The times they are a changin

Ah, candid statements of truth are a joyous thing to behold aren’t they Nation?

“Some guy is just writing some (crap) on the Internet about me asking to be traded” —Ladislav Smid on Brownlee reporting that Smid rightly wants an opportunity deserving of his skill.

Well that makes it official: knowledge of the OilersNation has officially entered those big sliding doors at RX1. “Some guy” is our guy Robin Brownlee, “(crap)” — noting the brackets — is our crap and “the internet” is undoubtedly the OilersNation.

By the tears of sweet Suri Cruise the times they are a changing in these parts Nation. It’s been very subtle, we didn’t even notice as it was happening until recently. But of late the momentum is definitely trending up and this morning seems to be a real milestone for our little non-pornographic website. We dragged our frozen ass into Nation HQ this morning, stoked the wood-fired stove and topped up the diesel generator that allows our compumatrix to access the interwebs. And what do we read?

1. Jason Gregor conducting the first interview with Ethan Moreau since his return from an eye injury. Amazingly we found ourselves actually reading each and every response the Captain made to Gregor. Is it because we don’t want to start the work week by doing actual work? Partly, but it’s also because of something in the interview that we haven’t seen in a long, long time:

An actual interview that provides interesting information given in response to non fluff questions.

No questions about “do you prefer pancakes or waffles?” or well researched questions regarding a player’s favourite kind of potato. Kinda suggests to us that players are prepared to make honest candid answers when they are asked honest candid questions by honest candid reporters. That’s certainly interesting to note…

2. Dan Tencer, David Staples and James Mirtle coming on here and having an old-timey pow-wow with Brownlee in a public forum where we can all read along. Now that is a definite departure from the old days when reporters would meet deep, deep underground in secret media-only bunker-type facilities and discuss secret matters amongst themselves. The rest of us were left in the dark to read speculative stories about how often Tom Gilbert cuts his hair while all the good stuff was kept behind closed doors.  Now they are out in the wide open letting the rest of us listen in. And whose comments are mixed right in there? The rest of us: the deepoils, the zamboni drivers, the socaldaves. The real fans who now get to put their two bits right in the mix with all of the big guns. Yeah, even Deep Oil is now read by thousands of people a week. Isn’t the internet great? We sure think it is.

3. Robin Brownlee breaking more news on here -– this time about Smid — and sticking to his guns as only Brownlee can. Here is a little known fact, Nation. Robin Brownlee can’t stand your ol’ pal Wanye. We are too ignorant, too young and too unconnected to be of any value or interest to him. But one thing that we will always be able to tell people is that we showed Brownlee the power of the internet. Yes, years from now when writers congregate around Brownlee holding court in the bowels of RX2 and ask him to tell the story of how he had the foresight to be the first writer to become an editor-free force of nature on the interwebs, it gives us a special thrill that Brownlee will have to start the story with “Well back in ’08 this idiot calling himself Wanye…”

We read the back and forth between the Brownlian One and the Journal. A buddy of ours did too and twittered us asking “who we believe on the whole Smid thing?” We would tend to believe the guy who predicted that if Erik Cole left town he would be rolling back Chez ‘Canes an incredible 15 days before it occurred. Everyone got on him then too and he stuck to his guns. We would tend to believe Brownlee on this one as well; he seems hell bent on breaking the news while others are asleep at the switch.

It’s a shame — we hope Smid doesn’t leave town. He is a certified beauty who has done whatever has been asked of him since he arrived in Edmonton. When he first arrived we had him pegged as a floater Euro D but he was paired with Staios and developed a remarkable nasty streak. We know for a fact he likes it here in E-town and will do whatever it takes to get a bigger role on the team if it means adding 94 pounds of straight muscle in the off-season, playing the wing in some games or reshingling MacT’s roof over a weekend. Guys with a work ethic like that who also possess Smid’s skill set should be in any plans for the future. Plus one time we attended an event he was at and we were both standing at the bar when it closed for the dinner part of the function. Smid insisted we would both be served before the bartender shut ‘er down. “I don’t care what we drink but we can’t sit through speeches without something.”

That is the kind of talk that makes a fan for life.

Oh and just in case you thought we missed it our main man Jack Bauer gets it

Yep, the times are a changing. We can’t recall that happening when he was here.