THE AUDACITY OF HOPE
By Wanye
11 years ago
“When you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on” ― Theodore Roosevelt
So something called a Steve Burton – a CBS reporter from Boston who has been right about some stuff in the past – went on Teh Twitterz and said that the lockout was going to end in the next couple of days. Then we get all excited and then Bill Daly comes out and says that this is absolutely false.
Rats.
LETS GO BACK TO 2004
“I laugh because I must not cry, that is all, that is all.” ― Abraham Lincoln
Remember when the NHL was in a prolonged labour dispute and it looked like the whole season might be lost and we would all be condemned to watching NFL, TV poker or worse? No, not this time we mean. The last time. Yeah that one.
A younger and sillier Wanye would watch SportsCentre (then known as SportsDesk) and would hang on every word and update. Any ray of hope – no matter how small – was seized as a massive likelihood that the ice hockey was about to return.
A lot of this had to do with the fact that we were in the midst of opening up a sports bar with buddies at the time. It’s funny how the absence of hockey has an adverse impact on a brand new sports bar, but we digress.
As the weeks ticked by we got our hopes up time and time again, certain that the NHL and the NHLPA wouldn’t be able to write off an entire season. And time and time again our hopes were dashed on the proverbial rocks until finally the season was cancelled.
Then there was nothing left to do but grind our teeth and cry in our slow selling beer.
WHAT ABOUT NOW
“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.” ― Alexander Pope
When Steve Burton – whoever he may be – said that he had inside information that things were looking good all of a sudden it was the first time in the 2012 Lockout that we allowed ourselves even a glimmer of hope that the season might not be written off. "He was right about Kessel back in the day" we mused after looking up who exactly Steve Burton is "perhaps lightning can strike twice."
A Boston TV station reported Monday that an end to the NHL lockout could come this week, but NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly denied that the report was accurate, according to several media outlets. Players and owners are set to meet on Tuesday followed by the Board of Governors meeting on Wednesday.
Steve Burton at WBZ in Boston said talks behind closed doors have made significant progress and an announcement about an end of the lockout could come Tuesday or Wednesday. There have been no other indications that a deal is imminent, and Daly dumped cold water on the report.
Daly wrote to Patrick Caisse of TVA Sports, saying, "I’m aware of the reports making the rounds. Unfortunately, there is no truth to them." When Sarah Kwak of Sports Illustrated asked Daly if there was any morsel of truth to the WBZ report that a deal is imminent, Daly responded to Kwak by saying, "Not even a single morsel."
Not even a single morsel Bill? Not even a micron of a crumb?
Rats.
WHAT’S BETTER?
“Totally without hope one cannot live. To live without hope is to cease to live. Hell is hopelessness. It is no accident that above the entrance to Dante’s hell is the inscription: "Leave behind all hope, you who enter here.” ― Jürgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope
It’s difficult to say what a better course of action is at times like these. On the one hand you can do like Wanye Circa 2004 and have continual hope that things are going to work out for the better. The alternative is what we have seen many people doing on twitter and in the Nation poll – writing off the entire season in their mind and getting on with the business of living their lives.
It’s a tough call what the better move is at this point. We are an eternal optimist – though we have been forcing ourselves to ignore specific rumours, innuendos and hints from the various talking heads – part of us still can’t believe that the season is going to be entirely lost. Again.
Sure, part of that is because it also turns out that a chain of hockey blogs requires actual hockey at some point. But really we just love the ice hockey – specficly the Mighty Mighty Oilers. Have since a kid and will continue to cheer inappropriately until we are old and grey and have transferred the mania to legions of Wanye Jrs.
We can’t treat it all with professional detatchment like so many in the MSM. Players are still heroes, cheering after goals is a must not like up in the dusty press box. We believe in something bigger than the players, management and owners. Something that can be hurt short term but never killed by a labour dispute.
We just want the Oilers to return to the ice regardless of their quality of play and refuse to abandon hope that it will happen this year no matter how painful those hopes being crushed may ultimately be. Those involved in both 2004 and 2012 labour disputes aren’t the game. They are merely employees of us all for a short time before heading off into the sunset and being replaced by new heroes. They can’t kill what we love, try as they might.
So what is your strategy? Are you clinging to hope like Lindsay Lohan as she faces down jail time and the IRS seizing her bank accounts? Or are you throwing it all away and resigning yourself to another winter sans hockey? Let it all out in the comments Nation, whether it be hopeful or hopeless. It’s cheaper than therapy and in tough times like these we all need to stick together and talk it out.
ARENA UPDATE
There is no arena update.
*gunshot*
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