Much has been made of the Oilers jersey that came flying out of the stands and landed on the ice on Saturday against the Blues. Never mind that it was probably the fastest moving thing in an Oilers jersey the entire night, this isn’t the way to protest the current state of the team.

We can totally understand the thinking behind whipping the ol’ Blue and Orange onto the ice. The Oilers are flat out brutal and the 2,502 management types employed by Kay-Z seem more out of touch than ever, doddering about in the press box night after night and peering down with deer in the headlights looks.

They aren’t exactly addressing the needs of the team or the fans who continue to trudge through biblical snow storms to Rexall Place or forgo watching documentaries on Netflix in favour of tuning into Oilers games. The players themselves seem about as interested in winning as that team that gets trotted out against the Harlem Globetrotters.

We totally understand the rage that generates. Sooner or later protests are going to begin in earnest and that has to be expected by anyone with a functioning cerebral cortex.

But throwing the jersey on the ice? That ain’t the play.

The Oilers jersey represents all Oilers of all time. By throwing a jersey on the ice at Rexall you are throwing Gretzky’s league wide retired 99 on the ice. You are throwing Bill Ranford’s 30 that stopped so many sure goals so long ago, You are throwing the 39 Doug Weight wore that year he had 104 points and blew all our minds in the process. You are throwing the 21 Jason Smith wore as he blocked shot after shot with his front teeth.

It’s what hundreds of now forgotten players sweated and bled for over the years and the 2013-14 Oilers stinking out the joint again doesn’t mean that you should spit in the face of all these soldiers and dishonour their pride and effort in the process. They deserve better,

There is literally nothing the current half assed Oilers squad can do to diminish what the Champions that came before them have accomplished and I for one will never lose my pride in those players and the teams that wore the jersey before them.

Sadder than the scoreboard on Saturday night, the knowledge all of HNIC just watched the Oil embarass themselves yet again or all the empty seats was this scene we (illegally most likely) captured as we were filing out of Rexall Place.

This poor lil kiddo was a few rows in front of us and seemed quite upset at the Oilers getting shelled. At the end of the game she was very animated and it was only the efforts of her Dad chanelling the leadership of Jason Smith that ultimately talked her off the ledge.

It was quite the heartbreaking scene to witness.

At least we are all adults to some degree. It’s the children that we feel bad for who come to the game in their finest lil Oilers jerseys with the unreasonable expectations of kids today – see a hockey game worth watching and her Oilers win. She doesn’t understand rebuilds, timing good teams for new arenas or assessing team needs that haven’t changed for the 7th consecutive season.

It’s a good thing her dad had the character of Jason Smith to call on and wasn’t wearing a Nilsson jersey or that of a lesser man. 

So spazz on twitter or here on the Nation until you feel some mild relief. Send Kevin Lowe a platinum membership to Monster.com and wish him good job hunting if you like. Refuse to fill your recent prescription for life saving medication because you don’t want to support Daryl Katz any further. Reasonable people are reaching their breaking point we totally get this.

Just don’t toss jerseys on the ice. 

 

Shoutout to @camrolls for getting me to write this rant.

Better times lay ahead.