BoC's New Ducks Writer -- An Intro-Duck-tion

As Rudy and I head towards blogger retirement, I know there's several questions as to the future of this site -- questions like "who is going to complain about Ryan Getzlaf's impossible no-look passes after Earl's gone?" and "Who's going to feed Maggie and remind us how bad Jack Johnson is after Rudy's gone?"

Well, here's the answer to one of those questions. Give a warm BoC welcome to your new Ducks blogger, Jer Dobias!

Jer, currently writing at Ducks Daily Blog and on Twitter as @JerMeansWell, sent in a solid application and performed well in the follow-up-questions round (including some "get to know you questions" below). He's not a cartoonist, so expect a different variety of post gimmicks, and he hasn't commented much on this site yet, so make him feel welcome, but I'm excited to see the Ducks coverage he'll be bringing to BoC.

You may have read Jer's writing before and not even known it. Here's a quick excerpt from his writer application:

#2 Links to some things you consider to be examples of your finest work. If you don't have anything published online, then attach a document or something.

I've written a lot for Ducks Daily Blog, but as they strive to be more "professional," it tends to be more stale and they don't let me say the fuck-word. But there's still some decent posts there. For example...

• I defended Bob Murray once, and that seemed to rustle a lot of other Ducks fans' jimmies. This would later result in some back and forth between the good folks at Anaheim Calling and me (here and here).
• This other time I collected tweets from hostile Ducks fans about Justin Schultz, which ended up upsetting some folks in the Edmonton media and my post was discussed on the air.

I should point out that this wasn't Jer's entire answer to that question -- I quite purposely left out the best part -- but I don't want to steal his "Welcome to BoC" thunder too much. :)

* * *

As part of this intro post, I thought it'd be fun and educational to get Jer's take on some Anaheim Ducks issues -- I sent him a handful of questions and am encouraged with his answers. Well, not only the answers, but the speed at which he answered them -- I'm a guy who nowadays takes 3-4 days to do anything; Jer had the answers within a day and was apologetic that it took so long. :)

Enjoy!

Q1: Which opposing team gives you the greatest amount of joy when they lose to the Ducks?

This is probably too much of an obvious answer, but I'd say the Wings. The sense of entitlement loudmouth Red Wings fans feel (to which the league and hockey pundits generally oblige), mixed with their ability to fill any arena (because anyone from Detroit moves out of that shithole at first opportunity, meaning their fans are spread out all over the rest of the country) makes them an easy target. It's not even the team itself I dislike all that much, I just enjoy the fans' self-righteous indignation and excuses on the occasion we're able to pull out a win over their team.

Q2: We don't have a ton of sample size yet, but what's one thing you like about Bruce Boudreau over Randy Carlyle?

Boudreau is indisputably the better bird caller.

Q3: My annual tradition poll question: You are the Anaheim GM, and for whatever reason you are forced to trade one of Getzlaf, Perry, or Ryan. Who would you trade?

At this point I'd probably say trade off Baldy. It's a tough decision, but if I had to pick, he's the one I'm most willing to part with. We might not make as big of a return off of him with an expiring contract, but my speculation is we end up losing him anyway to free agency (or a deadline trade) in a move to free up some space to re-sign our Hart winner. Getzlaf's production is on the decline, and I was never a fan of his immaturity as a captain. Of the two with expiring contracts, Perry is more worth fighting to keep. Bobby Ryan's continued production, time in contract, and reasonable pay make him worth holding on to (and boy, that adorable lisp), but this is if we take his claims at face value that there are no hard feelings between him and the club, and that his outburst this off-season was just a little indiscretion.

Q4: A "No Wrong Answers" question: who was your favorite #32 in Anaheim? Are you more of a Stumpy Thomas guy? A Travis "The Omen" Moen fan? Toni "Double Vision" Lydman? Stu "The Grim Reaper" Grimson? (Those are pretty much your only choices -- don't be a dick and say Kyle Calder.) :)

This isn't the most practical answer, but I'm going to go with The Grim Reaper. When I was 9 years old and the Mighty Ducks had just set up shop, my family bought a small ticket package. This was before I knew much of anything about hockey, but I was old enough to recognize that dudes punching each other in the face was awesome. So Grimson quickly became my (first) favorite Ducks player. The following year we were at a later-season game, and I remember getting indignant over something or other (which was likely a non-issue, in retrospect), and my 9 or 10 year old self was demanding Grimson be put on the ice, in a way that only an annoying kid can. Some dude in the row in front of me, surely hearing enough of my repeated demands, turned around and broke the news to me that Grimson had been traded to Detroit the day before.

That unknown stranger in front of me destroyed my hopes and dreams, teaching me the transient nature of the NHL player. I never loved again.

Q5: How long do you predict this lockout will last?

My initial prediction was that the season opener would be the January 1st Winter Classic, but more and more so my hope is fading away. It seems the NHL is more interested in hiring dubious PR firms to sway public opinion and feigning indignation at NHLPA offers than it is interested in actually negotiating. Part of me is still optimistic they can salvage the season, but I'm starting to fear that optimism is just the denial stage of my grief process.

Q6: You're a shitty writer.

That's not even a question.

Q7: Okay, why are you such a shitty writer?

That's better.

* * *

So, the baton-passing has begun! You should be reading about a new Kings writer sometime soon this week, and we'll have an overlap period for a while as Rudy and I wind our BoC blog careers to a close, and the new bloggers start producing their first BoC content.

Should be exciting times! Well, except for that lockout...

Regardless, welcome to BoC, Jer!

Go Ducks.