Rick DiPietro Says Islanders Fans Made Him Want To Kill Himself
ESPN – Twice in the matter of one week, beleaguered goaltender Rick DiPietro has been the talk of the Twitter-verse, but this time the never-ending jabs and jokes came to a grinding halt after a local television reporter revealed that DiPietro said he had entertained suicidal thoughts over the past three years. However, the former New York Islanders goaltender insists that those comments he made to News 12 Long Island were not meant to be taken literally. “I was just trying to draw attention to how important my wife has been to me,” DiPietro told ESPNNewYork.com in a telephone interview. DiPietro said he told the reporter that if he had not had his wife’s support through all the lows he has experienced — most recently being waived by the Islanders — that he’d have driven himself “into a tree.” “DiPietro also admitted injuries, losing and fan hatred over the past 3 years made him think about killing himself at one point,” the News 12 Long Island reporter tweeted. DiPietro said he was attempting to underscore the support he has received from his wife, Cassie, and not to make light of suicide or be insensitive about the issue.
Well I’ll tell you what, DP – you’re certainly not re-endearing yourself OR your wife to the Isles‘ fan base. Let’s not pretend most fans of the Fishermen aren’t reading this on ESPN and saying, “Well, fuck, if it wasn’t for his wife we’d be out of the worst contract in the history of pro sports!” The Coliseum faithful had no idea how close they were to having their beloved franchise’s Achilles’ heel hanging from the scoreboard by a pad strap. It’s kinda hard to feel for a dude who inked a guaranteed 15 year/$67.5 million deal at 25 (2006) and has since played (horribly) less than 10 games in 4 of the last 5 seasons. Any of the countless NFL guys who’ve been cut despite a contract & now have minimum wage job interviews scheduled would love to be in his sobbing skates. Hell, there’s not one person who wouldn’t be ecstatic collecting a $4.5 mil salary until 2021 without having to do anything other than hear people say they suck. I mean the only real difference between DP & Neil is $4.44 mil annually. What’s Rick done besides make Islanders’ management & fans want to kill themselves, anyway?