From Tony Gallagher of The Province—a man who somehow managed to morph his fine self from Prince of Darkness to Prince of Optimism in the last few years—some deep thoughts on why fans might be to blame for all that has gone wrong in Vancouver for the past four decades:
With the injury to Sami Salo Monday night, the 41st of his bruised and bumpy NHL career, you can already hear the cynical Vancouver fans saying ‘here we go again.’
The history of fans waiting for the other shoe to drop, and ultimately the fatal shoe, is a longstanding tradition in this city, which may actually have some effect on the players, despite their claims to the contrary.
But here’s one of the cynics. What if it doesn’t happen? What if there are no disasters?
Seriously? Aside from the charming insanity of blaming fans for the fortunes of Vancouver, an optimistic Gallagher is just creepy. And he finishes it off with some advice that has to make you wonder… has Tony ever even MET a Canucks fan?
Perhaps this is a year where the fans can relax, leave the anxiety behind and let these guys worry about it.
Maybe Tony should leave fans alone and direct his shots at his own media friends. Iain McIntyre, for one, watched the Canucks win their 6th in a row last night and still managed to dedicate an entire article to their “spotty performance” this morning.
I don’t dispute Gallagher’s arguments for being optimistic, incidentally. There are plenty of good reasons for it.
For one thing, the team’s performance to this point—101 points—is a uniquely cool experience for Canucks’ fans. And an even bigger deal, if you ask me, is that while everyone else on the leader board seems to be wearing out late in the season—as is usual at time of year—the Sedins are both roaring along impressively. These are things to hang your hat on.
But don’t ask Canucks fans to relax; never gonna happen. There are reasons for hope but that doesn’t mean hundreds of thousands of people are collectively going to experience playoff amnesia anytime soon.
Cautious optimism… I think that might be the best we can do.
Create an Account
In order to leave a comment, please create an account.