As you read my Oiler blog you will notice I will be writing about the emotion, nuances, the highs and lows of being a Oiler fan. The untangibles, the feeling in your gut when we win, lose and what it means to be an Oiler fan. If you came to this Oiler blog for stats, numbers and technical breakdown of the Oilers, well this is not where you want to be. There are many sites to visit that will give you all the stats you desire, see some of the sites I have listed. If you want a good read on what I believe the average die hard Oiler fan feels and my personal insight into the good, bad and ugly going on of the Oilers I hope this will be your first choice. In my blog history you can read where I have shared my opinion on Hall wearing Kevin Lowe’s # 4 and I hope to post my thoughts on the upcoming season in the next couple of days.
As a fan from the beginning I could write hundreds of pages on Oiler history but that is not what this blog is about, I hope this to be a personal chronicle of a new era in Oiler history and all the hope, promise and disappointment it will surely deliver.
I have been an Oiler fan since they were called the ALBERTA OILER HOCKEY CLUB in the WHA and have an embrodered patch to prove it. I still remember when at a WHA Oiler Playoff game when the fans were chanting “Gretsky, we want Gretsky” and me wondering what the hell are they calling for? I Have seen the very incredible times and the very bad times. On the incredible side I remember Peter Puck on a post game Hockey Night in Canada (the original HNIC hotstove) when the Oilers tied the Leafs and the Toronto media was just disgusted by it. Well Peter Puck said on TV that he guaranteed the cup would be in Edmonton within 5 years, well needless to say he got laughed off the set by the still very arrogant Toronto media – we all know he was right. On the bad side I have been threw the past few years after the ’06 run and the many lean years before but what stands out for me was when we were playing LA in a playoff game back in the “boys on the bus years”. Well we were leading 4-0 going into the 3rd period, someone in the bar yelled I bet $300 the Oilers lose, I took that bet and yes I lost $300 bucks.
Ok, to the present and I just have to chime in on this Souray debacle! It pisses me off to no end. Just when a guy thinks the Oilers have started a new chapter of positive press and energy this garbage comes up! It reeks of Mickey Mouse, bush league bullshit, what? - are the Oiler management that incompetent they could not have gotten this all settled with Souray before so as to not have such an embarrassing situation? After what really appeared to be the start of great things for the Oilers on the winds of change this spring and summer with some excellent signings, prospect of a new arena, fan excitement of the new prospects, a first ever #1 draft pick and some incredibly talented rookies coming to camp we go back to square one on the credibility scale. How in the hell did this happen! That is the questions that Steve Tambellini has to answer.
Yes Steve Tambellini and the Oiler management has the right to sit whomever they want, I do not question that and I support it. I like many other Oiler fans am sick & tired of all the recent Oiler and city of Edmonton bashing by many media types jealous of our previous success and by spoiled princess players who don’t even have the class to honor signed contracts. It is a huge distraction for all concerned and fully support what the mighty Quinn said last year – “if you don’t want to be here then get the hell out” to paraphrase.
It is time to bring back the pride and honor of being an Oiler! One way is by no longer chasing the white whales like the Oiler’s have done in the recent past what with Heatly, Hossa and such.
That just added to the bad press the Oiler’s got, yes some deserved but most was by lazy reporters that can only make a name for themselves by running cheapshot stories. I understand why the white whales were chased, after the ’06 run the pressure was huge to get back there and admit or not we all wanted it so very bad. But times have changed and the attitude of the Oilers has changed thanks mainly to the new ownership of Daryl Katz. He was here in Edmonton from the beginning and remembers what it was like and what it meant to the players to be an Oiler, everyone in the NHL wanted to be an Oiler and many failed at trying to be one.
Anyway back the Souray soap opera. Yes he burnt bridges when he went on his self-serving rant last year and yes I agree with the feeling he should get the hell out if you don’t want to be an Oiler!
Now he is or was skating with the team, good on him but I am sure there is some self serving motivation for his doing besides the requirement of his contract to show up ready for training camp.
What I do not understand is how was allowed to be there in the first place. Steve Tambellini looks like a total fool when his says we told him last week not to show up but then Souray’s agent we were not told until a day or so ago and we asked for it to be in writing before we acted on it which by the way is what any decent agent would do. Is Tambi stretching the truth? Or are the people under him incompetent and failed to take care of this? Who knows but again Tambi looks very bad just as he did when he “fired” Pat Quinn as coach. First Tambi says he had talked to
Pat about it the week before but when Pat was asked he said he just found out about his “re-assignment” just hours before the press conference. What the hell is up with that and it makes Steve Tambellini look very bad. As GM he should be capable of making sure crap like this doesn’t happen, how can he say it is time for new era for the Oilers when bone-head mistakes like this happen, not once, but twice within a few months.
Is this a reason why Tambi never got the GM job in Vancouver where he was asst. GM for longer than any other asst. GM I know of?
If Steve Tambellini is to stay on as GM and Katz is serious about changing the Oiler mystic back to where it was these types of incredible media blunders cannot continue.
Sure I would love to have Souray in the line-up as I think many Oiler fans would but that is not to be; mainly due to his own arrogance and spoiled brat actions but still is not an excuse for the Oiler management to look so incompetent and generate such bad media optics with the Souray soap opera. I won’t even get into at this how this may or may not effect Tambi’s efforts to
trade Souray, that is a entire new post.
Let’s all just hope that this will be the last time such a preventable media blunder will occur thanks to what appears to be severe error in judgment by Steve Tambellini. If it happens again perhaps
it will be time Tambi has the baseball rule applied to him, three strikes and he’s out!
ME
Common sense conservative who does not feel guilty that my neighbour to the left has less that me nor am I envious that my neighbour to the right has more. I believe in helping those truly in need with a hand up, not a hand out, self responsibility and hard work. I am proud to be Christian that holds no ill will to all other religions or beliefs be they muslin, jewish or atheist. I am a climate realist, one that does not buy into the great CO2 scam. As such I believe climate changes as a natural course of nature but in saying that it is everyone's basic responsibilty bethey personal or corporate to take care of our enviroment. Pollution and global warming are two totaly seperate issues. These are my thoughts on a world that is changing faster than ever before, sometimes for better sometimes for the worse but sadly with what appears to be with little common sense or respect. I try to make sense of it all in a straight forward, not politically correct manner with a big dose of common sense.
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