaving a storyline that Hyman’s achievement of 50 goals isn’t the emotionally motivating life-lesson narrative that’s being told and “sold” to fans. Berkshire said:
“You’re missing the part of the story where Zach Hyman grew up insanely rich, where his parents bought an entire league to guarantee him playing time, where he did exclusive training that only a rich person could afford with professional athletes his whole life.”
He then goes on to say that Hyman has had every single possible advantage to get where they are today. He then says he got extremely lucky to play almost the entirety of his career alongside Auston Matthews and/or Connor McDavid.
Berkshire says that hard work isn’t the story. He contends that hard work, and a combination of privilege and lucky breaks are, and that “then, then maybe your hard work will get you to where Zach Hyman got.”
Hyman’s 50-Goal Season Is Still an Incredible Story
Admitting that it’s a benefit to have money, opportunity, and connections when trying to reach certain heights, the idea that hard work should be demeaned because of those things is an outrageous thing to argue. It’s far more troubling than any argument the media want to tell the story that a hard worker like Hyman could achieve great things. I can’t recall anyone saying Hyman was a blue-collar NHL player. Perhaps his game is played in that style, but anyone who knows Hyman’s story outside the NHL knows he’s doing extremely well financially. He owns a gaming company and writes and sells children’s books to go along with his multi-million dollar NHL salary.
So what?
Just look at the history of successful athletes in most sports. Whether it’s having a parent who used to play in the NHL or an adult in your life who coached their kid before making it big, young athletes have doors opened for them all the time. Hockey, like many sports, is expensive to play. To begin with, parents often need a certain level of income to keep their kids involved as they make their way up the ranks.
Opportunity is Not Exclusive to Hyman
Look at other sports. Few professional golfers grew up poor. It costs thousands of dollars every season to play as often as one might need to become a pro. Tiger Wood’s father was a demanding teacher who required only the best, even if he often pushed too far.
In the NBA, one of the greatest players of all time was Michael Jordan. Sure, he got cut from his school basketball team, but his mom was a beast negotiator who helped him land a multi-billion shoe deal and ensure his NBA career was like no other.
Young talent is groomed and aided in so many cases, singling out someone like Hyman is beyond silly. The kids have mentors and coaches who are there to help them. Sure, it’s less of a fairytale than someone who has the odds stacked against them and skills make it, but opportunities alone don’t define a player.
The message troubling message here is to essentially give up if you don’t have those opportunities. What kind of message is that? If you’re not given the golden ticket, don’t try? Furthermore, Berkshire contends that having great players to play with is some kind of negative against an individual legacy. Wayne Gretzky was great. Perhaps the greatest of all time. Should we discount some of his achievements because he played for years with Jari Kurri, Mark Messier, Glen Anderson, Paul Coffey, Grant Fuhr, and others?
Opportunities Are Squandered All the Time
One could argue that more athletes squander the opportunities afforded to them than those who take advantage. Even if conceding that Hyman had doors opened some don’t, he still had to walk through them and not look a gift horse in the mouth. There are countless stories about athletes who were incredible in junior and college and then couldn’t make the professional jump because adversity got the better of them. Others used the fact their parents had money to be lazy. Hyman did none of those things. In fact, he did the opposite. He didn’t take his opportunities for granted and busted his butt to improve because they existed.
This isn’t even taking into account that Berkshire has no idea how hard Hyman worked. He stands on his high horse and wants so badly for the media to “tell the truth” but he doesn’t know what the truth is. Only a select few people in the world do. He wasn’t there when Hyman spent countless hours working on certain parts of his game. He didn’t tag along when Hyman hit hurdles or obstacles and had to overcome them, especially as other kids might have seen what Hyman was given in terms of an opportunity and tried to discredit him out of jealousy. I don’t know that any of these things actually happened, but Berkshire certainly doesn’t know they didn’t.
Embarrassing Take on a Fantastic Achievement for Hyman
The reality is, that Berskhire should be embarrassed that he posted this. He probably won’t be, but he should be. While he scolds the media for not telling the entire Hyman story, he doesn’t have a clue what the full story is. And, to then say that congratulating a hard worker for doing something few NHL players ever do isn’t fair unless you also consider his privilege is blasting hundreds of hockey players all across the NHL who ever did anything of note.
Brutal take. Just brutal.
Next: Oilers Mic’d Up Hyman to Capture Emotional 50th Goal
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