Friday, November 19, 2010

A look inside Colin Campbell's inbox

"Wait, these e-mails seem fake. I didn't
know Marc Savard had a blog..."
The NHL was plunged into controversy this week after three-year-old internal emails between director of hockey operations Colin Campbell and former director of officiating Stephen Walkom were exposed by Toronto blogger Tyler Dellow.

At worst, the emails indicate that Campbell could be biased. At best, they paint him as a hands-on boss who was sending Walkom a steady stream of frank feedback on how games should be called.

Campbell may not have learned from past mistakes, as explosive new emails between Campbell and his staff have emerged today.

From: Colin Campbell
To: Stephen Walkom

Hey Stephen, did you happen to catch the Bruins game? I have several pages of feedback on the officiating I'd like to discuss with you.

From: Stephen Walkom
To: Colin Campbell

Colin, we've been over this. I quit as the director of officiating in 2009 and went back to refereeing. You need to email my replacement, Terry Gregson.

From: Colin Campbell
To: Stephen Walkom

Right, right, I forgot. Say, refresh my memory, why did you quit again?

From: Stephen Walkom
To: Colin Campbell

Oh, no reason.

From: Colin Campbell
To: Terry Gregson

T-Greg!

From: Terry Gregson
To: Colin Campbell

Oh bloody hell. Um, I mean…. Vacation alert! I will be out of the office, returning in … uh… May.

From: Colin Campbell
To: Terry Gregson

Nice try Terry! Look, I want to chat about last night's Bruins game. I've started watching every single one of their games this year, for no particular reason, and I'm not crazy about how some of them are being called.

From: Terry Gregson
To: Colin Campbell

OK. Just remember, no names. We don't need some blogger digging around again. Keep it generic.

From: Colin Campbell
To: Terry Gregson

Of course, Terry. I think I know the rules. So anyway, did you see that one play involving the 6-foot-9 Slovak defenceman?

From: Terry Gregson
To: Colin Campbell

OK. See, right there Colie, this is the sort of thing we're talking about.

From: Colin Campbell
To: Terry Gregson

What? That could be anybody!

From: Terry Gregson
To: Stephen Walkom

Have I told you lately that I hate you?

From: Stephen Walkom
To: Terry Gregson

You're on your own, buddy.

From: Colin Campbell
To: Terry Gregson

What's the matter Terry, did you decide to stop replying to my emails? Ha ha!

From: Colin Campbell
To: Terry Gregson

(Seriously, though, if you decided to stop replying to my emails then you're fired.)

From: Terry Gregson
To: Colin Campbell

Sorry, were you emailing me? Strangest thing, I haven't been getting them. They must go straight into my spam filter or something.

From: Terry Gregson
To: Stephen Walkom

By the way, thanks for your help with setting up that spam filter.

From: Stephen Walkom
To: Terry Gregson

It was the least I could do.

From: Colin Campbell
To: Terry Gregson

Really? I swear, everybody I try to email ends up telling me that. There must be some kind of problem with my computer. I'm going to contact tech support and see what's going on.

From: Colin Campbell
To: Tech support

Hi there. I bought a laptop from you guys this year and I'm having email problems.

From: Dean Warren
To: Colin Campbell

Hello sir, my name is Dean. How can I assist you today?

From: Colin Campbell
To: Dean Warren

… Dean?

From: Dean Warren
To: Colin Campbell

Oh. Um. Hmm. This is awkward.

From: Colin Campbell
To: Dean Warren

Hey, look, at least you landed on your feet. No hard feelings, right?

From: Dean Warren
To: Colin Campbell

[Your email was undeliverable, as it triggered the recipient's spam filter.]

From: Colin Campbell
To: Dean Warren

Oh come on!

From: Colin Campbell
To: All NHL referees and alumni

OK everyone, listen up. I've been emailing all of you with detailed feedback about calls against Gregory Cam-uh, against a mysterious unnamed NHL player. But nobody ever replies! Kerry, what's the matter, can't take five minutes from your precious book tour to chat with an old friend?

