Flyers Goalie Bryzgalov Doesn’t Like Philly, Does Like Stalin

Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear:

Ilya Bryzgalov can see the “logic” in Joseph Stalin’s actions and thought the former leader of the Soviet Union did what needed to be done to rebuild a country that was overrun with spies and criminals with guns.

Also, the Flyers’ goalie doesn’t like the oldness of Philadelphia — he likes “newer, cleaner” cities like Boston, Vancouver, and Dallas — though he does enjoy the cheesesteaks.

And he thinks there are too many people in America on welfare that don’t want to work.

The comments came in an interview with Russian sports site Championat. The praise of Stalin may actually go over worse than the hate for Philly. NESN reports:

“I see logic in his action,” said Bryzgalov, according to a translation by Yahoo!’s Dmitry Chesnokov. “Not without going too far, of course. But he came to power in a country that had just lived through a revolution. There were so many spies, enemies, traitors there. A lot of people still had guns after the civil war. The country was in ruins, [people] needed to survive somehow. The country needed to be rebuilt, and in order to do that it needed to be held in iron hands. “… He knew what he was doing. He is described as a ‘bloody tyrant.’ But at the time it couldn’t be any other way. Yes, there were innocent people who were victims of repression. But it happens.”

But the Philly stuff isn’t good either:

“I have lived in Philadelphia and a half months before we bought the house,” Bryzgalov said.  “I do not really like that sort of town. Me and New York do not like. A big, bustling city with a grim gateways. Philadelphia is the same. But Boston, Vancouver and Dallas – are quite different. These newer, cleaner – there I like. I do not like old age.”

The ghetto, however, Bryzgalov is not particularly fond of.

“There are enough of them. This is not a small part of the city,” Bryzgalov said.  “Too many do not work, live on welfare and get food stamps for. They just do not want to work. Their principle is: “Why should I work when I can live, let them raise taxes on the rich, which are injected. I’ll sit on the dole, the year I will get it here, then move to another state – start getting there. … There will come a new candidate who has promised us all us such a lot of on the dole, we vote for him, and raise taxes on the rich. ” It’s not even my opinion, and many Americans, with whom I spoke on this topic.”

So. The offseason’s off to a good start, no?