Edmonton: City of Champions

I get why fans get frustrated with the Oilers. As an unapologetic glass-half-full fan of this team, I do too, sometimes. If you are like me, you’re passionate about the city we call home, about the players we cheer for, and about the team that we metaphorically live and die for. But I, for one, believe that there is a way to do that with a modicum of class.

That’s why I was upset, and frankly a little insulted, with the “fan” that tossed their stuff onto the Rexall ice after Thursday’s home opener. The act, among other things, was an unsavory display of misguided entitlement that I refuse to believe represents fans in our city of Edmonton.

What do I mean by entitlement?

Hadn’t this fan paid their admission, and as a result, were entitled to display their displeasure with the outcome in any way that they saw fit? Not unlike a small majority of fans on open line radio shows that have no problem calling into question the team and management’s ability, work ethic, intelligence and commitment to the fan base? I argue “No”.

Let’s say you are at a restaurant, a crowded one, with a tantalizing and expensive menu. But upon being served what you thought you had ordered, what is sitting on your plate, especially considering how much you’ve paid for it, simply doesn’t meet with your expectations. Are you then entitled to pick up the plate, and fling its contents back at your server, the chef, the bus boy? Hmmm.

Fast-forward to Friday night at Rexall Place, and the sparkling display delivered to Oilers fans. It was an evening full of memories that my 13 year old son and I will never forget. It included (pictured) meeting face-to-face The Great One, as he carried the Stanley Cup, no less! Bu there were a few moments that I would suggest are valuable examples for how we, as a true City of Champions, should conduct ourselves.

Wayne Gretzky not only invited Peter Pocklington, the man vilified for selling this prodigal son of ours, of which we were so proud and possessive of, but then proceeded to stand right beside the man on stage and share with him the glory that rained down from the adoring thousands who had packed the old barn to the rafters. And we watched, as the old villain cried tears we weren’t sure he had.

If anyone in that entire arena would have been entitled to figuratively toss that afore mentioned plate of food back in Mr. Pocklington’s face, it was Wayne Gretzky. And yet, in a display of grace and class that surely we all would aspire to and hold up as examples for our kids, #99 offered Peter Pocklington a seat among the rest of our heroes.

You don’t think Pete and Wayne have had it out, over the years, about how that trade transpired and why? Of course they have. But Mr. Gretzky chose to conduct that business on an appropriate stage, and in an appropriate way. Rather than throw a tantrum for all to see, he conducted himself in a way that only caused us to admire him more.

But Wayne Gretzky wasn’t the only one that set a good example, this week. The fact that (save perhaps for a few that missed both the point and the significance of it), the entire arena rose to its feet and applauded Mr. Pocklington was admirable. We applauded him, for what he had brought to this franchise, when we may well have felt entitled to boo. To me, it spoke volumes.

Just like Thursday night, when the crowd rose to their feet for those two little kids from The Stollery, so proudly outfitted in their Oilers jerseys. The crowd started that standing ovation long before the “other heroes” walked out to center ice.

This was like the reception offered to Peter Pocklington, like the grace displayed by Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and others.

This, this is the city that we know and love. To me, it demonstrated that we know how to do this. That we know how to act like a City of Champions