Wednesday, October 03, 2018
The Season is About to Start and I Don't Care
It's opening night for the Ottawa Senators tomorrow, and for the first time in about two decades, I've never been more cynical and indifferent about it.
I'm angry too. I'm so angry that Eugene Melnyk and his gang of thugs running the Ottawa Senators have made it so difficult to support them. In an average year, I'd attend about a dozen games. This year, I'll be attending just one: Erik Karlsson's first return to Ottawa after the trade that was, for many fans, the finally straw in a tumultuous relationship they've had with the organization.
You really, really have to be incompetent, broke...or hey, maybe even a combination of the two, to alienate a fanbase as much as the Senators have done.
I am not buying the tearing down of the roster and management as a "rebuild". You trade a future hall of famer like Erik Karlsson, in his prime, for practically nothing. The heir apparent Mark Stone is given a mere one year contract extension, allowing him to walk away for nothing at the end of the year. You let Matt Duchene start the season without a new contract extension and can walk just like Stone can, after all that you gave up to acquire him...what exactly, is the end game for the Senators?
Do they think losing all of their talented players will bring in new fans? Do they think bizarre videos involving a 6th defenceman interviewing the team owner will help generate interest? Do they think firing an original founder in Bruce Firestone, then letting a new hire in Tom Anselmi leave in hushed circumstances after only a year, give the fanbase any feeling this franchise is healthy, stable, and (for my money anyway) just NORMAL?
I could go on and on about the other weird goings-on we've read about for the past year, but it's too exhausting. And here I am, indifferent, and somewhat sad, that it's come to this. I have spent so much time and money on this team, tried to get my own children to follow me in my fandom for them, and now we get this mostly young inexperienced roster that's expected to finish bottom of the barrel, without even any light at the end of the tunnel as they already traded away their 2019 first round pick. They might turn out to be good players in a few years, but the way this team is run, they'll be traded away once it's time to fork over some cash to pay for contract extensions.
I can only hope Eugene Melnyk will be gone sooner rather than later. His torturing of the franchise is too much, and completely without merit. He literally should be dead, but was saved by a liver transplant from a Sens fans. You'd think he'd be grateful for that, but then you remember he's an old rich white guy and they're way of thinking can be downright bonkers. He's already a billionaire, so why is he still so obsessed with money and making more money on top of that? Why is he so determined to make working for the Ottawa Senators so toxic and uninviting, ultimately making the team the laughing stock of the league?
Forget it, who cares. Wake me up when he's gone.
I'm angry too. I'm so angry that Eugene Melnyk and his gang of thugs running the Ottawa Senators have made it so difficult to support them. In an average year, I'd attend about a dozen games. This year, I'll be attending just one: Erik Karlsson's first return to Ottawa after the trade that was, for many fans, the finally straw in a tumultuous relationship they've had with the organization.
You really, really have to be incompetent, broke...or hey, maybe even a combination of the two, to alienate a fanbase as much as the Senators have done.
I am not buying the tearing down of the roster and management as a "rebuild". You trade a future hall of famer like Erik Karlsson, in his prime, for practically nothing. The heir apparent Mark Stone is given a mere one year contract extension, allowing him to walk away for nothing at the end of the year. You let Matt Duchene start the season without a new contract extension and can walk just like Stone can, after all that you gave up to acquire him...what exactly, is the end game for the Senators?
Do they think losing all of their talented players will bring in new fans? Do they think bizarre videos involving a 6th defenceman interviewing the team owner will help generate interest? Do they think firing an original founder in Bruce Firestone, then letting a new hire in Tom Anselmi leave in hushed circumstances after only a year, give the fanbase any feeling this franchise is healthy, stable, and (for my money anyway) just NORMAL?
I could go on and on about the other weird goings-on we've read about for the past year, but it's too exhausting. And here I am, indifferent, and somewhat sad, that it's come to this. I have spent so much time and money on this team, tried to get my own children to follow me in my fandom for them, and now we get this mostly young inexperienced roster that's expected to finish bottom of the barrel, without even any light at the end of the tunnel as they already traded away their 2019 first round pick. They might turn out to be good players in a few years, but the way this team is run, they'll be traded away once it's time to fork over some cash to pay for contract extensions.
I can only hope Eugene Melnyk will be gone sooner rather than later. His torturing of the franchise is too much, and completely without merit. He literally should be dead, but was saved by a liver transplant from a Sens fans. You'd think he'd be grateful for that, but then you remember he's an old rich white guy and they're way of thinking can be downright bonkers. He's already a billionaire, so why is he still so obsessed with money and making more money on top of that? Why is he so determined to make working for the Ottawa Senators so toxic and uninviting, ultimately making the team the laughing stock of the league?
Forget it, who cares. Wake me up when he's gone.
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