Heather Fleck might be new in town, but she’s clearly not intimidated by local media personalities who take shots at her husband, Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck.
Patrick Ruesse, the longtime columnist for the Star Tribune and radio host at 1500 ESPN, sent out a tweet during the Wild’s Game 4 loss to Winnipeg this week that said:
“Wild break out video of Phil Fleck screaming encouragement near end of 2nd period. Following pattern of end of 2017 Gophers football season, Wild don’t score & lose 2-0 on empty-netter.”
Reusse is referencing the fact the Gophers were shutout in back-to-back games against Northwestern and Wisconsin to finish Fleck’s first season as head coach.
But it in turn saw Heather Fleck call him out publicly on Twitter, asking Reusse why he’s so “awful” all the time.
Why are you so negative and awful all the time??? What is your issue with a man that gives his ENTIRE life to making a program and young lives BETTER??? Maybe you should take a look at what he does for the community and for our youth before you slam him all the time.
— Heather Fleck (@hfleck10) April 19, 2018
Ruesse’s tweet back to Fleck said one word: “Balance.”
Fleck has a point that the good things teams do in the community don’t get nearly as much attention as the drama involved with the games they play.
For example, we know for certain that P.J. Fleck has his players frequently visiting kids at the Minnesota Children’s Hospital, and just look at how big his heart was when he stopped the spring football game last week just to surprise a junior walk-on from Maple Grove with a scholarship.
Related:
– Fleck stops spring game and gives a player a giant surprise
But at the same time, sports are results businesses and for all the good work teams do improving players and communities, they will ultimately be judged by performance on the field.
Regardless of where you stand on this, it’s just the latest round in the never-ending boxing match between sports media and the players and coaches they cover.
