Dryden in US politics

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The Flyers were goons.  They may have been a very smart organization, but I watched those teams, and they were goons.  The only team even on the same sheet at the time was the Bruins, and it wasn't very close.

There were individual cementheads on every team, but only the Flyers went out with the strategy, "beat them up, then beat them."  They were a throwback team to the days of Howe and Geoffrion when everybody played like that.  But in the 70s everybody didn't play like that anymore.  Only Philadelphia.

Oh stop acting like the team won because they rolled out Andre Dupont and Dave Schultz on the fourth line.

Never said that.  They won because they were excellent and intimidating.  They were also goons.  The two things are not mutually exclusive.

Some good teams are also asshole teams.  My own beloved 86 Mets are one such team.  The 70s Flyers were assholes.  They also deserved to win.

Okay. But it is almost exactly what Dryden is saying. Which is why the article is a lazy, trope-reliant, piece of garbage.

Or, you know, true.

Or you know, ignorant. There's a reason Gretzky wanted to be like Clarke growing up. The 70s Flyers revolutionized hockey. The fighting was ancillary to the fact that they brought Soviet style system hockey to the NHL while the Bruins were trying to ride Orr 30+ minutes a night. And before you say it was just the system, Shero never did get the same results with the Rags.