Hero one minute. Subject of jokes the next. A shocking lack of loyalty for a true great.

My how things have changed. Those same Canadian hockey fans that praised Brodeur's efforts in the Olympics are now making light of Brodeur's personal life. A story circulated in a Montreal paper that Brodeur and his wife had separated due to his infidelity in the relationship with his sister-in-law and Mrs. Brodeur was seeking nine million dollars in alimony. I have two views on the story. One, this story is represented from one view and therefore it's hard to distinguish fact from fiction. Two, I really don't think Brodeur's story should become fodder for the public. What happens in his private life is his business. Who am I to judge him? Judging by the fan and local media response my sentiments are not widely shared. People have shamelessly exploited Brodeur's private life.

The Ottawa - New Jersey Eastern Conference Final started a little over a week ago and since that time there have been endless attempts of humour by the local media and local hockey fans. Here's just a sample: (The key lines are in italic.)

One local writer wrote this on May 10th: Devils goalie Martin Brodeur was asked what he thought about the decision to go between games. "What do I think? I don't know. Look around here, there's not much to do here," he said. Guess Ottawa is the kind of place where you have to make you own fun, huh?

(I guess this was supposed to be a "fun" poke at the rumoured story circulating that Mrs. Brodeur found her husband and his sister-in-law in an Ottawa hotel room.)

Of course this is the same writer who wrote this about Brodeur 15 months earlier:

When Brodeur and Gretzky embraced after the game, Brodeur said he simply thanked him.

"I just said thank you for giving me the opportunity," he said. "And for having confidence. That's all I asked at training camp was for a chance to play. To every guy, the coaches and management, I say thank you very much." They should say, no, thank you.

Another local writer wrote this on May 11th: Previewed on the scoreboard during a first period stop in play was the movie The In-laws, which hits theatres in two weeks. Can't help if this particular choice was for Brodeur's benefit?

Here is another example of local backlash:

A promotion was run on a local sports radio broadcast that asked fans to come up with a slogan for the Devils-Sens series: The winning entry was a from a fan that "cleverly" spun the Ottawa Senators slogan for the playoffs into: "Our team, Our town, Your sister-in-law." The radio station received approximately 300-400 entries and most of the fans' suggestions had something to do with Brodeur's situation. That same radio station also played a song entitled: "My little Sister" which once again attempted to make humour out of Brodeur's personal issues.

Other fan response has included local residents of Brodeur Crescent willing to undergo a temporary name change of the street to "Patrick Lalime Way". While others have said the street would be better served being called "Sister-in-law Way."

	That smile and love for the game has remained true for all these years.

It's a shame that such backlash is geared towards such a great ambassador for the game. In a time where fans are finding it increasingly difficult to relate to multi-millionaire hockey players and vice-versa, Brodeur is helping bridge the gap. Just watch Brodeur during a practice or pre-game shoot around, or an all-star game and you'll see that rarely is there an occasion where he's not smiling. Rarely does it look like he does not love every minute of being an NHL player. It's obvious he genuinely plays hockey for the love of the game and that's a rarity in the NHL and other professional leagues where a large majority of players look like their just playing from paycheque to paycheque.

It is pretty apparent that fan loyalty and respect has been thrown out the window. Those same fans and media that praised him are now tearing into him. Mocking him during the game with chants of Bro-deur is a perfectly acceptable fan reaction especially to the opposing goalie on a team that stands between Ottawa and a Stanley Cup Finals berth. But this outpouring of attempted humour is ridiculous. It's simply not funny and it's disrespectful. My biggest problem with this backlash against Brodeur is the general malaise and lack of loyalty that certain fans and media carry. Those same people that cheered his efforts in Salt Lake will no doubt cheer his efforts in Torino, meanwhile ridiculing him every chance they get in between.