The Arizona Coyotes have reinstalled Nick Boynton as the team's radio analyst. Boynton was suspended by the NHL team after he was charged with assault, disorderly conduct, harassment, resisting arrest, criminal mischief, and obstruction of government administration on March 26 at Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino in Buffalo, N.Y.
According to USA Today, Boynton damaged casino property and "at one point did bite the hand of an officer who was attempting to subdue him."
I wonder if the Coyotes would have reinstated Boynton if he upped the ante by committing an armed robbery in the casino, or if he'd have shot up Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino with a shotgun while he was gaming and guzzling there. Yes, if either of these scenarios was the case, the Coyotes would have Boynton back on the radio and announcing the team's games from the hoosegow.
"I've met with Nick several times and he knows he made a terrible mistake," said Coyotes co-owner, President, and CEO Anthony LeBlanc. "Nick is a good person and everyone deserves a second chance. He recently completed his alcohol counseling program and will now be reinstated as our radio color analyst."
A good person? Do good people bite other people? Do good people try to take a law-enforcement officer's finger or thumb off with their incisors? This biting alone, never mind the grocery list of other charges, sounds serious enough. It should be considered a flagrant crime. In fact, in other places it is, and Rex Gardner was sentenced to eight years in prison for biting a police officer's ear. This occurred in the U.K., too, which has a history of shelling-out less prison time for serious offenses than the USA does. And although the USA Today article doesn't get into detail about who this "officer" is - whether or not he (or she) happens to be a sheriff's deputy; an FBI agent on vacation; a luck-chasing, lost, and lonely RCMP wandering around south of 'the Great White North'; or a security guard at the casino, this "officer" was a representative of law and order at the time and moment he (or she) was bitten on the hand by Boynton.
What do you have to say about Charles Manson, Anthony LeBlanc? Do you consider him a stellar citizen now, too, since he's been in jail for a few days and has had some time to mull over his transgressions?
Do good people get charged with so many criminal violations the police need a white board to keep them all in order? For the sake of expediency and simplicity, it would be much easier listing the criminal violations that Boynton wasn't charged with while he was on this tear.
And just because someone goes into a treatment center doesn't mean he's 'well' now. It simply means he's a very sick man, sat around some treatment center for a month listening to sundry eggheads talk in their psychobabble-sociology and drunk-talk-psychology and that yes, this A-Number-One Asshole is a menace to society and most likely will be back on the bottle quicker than a puck flies down that hard cold ice. And the next time he acts up, it will most likely be even worse!
The caveat of saying, "All's A-Okay now, he's not a criminal culprit anymore but is now a new man because of A & D treatment" is a threadbare loophole these days. Even alcohol- and drug-treatment counselors concede that less than 5 percent of all people who enter A & D treatment (alcohol and drug treatment) get any amount of sober and clean time - anything over a year, anyhow. Just think of all the celebs, even non-celebs, for that matter, who entered A & D treatment and a month after leaving the doors of those institutions, were veritable trainwrecks, worse than ever and riding a Ferris wheel around in la-la-land?
Anyhow, how many celebrities go into treatment on their own because they know they are sick and want to get well? Very few, and most go kicking and screaming into A & D treatment centers because a judge, their wives and kids, or because public opinion says they need to go into treatment because they've turned into diseased monsters. Like the Rolling Stones' guitarist Keith Richards once said, "I've never had a problem with drugs. I've had problems with the police." And even hardcore drug abuse has its good points. "Drugs have taught an entire generation of American kids the metric system," said P.J. O'Rourke, who was the liberal editor of National Lampoon magazine in the 60s, when he was a young huckster, and now, has gone on to bigger and better things, like being a right-wing political pundit. P.J.'s even writing books these days.
If Boynton had not been arrested at the casino, would he have woken up with a horrid hangover the next day and felt so guilty about all the trouble he caused that he would have driven to the closest A & D treatment center and checked himself in? Is this a stupid question? Consider the circumstances around Boynton's meltdown: According to a report in The Buffalo News - via the USA Today story - , casino personnel cut-off Boynton from the bar due to his intoxicated behavior, police sources said. Boynton went on to yell and swear at workers and called female employees vulgar names, the police sources said.
"When a customer sitting on a chair in one of the game pits asked him to stop yelling and swearing, Boynton went over to the customer and shoved him off the chair onto the floor," one of the police sources told The Buffalo News. "I didn't think someone could get so crazy on alcohol. He was cursing and shouting that he knew how to make money and the casino didn't." - Yes, this Nick Boynton asshole is a really nice guy. A class act. A prince. A real charmer!
The report went on to say Boynton was taken to a hospital once city officials learned he was a diabetic. The Coyotes placed Boynton on a leave of absence following his casino crackup. Boynton, who joined the Arizona Coyotes NHL organization as a radio analyst prior to this season, played in the NHL for 11 seasons and was with the Coyotes from 2006 to 2008. Originally drafted ninth overall in 1997 by the Capitals, he reentered the NHL draft in 1999 after failing to secure a contract with Washington. He was then taken 21st overall by the Bruins.
- And next season, after Boynton does another little something criminal, anti-social, and outrageous, he'll be playing for a minor league hockey team like the Youngstown Phantoms, Green Bay Gamblers, Chicago Steel, Brookings Blizzard, or the Minot Minotauros. His fellow team mates will yell on the ice: "Hey Old Man! Fling that puck my way! I've got a clear shot at the goal! Are you farsighted?! Do you have dementia?! Look at me, I'm free and clear here!" - I don't think Boynton will need the money or anything; these old jocks just have to have a spotlight shining on them when they age, get arthritic, and wither away. But of course, if he keeps gambling, a (possibly) then-busted Boynton just might need to return to the ice as a minor league upstart just for a salary.
In all fairness, Boynton had a storybook career as a player and had his best season points-wise (with 30 points) in 2003-04 with the Boston Bruins where he spent the majority of his career. He won a Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010 before retiring in 2011. And although he could hardly be considered a LeBron James of hockey, he certainly made his mark.
For the sake of Nick Boynton's physical and emotional health, let's wish him well and hope he's on the road of recovery and will trudge the path towards a healthier lifestyle. It's evident Boynton has much to offer to the world of hockey, since he already made the grade as a standout. There's nobody better to add color to a game than a longtime veteran like Boynton. As innumerable others who've used A & D treatment to get the law off their backs, though, Boynton's sobriety and wellness game is a real longshot. So if you see him staggering around a casino, reeking like the backdoor of a saloon, and yelling and screaming at an Autotote ticket puncher, tell him to go home before he bites somebody with a badge and a gun. And an anger and attitude even worse than his....
