Why Would People Think There is an Eastern Bias?
What do you do on your lunch break? Probably eat lunch hey? Crazy idea, but I’m guessing most of you do that. Me? I write blogs that literally 5’s of people read. But I had an itch to do this one after I came across one of the biggest trash articles I’ve read. I’m feeding the beast unfortunately, but you have to read this:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/nhl-should-have-thrown-the-maple-leafs-a-mcbone/
Oh poor old Jeff Blair. MAYBE he should stick to baseball? It’s pretty funny though. I don’t even know where to start.
I’m a guy who really worries about being a fan boy for the Oilers. This site is much more Oiler focused than anything else, no doubt. But I try to be honest about the team and be more of a realist than an optimist or pessimist.
But for an actual adult, a guy who is supposedly a respected writer, to write THAT…WOW! That’s just a new level.
I felt bad for the Leafs not winning that lottery. I wanted the Oilers to win it, but I told people straight up that if it wasn’t the Oilers I wanted the Leafs to win. I talk about fan bases “deserving” it. And that takes a lot of backlash, one of my best buddies thinks that’s absurd. But when I say it (and I can’t speak for everyone) what I mean isn’t that the Oilers fan base deserved McDavid so to speak, but they deserved to catch a big break and have something great go their way for a change which happened to be McDavid.
You talk about a franchise who over the last 9 years haven’t made the playoffs, had their top player demand a trade which led to the city being the butt of jokes for the entire time, incompetent management and ownership (which I will get to later), every single bounce go against them. You know we all talk about how this team needs a top pairing D man, well in 2011 it looked like they had one. Ryan Whitney had 27 points in 35 games. Suffers a foot injury which basically ended his career. I would say that’s a pretty shitty break!
So the Oilers caught their break. The Leafs haven’t caught a break like McDavid….ever. And I honestly don’t get the Leafs bashing that goes on. I’m not saying you have to love the team, but everyone who isn’t a Leafs fan seems to take some sort of sick pleasure in kicking that dead horse. It’s been happening with the Oilers too. After Pronger left and ever since it has become fashionable to bash not just the Oilers, but the city of Edmonton. Nobody can wait to talk about how no NHL player wants to go to Edmonton.
I guess with Toronto it’s because people dislike the city, but I still just don’t get it. That fan base has gone through hell for at least 2 different decades now, and haven’t won in nearly 50 years now. And this isn’t a new opinion of mine after the fact. I said it about a month ago in one of my pieces. I would love to see the Leafs return to being an elite team. The league is better when the Leafs are thriving.
HAVING SAID THAT….Jeff Blair, Steve Simmons, Damian Cox, Dave Feschuk, they add to that Toronto hatred. So while I feel for their fans, a piece like this proves the Eastern bias is very real, at least in this country.
Connor McDavid will be “wasted” in Edmonton hey? Ok, we’ll see about that. Same thing was said about Crosby in Pittsburgh. Guess what? All these superstars go to garbage teams, that’s how the draft works in all sports.
“But it’s about exposure”. Ok, so nobody saw Gretz in the 80’s? I could have sworn Edmonton was located in the same spot that it is today but maybe I’m wrong. That was in the 80’s when you couldn’t see every game! Marketing guys will tell you that when it comes to a generational talent like Crosby, Lebron James, etc. that it doesn’t matter what city they play in. The marketing people will find them.
I will not hide for a second that even as an Oiler fan I do worry that our management group will screw this up. They do too, which is likely why Bob Nicholson was given full control of the team yesterday. Does Blair realize that? Does he not trust Nicholson? Kevin Lowe if he doesn’t “resign”, at worse has no power any longer. Darren Dreger seems to think Nicholson will do an incredible job. Dreger seems to know a thing or two about the league. But who cares about all that, hey Jeff?
Also, while I bash Oilers management as much as anyone, and they should be better than what they’ve been, it seems to be forgotten during the bashing that this is an era of UFA’s and NTC’s. So, especially the Toronto media, can’t wait to tell everyone about what a dump Edmonton is and how nobody wants to play there, yet they then bash management for not bringing in guys. Well, you just said nobody wants to go there and anyone who is even decent in this league has a NTC. So which one is it boys?
It is simply amazing what gets printed these days. Shouldn’t stuff like what he wrote be on low level/meaningless blogs like this and not on Sportsnets website?!? Blair suggests the NHL should have FIXED THE DRAFT! I don’t want to write “LOL!!!”, but if there was ever a time for it….
From the league’s point of view, Toronto doesn’t need McDavid any more than Edmonton does! You don’t gain anything financially from him going anywhere in Canada. Arizona would have been a great spot for him to go from a league point of view, even though most of us believe it would do next to nothing for hockey in the desert.
But the fans are a lot more deserving in Canada to see a kid like this than in the US. I believe it was Mike Brehm from USA Today wrote about how he needed to go to a US market. Does EVERY great talent have to be in the States? Canada is just supposed to get pissed on none stop? GROW THE F*** UP BOYS!
I honestly get the sense that it is more of a fear thing than anything else. The Oilers are loaded with talent without a doubt now, and IF management gets their act together, they have a chance to build a dominant team for the next 10-15 years. That’s a big IF, but the ingredients are there.
Anyway, keep up the great work Jeff. Your tears taste WONDERFUL! You fit the mold of a Rogers employee perfectly.
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