Do you remember when the Mets got Rickrolled?  

In the last season at Shea, the Mets had a vote for the 8th Inning Sing-a-long. There were the obvious choices, but Rick Astley’s 80’s anthem “Never Gonna Give You Up” won by a landslide as a write-in vote. The Mets played it on Opening Day, and the fans booed. I was there, and I never figured out why. In my opinion, it was better than ripping off the Red Sox with “Sweet Caroline.”  In any event, the Mets stopped playing it after Opening Day. The people spoke, and the Mets refused to be a party to it. 

It’s what the NHL tried to do with John Scott. Scott was voted a starter in the NHL All Star Game due to a fan movement. Scott is an enforcer that doesn’t get much ice time. These guys rarely receive votes let alone get voted to the All Star Game, and yet he was. He then saw himself as the “centerpiece” of a trade sending him from the Phoenix Coyotes to the Montreal Canadians, who sent him to the AHL (minors). He was not only out of the division and conference, he was out of the league. 

As Scott said is his The Players’ Tribune piece, they did everything they could do to keep him out of this game. It was his only shot, a shot he realized he didn’t earn, and they were trying to take it away from him. When sticking him in the minors didn’t work, they invoked his family by asking:

Do you think this is something your kids would be proud of?

There is nothing so small, petty, and classless than to invoke someone’s family. It’s even lower to bring up someone’s children. John Scott then did the only thing he could do . . . he played. 

Scott dominated the headlines, and then he dominated the headlines. He would again win the vote. This time no one would question whether or not he deserved it. 

There’s no doubt John Scott’s children were proud of him today. They’re probably proud of him each and every day as they know him as their father. John Scott acquitted himself well as a man and hockey player this weekend. That’s how you respond when you get Rickrolled. 

Congratulations to John Scott!