If Scott Gordon Is Half As Good A Coach As He Was A Rapper, The Flyers Will Be Your 2018-19 Stanley Cup Champions
Obviously the two biggest headlines of the day yesterday for the Philadelphia Flyers were that they fired head coach Dave Hakstol, and called up the goalie of the future in Carter Hart from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. But coming up to the big club with Carter Hart will be Scott Gordon who will be the Flyers’ interim head coach. In case you didn’t know already, Scott Gordon has been the head coach of the Phantoms since the 2015-16 season. Over the 3 years with Gordon in Lehigh Valley, the Phantoms missed the playoffs in year 1, then made it to the playoffs but lost in the first round in year 2, and then last year they lost in the conference finals to the eventual Calder Cup champion Toronto Marlies. So it’s been a steady progression for the Phantoms under Scott Gordon and obviously over those 3 full seasons in Lehigh Valley, he’s gotten familiar with plenty of guys on the Flyers roster right now including Shayne Gostisbehere, Robert Hagg, Travis Sanheim, Scott Laughton, Oskar Lindblom, and most importantly Carter Hart this season. He also spent a few seasons as an assistant coach in Toronto so he’s familiar with James van Riemsdyk as well. I think as far as an interim coach goes, nobody would know how to handle this roster better than Scott Gordon at the moment.
However…I think it’s safe to say that regardless of however Scott Gordon’s tenure with the Flyers goes, he is in the wrong profession. I’m sure he’s a fine hockey coach and everything like that and I’m sure that he thought he’d be working in hockey ever since he was a kid. With that being said, Scott Gordon was born for show business. And more specifically–the man was born to rap, as evidenced by his verse on the 1986 Boston College Eagles’ “Beanpot Trot” track.
If for some bizarre reason you can’t make it through that entire track and you just want to hear Gordon’s verse, skip ahead to 1:52. But the whole song is really worth a listen. I mean I hate to sound like an old head here but rap these days isn’t even rap anymore. It’s just a bunch of depressed guys mumble-singing into a microphone about taking prescription pills. It’s nothing like how rap used to be. Rap used to have some significance. It used to tell a story. Unfortunately, “The Beanpot Trot” would eventually go on to tell the story about why BC lost to BU in the 1986 Beanpot final but that’s neither here nor there. Because I think if everybody on that ’86 BC roster could have really sold their performance as well as Scott Gordon did, that game would have been over before the opening puck drop. I mean not only is Scott Gordon a lyrical genius, but the showmanship he put on display there?
It’s just otherworldly, if we’re being completely honest. I mean sure, maybe Joel Quenneville can rip a few shots in the parking lot of Soldier Field but can he get down and do a split like that all while simultaneously spittin’ fire hot bars? Last time I checked, no he cannot.
So all the Flyers really have to hope at this point is that Scott Gordon is half as good behind the bench as he is behind a microphone. As long as that’s the case, this team has nothing to fear. Only thing they’ll have to worry about is making a new “Stanley Cup Shuffle” video in June. I’m sure we’ll get a few cameos from Gritty in there.