From: Kerry Fraser
To: Colin Campbell

What? Sorry, I didn't see your email.

From: Colin Campbell
To: Kerry Fraser

Let me guess… spam filter?

From: Kerry Fraser
To: Colin Campbell

Spam what? No, I just have this bad habit of not seeing really important things for no particular reason.

From: Terry Gregson
To: Colin Campbell

So anyway, I've got to go and, um, set my computer on fire.

From: Dean Warren
To: Colin Campbell

Why am I even still on this list?

From: Stephen Walkom
To: Colin Campbell

Unsubscribe.

From: Colin Campbell
To: All NHL referees and alumni

Fine, jerks. I'll find something else to do.

From: Facebook
To: Gregory Campbell

Colin Campbell just tagged you in the photo album "Squeaky clean hits that should never have been penalties".

From: Gregory Campbell
To: Colin Campbell

THIS IS NOT HELPING, DAD!




22 comments:

  1. This is SO fake. Like you could actually get access to his email inbox.

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  2. Mike M... i hope you are kidding

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  3. This is SO fake. Like kerry fraser would actually admit to not seeing really important things, sometimes.

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  4. Really laughing my a** off right now. Or almost that, as I am at work.

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  5. This is SO fake. Like Kerry Fraser could ever write a book. What? Really?

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  6. Your Kerry Fraser jokes are always gold. And this one is no exception. Thanks for making me laugh (yet again) this morning! :)

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  7. Classic stuff...great post DGB...keep it up

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  8. Not to take anything way from another brilliant Down Goes Brown column, but this issue is a lot more serious than people realize. Campbell's emails cast a light on the way the current NHL adminstration manipulate the game. Bettman, Daly, and Campbell have been operating virtually without restraint, but every once in a while something pops up that the NHL can't contain. Balsillie's Phoenix gambit and Campbell's emails are two of the best examples. Invariably, they show the ugliness beneath Bettman's "everything's great" m.o. Campbell's animus towards Savard is one thing, his bias in favour of his son is another. Tyler Dellow deserves a Pulitzer or some other award for his investigatory work.

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  9. Would have loved to have seen a Chris Pronger joke thrown in there, but this was another classic DGB column. Win!

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  10. boston? im wondering what hes writing about pittsburgh. probably making sure the rule book is firmly under the carpet for the nancy boys who get a free ride every night. if you got to cheat to win then F U sid

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  11. I think the first comment on this post might have been the best part.

    Nice work as always, DGB.

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  12. The Kerry Fraser thing was sorta funny I guess. The rest of it just says, "LOL Colin Campbell is annoying and no one likes him."

    Basically he's Michael Cera.

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  13. dgb..
    this might have had legs if bloge salming had taken your dialogue and made a video out of it.. fail...
    sorry...

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  14. Sorry DGB, but you fell kinda flat on this one. Sometimes these things just write themselves, and all you can do is facepalm & SMH.

    Don't worry. You'll rebound from this. Today just wasn't your day.

    Could be worse, could be the Islanders....

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  15. I like Michael Sera!

    The Dean Warren bit was a bit flat, but the rest more than made up for it.

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  16. Can someone get the clip with the ron maclean borschevsy interview? the video in the original post doesnt work anymore and i cant find it anywhere.

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  17. Lost me right up until the Kerry Fraser emails, good stuff.

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  18. I just listened to NHL Raiod podcasts and there's a really interesting one with Colin. He sais he called Burke to ask him to fire his coach earlier this week. Said the problem was that it was a slow news week.

    And, I realize this is a joke, since it is pretty funny. Still, I thought Leafs fans would enjoy it!

    If someone's looking for it, it's 3 days old (dated friday the 19th).

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  19. Just classic! And a nice Kerry Fraser bash for the cherry on top.

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  20. This comment has been removed by the author.

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