Criticizing the hometown hero isn’t allowed

Whenever I’m on vacation I get a chance to view the media — especially this newspaper — from a different perspective.

Namely, that of the consumer rather than the producer. So while I was away from the office for a couple of weeks I read with interest the vociferous defence of local hockey hero Mark Recchi offered up by readers after a Daily News editorial modestly suggested he might have been more generous with his sharing of quality time with the Stanley Cup.

I read the reaction before I read the editorial, and figured it must be a pretty strongly worded piece of criticism to get people so excited. My first thought was, “I can’t take a couple of days off without things going all to hell back at the office.”

Reading the editorial, however, I really couldn’t figure out what all the fuss was about. Granted, Recchi himself is somewhat sensitive to things this paper prints that he disagrees with, but the editorial seemed pretty inoffensive.

It simply suggested he should have made time for the general public to get to see the cup rather than keeping it for special functions only.

This prompted the Royal Inland Hospital Foundation, one of the members of the Interior Health Authority board, and many others to jump to his defense.

Recchi did the right thing, they said, and shame on The Daily News for criticizing the home-town hero.

Good grief. Since when does publicly expressing the wish that Mark Recchi had handled access to the cup a little differently in any way represent denial of a fine career in professional sport?

Nor does it ignore his acceptance of the role of “ambassador” for a fundraising campaign on behalf of the hospital.

Like many another Kamloops resident, I’ve followed Recchi’s success with interest. I remember him toddling about the offices of this newspaper when his dad Mel — who worked here as advertising manager at the time — would bring him in.

Many years later, after he was all grown up, I was pleased to be part of the official renaming of Lorne Street in front of the arena Mark Recchi Way in his honour.

He’s done much for his home town, and his home town has given much to him. None of it makes him immune from mild disagreement, which was all the editorial was.

Recchi has spent a career in a tough game, one in which inflicting pain on your opponent is a nightly occurrence. Surely he and his followers can get by with a bit of mild-mannered dissent once in awhile.