IIHF SHOULD APOLOGIZE TO THE NHL AND SIDNEY CROSBY

You know what's fun?  Being in Florida in a sports bar and watching hockey with other snowbirds; drinking hot chocolate in the rink shack while your toes thaw out; and, booing and hating someone you've never met is fun, because deep down, you wish they were on your team.

Fun is knowing that if you've been blessed with talent and work hard enough, you can accomplish your childhood dreams.

Unfortunately for the IIHF, boys and girls in Canada and much of the United States dream of winning a Stanley Cup.   Sure, beating the Russians is also an objective.  I remember the greats from the 1970s.  Makarov, Kharlamov, Larionov, and, of course, Tretiak.  It was a talent pool deeper than the ocean that separated us.  They couldn't be more intimidating.  It was Space Jam. They were so good, they had to be martians.  For all we knew about them off the ice, they could have been.

All that has changed.  When Peter and Anton Stastny defected from Czechoslovakia in 1980 to play for the QuebecNordiques, they opened the door to a league and a lifestyle which soon became a draw for other Eastern European players.  Today, Zdeno Chara cracks a joke to his wife at the NHL awards ceremony.  Alexander Ovechkin plays a video game at a presser.  Sid and Geno shoot the bull during a Team Canada practice in Vancouver.

Szymon Szemberg, the International Ice Hockey Federation director of communications, criticized dozens of professional players in North America and Europe for not representing their countries at the world championship in Germany.  As usual, Sidney Crosby was singled out.

Like it or not, Mr. Szemberg, this year's worlds were doomed to be anti-climatic.  Not only are we smack dab in the middle of the NHL conference finals, we're just two months removed from the emotional roller coaster of the olympic games in Vancouver.

In addition to the appeal just not being there for the fans, the fatigue level of players should be neither your business nor your concern.  If you want professionals, you have to accept that their time and talents come with unbelievable demands.  Your comments were out of line, off base, and downright rude.  You need the National Hockey League more than it needs you.

Either embrace the excellent players you do have, such as Steven Stamkos and John Tavares of Canada, T.J. Oshie and Kyle Okposo of the United States, or create a scenario that's more appealing than rehabbing in the Caribbean.