Fueled by Passion?
I have to admit that I wasn't sure that "fueled by passion" was appropriate to the Jets 2.0. But, I have come around.
Here are the reasons I know they Jets are fueled by passion:
1) The players, essentially, took care of the Evander Kane problem by giving us permission to articulate that he was a petulant man child and we would be better off without him.
2) It just seems like the more the Jets have become involved in the community, the more passion they feel. They have come to understand and appreciate what the Jet mean to us and they want us to know that they feel the same about the fans.
3) I had the good fortune of sitting directly behind Kroppy a few times and heard him sing the Canadian anthem. Each time I was reduced to a blubbering idiot about half way through. For the Jets to continue to honour him tells me they really get it. Kroppy's passion was indeed contagious.
4) White Out street parties. Everyone, including the Jets, were surprised and inspired by the enormous support of the Jets in playoff time. How can you not be passionate?
5) "Truth North" unites us. And, every road game they go on, that is still shouted out because there are Winnipeggers everywhere.
6) Every time the Jets win a game, the media suggests we need to book the Stanley Cup parade. Yeah, we believe. It is hard not to be passionate when you have this much support.
So, the Jets are now in their Edmonton hub bubble, and it doesn't seem like they are fueled by passion. You can't blame them. They are fueled by their contractual obligations. Not a winning formula. When they were in the MTS Iceplex bubble, the only ones who seemed excited were the sports reporters who had something to cover. Edmonton is experiencing a surge in cases. The players are separated from their families. They are worried about themselves and their families. They see how the return of sports is experiencing some "glitches" so they have great uncertainty about what is really going to happen. Not to mention, society is experiencing something bigger than the game. People are expecting the players to take some sort of stance over Black Lives Matter. If they don't, they will look elitist and that they don't care. I know this is not true.
So, who actually wanted hockey to do this bizarre shortened season in August? Well, there is Premier Jason Kenney. That is not hard to figure out.
And, the other driver for this August whatever it is, is Commissioner Bettman. He may be a brilliant businessman and he may be a brilliant marketer, but he don't have passion for hockey. He never grew up yelling "car" while playing in the streets and being really cold but not quitting. He never grew up in a hockey town where all the guys wanted to be "pucks" and most of the girls wanted to be "puck *uck". He doesn't know the pride that a community has when one of their own brings home the Stanley Cup. He just doesn't have the passion for hockey that this job needs. All, he has passion for is for the bottom line.
He really doesn't understand that all successful hockey players are fueled by passion. I am not saying that money isn't nice, but that is not the prime motivator. Look at Ovechkin when he won the Stanley Cup and the pure childlike joy that he had with the Cup in Vegas. Money was not the driving factor in that joy. It was passion.
Lord Stanley would have undoubtedly understood why his Cup wouldn't have been awarded in 2020. I believe he would agree that there are some things more important than a hockey game.
Too bad Bettman will never get it. I hope he is replaced by someone who does.
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