I want to thank you all...

Wow what the hell happened today?!?!?!?!?! Greg, I read your article, I thought it was a little extreme, but I also understood where you were coming from and I respected that. I’m sorry it ended up this way for you. I give you all the best wishes in the future.

If Jim & Joe think you’re good enough to write for Blueshirt Banter, you’ve got skill. Stick around long enough and you’ll hit a crowd that hasn’t had its coffee yet or can’t stand the crummy weather. That perfect storm of suck can lead to blogger burnout. It happens to the best of us.

Step away for a few days. Don’t even visit this site. Then see if you’re really done writing for Blueshirt Banter. I bet you’ll feel very different.

I saw the original post and a few of the earliest comments.

The thing is, the post wasn’t so much about the play of Lundqvist, but about the quality of Lundqvist’s character and devotion to the Rangers, and that is what the readers picked up on. That was my impression after reading it. To criticize Lundqvist’s play is one thing, but to take potshots at him as a person and member of the Rangers and the NY community was uncalled for and very childish, not to mention flat out wrong. You came out seeming petty and venegeful, and the readers responded in kind. You did deserve to be called out for the personal attack on Lundqvist. I didn’t comment because I could not believe what was written. If Lundqvist hasn’t shown his dedication to the Rangers enough to satisfy you, then I don’t know what to tell you that won’t sound like abusive criticisms. I think you were very wrong about that, and you deserved to be called out on it. Just one person’s opinion.

Anyone who has ever written anything for others to read has had moments like this, where something was written that had a overwhelmingly negative reaction that the writer did not forsee for whatever reason. The thing is, good writers learn from their missteps and keep writing. Life experiences are a huge part of a person, and writers more than many other kinds of people tend to draw from their experiences to make them better and in some cases more prolific.

Nobody has meant more to the Rangers these last few years than Henrik, so the attack on him personally was misguided to say the least.

Things like this are the reason professional writers from newspaper beat reporters to Stephen King have editors.

What an ugly episode this was. Best of luck to you.

tho, I would have to say…I’m surprised you didn’t know the repercussions of talking about such a thing.

A reader made a similar fanpost

Maybe you should’ve checked there to see what sort of reaction you’d get?

You should’ve known that you’d get this sort of thing by talking about Lundqvist like that.

He’s not called the “King” for nothing…..New York calls him King, you don’t know what that means..then yea some of that stuff (not the retard stuff….) is a question.

I don’t think you should quit; you’ve done some nice things here.

Personally, I just think you should have written it with a bit less conviction. It sort of came off like “I don’t know what you idiots are thinking, but THIS is the truth”.
Instead, if it sounded more like “This is one possibility, but hey, I may be wrong”, the reaction may have been less harsh.
But who knows, there are crazies out there, and maybe one of them still would have cursed you out.

Either way, I wish you the best… you seem like a good guy here on the interweb machine.

i personally think its a shame that you’re being bullied by people. there is a great core of ranger fans who read this and have been posting since day 1 (eg. moshe, bradshaw, mleech, dbmaven, etc….). this core – a bunch of people with different opinions, know how to have an argument based on reason and respect. this is the true face of the banter. with time, and especially due to the excellent writing and dedication by jim, joe & co. the popularity of this blog had steadily increased. inevitabely, random jerks are going to show up and beg for attention. that’s natural. it’s ok. you shouldn’t take offense, but rather ignore them and try to read the posts and comments by people who care about this team, its fans and hockey in general.

i didn’t get to read your post, and would appreciate it if you could send me a copy via e-mail.

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
   - Voltaire

I didn’t get a chance to read the article that apparently became controversial, but I think you shouldn’t quit. I think the article is important here, and some members of the community responded in the wrong way. But you shouldn’t back down from this. If anything, who cares if a few select people decide they never want to read anything you write (it’s wrong). It’s their decision and you shouldn’t be affected. The fact that you continue to write makes you the better person. Quitting, makes you the weaker person.

Greg, if it means anything, and if you even decide to read this, I’ve always enjoyed your writing. I’ve always enjoyed opposing viewpoints because it makes good friendly arguments and conversations. While I do not agree with your decision to leave the Banter, I will respect it. Don’t stop writing. Overcome the adversity. It will only make you better.

My impression was that your article came from a place of anger and, like a heat-seeking missile, drew anger to it. Now I’m not blaming you for being insulted, but it just seemed like you were so frustrated by the Rangers admittedly disgusting effort recently that it was like you wanted to destroy the Rangers, even advocating getting of rid of their best and most important player, a move that doesn’t really make any sense. Why would you get rid of a 28-year old goalie who is one of the top 3 in the league and obviously cares as much as anybody?
Having said that, people who viciously and anonymously attack others with epithets on the net are sadly a dime a dozen, for the simple reason that they know they can get away with it. As long as you carry yourself with pride and don’t take such people seriously, it won’t hurt you. Good luck in future endeavors.

Hey, Stan Fischler writes stuff all the time that he believes and nobody ever agrees with him haha.

Unfortunately the more a website gets popular, the more you’re going to see profanity and pissed off people coming onto it. I thought I remember ages ago we were told not to use profanity and in every comments it’s around now. Shouldn’t let that stop you though as this kind of stuff has been invading the internet

If I remember correctly, it almost seemed like Greg was questioning Lundqvist’s heart and loyalty. He’s one of those guys you’d want to be the captain of your team, hands down. He keeps his composure, plays his best hockey under pressure (like he thrives on it for an adrenaline fix). Nobody gets more mad at themselves letting in a fluky goal than he does. He knows he shouldn’t have let that one by, and lost the chess match against his opponent. Nobody gets back up quicker than him, either. How many times have we seen a fluky goal, then the goalie gets shaky and lets in another softie, only to get pulled? Not Lundqvist (well, just about never). He gets right back into it, from “looking shaky” to making epic saves he has no business making. Nobody gets more frustrated at the end of a game where he played his heart out just to keep his team alive, only to suffer a quite disheartening loss. I’d be throwing everything including the kitchen sink onto the ice. You CANNOT question the heart or loyalty of the one guy who without we’d be sitting on a pretty safe cushion for the #1 overall pick.

I can understand if you were trying to weigh the pros and cons of trading the King, but after a short cost-benefit analysis you’d see that in the best case scenario (getting two top 6 forwards, a top 4 defenseman, and a draft pick or two), we’d still be a tier or two down from the Blackhawks. Trading a franchise goaltender would turn you into the NY Islanders seeking a quick fix, and in doing so, draft Rick DiPietro first overall. Look at what he’s accomplished since then (he’s no Marc-Andre Fleury).

While I do appreciate seeing another side, the points you made had little value and merit, and all they did was unleash a wave of malice from a group of emotionally depleted die-hard Rangers fans who witnessed you try to rape the integrity of one of the only great things that’s come from this once great, now mediocre hockey club.

While I encourage you to keep posting, I suggest before you post something of that magnitude again that you get a second opinion. Whether you choose to stay or go, I wish you the best of luck with whatever you do. You may not have the foresight to see what responses you might generate, but you definitely have the cojones to do it.

Ive enjoyed your writing since you came to the website. I felt as if you were playing devils advocate, intentionally or unintentionally, and it was encouraging very good discussion.

On many of your articles I have strongly disagreed with you, but theres nothing wrong with that. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

But when you personally attack someone who we all love, and someone who has shown more emotion than any other ranger and has done so much for the city, it becomes a very personal thing. Thats a very soft spot.

If you feel that he should be benched for whatver reason, thats fine. We can have a discussion about it. But when you question someones loyalty and say they have done nothing for the city over the past 5 years, your bound to get personal attacks back.

Either way, I think you are a very good writer and i hope you dont leave. You should in some cases get a second opinion before posting, but I cant really comment on that because im not a writer. If you do choose to leave good luck in the future and dont give up when you reciever criticism, no matter how harsh it is.

As a non-site admin (disclaimer important), I believe the masses apologized profusely as penance for illicit behavior. A site co-founder wrote an open letter acknowledging the wrong done.

I doubt a single person on this site wants to chase anyone away for ANY post/s, let alone under these auspices.

Unofficially speaking on behalf of the Blueshirt Banter Community, you remain more than welcome here, Greg.

Now let’s all just go back to hating on Redden like normal times.

Greg: why not post a clean slate post analyzing free agent options for the Rangers?