Wanye picks his star
By Wanye
14 years ago
Today is a most glorious day – a day we uphold one of the most beloved traditions in the OilersNation. No today is not the day we collectively turn on some drive by commenter and cause him to run back to the Jonas Brothers forum. Today is 2009-2010 Star Picking Day©. So let’s gather round the Star picking tree and have ourselves a think shall we?
Picking a Star – and later a goat – for the season has been a long standing tradition with our crew of pirates. For the duration of the season if your Star does something mad decent – lights the lamp at a key point in a game for instance – you get to bask in the glow of the Star as he is “your guy.” Should your Star go stone cold – or get traded as was the case last year when we picked Erik Cole – you are forced to sit quietly in the corner, speaking only when spoken to as you wait for the regular season to end.
Picking a star is a tricky business that requires a great deal of thinking. Anyone can pick Ales Hemsky and be reasonably assured that they will look quasi intelligent throughout the whole season. But be like our buddy Lee in the 2006 Season who famously picked Fernando Pisani as his playoff Star – and your genius will be praised from the highest tower for years to come.
We have basically the worst luck picking stars. Not only did we pick Cole last year, we also picked Ryan Smyth the year he was traded, Chris Pronger the year he left town due to family reasons and Eric Fichaud so many years back on the hunch “he could make it as a starter in the NHL.” On that note of taking needless risks, we have deliberated the options before us, crushed a few dozen BLs over the weekend, and decided on our Star this year. Give ours a read and then go on record with your own Star for the season.
2009-2010 Star
This year took a little bit of soul searching, but we believe we have come up with an unlikely but deserving pick this year: Mike Comrie.
Yep, that’s right. The very same Mike Comrie we have taken delight in booing these past 6 years. There are many folks around town that are of the mind that Comrie is a spoiled brat, a silk suit wearing dandy, a non-Oiler type more interested in dating celebrities than putting the biscuit in the basket. These same people might tell you that signing Comrie to a one year deal is akin to tendering an offer sheet to Lord Satan himself, except that Satan (as we all know) is eleven feet tall and could probably be of more use than another diminutive forward on a team that is already microscopically small.
Be that as it may, we just can’t help but think that if we were Mike Comrie, we would have stayed far, far away from the City of Champions. A City that had not only turned its back on a guy who had seemingly done the same to us, but one that has seemingly had its fill of his family as well.
Instead he has done the impossible and returned to E-town and is shopping for a house as we speak. This takes some serious stones and we for one are impressed by this.
Yukon Jack, host of local radio and an all around funny guy had a take on Comrie returning to Oiler silks a few weeks back:
“Faced with the very real prospect of one of the most hated ex-Oilers in history returning to the team, I’m a little torn. Mike Comrie could show up at Rexall in 29 different sweaters and I’d go home hoarse from three periods of chirps regarding La-Z-Boys, Jay Leno jaw lines and Hilary Duff’s cankles.But if he’s in Copper ‘n’ Blue silks, then what? I’m not just booing a spoiled little turn- coat, I’m booing my favourite hockey team, and I don’t do that, ever. I feel like my buddy broke up with his two-timing ex-girlfriend and I told him he’s better off without her and what trash she was and that I never liked her anyways and that she really needed to do something about her moustache, and then he got back together with her. Awkward.What will I do if Mike Comrie once again dons the jersey he doesn’t even deserve to wash, never mind wear? I don’t know. “
We would like to throw out a suggestion to all of the fans facing a similar dilemma.
Cheer
Cheer like this guy does. Cheer on a guy who may have had limited options but could have gone elsewhere, yet he chose to come home. Cheer on a guy that may throw up a front similar to most Pro Athletes, speaking about playing hard, skating to the net etc but has to be mildly concerned at the reception he faces throughout the year.
Edmonton has been plagued with players giving us the collective Royal Screw Job. Turning down offer sheets, signing 5 year deals and bouncing after year one, or refusing to come altogether though Edmonton was most definitely on his list of destinations. This has become all too familiar around these parts and we stand in the front of the line to boo these idiots off of RX1 ice each and every time they visit our grand City.
But returning to face the angry hordes? Faced with the very real prospect of missing the playoffs for a fourth year in a row? That takes some balls. Balls that we can applaud.
Yep, Comrie you are our Star for 2009-2010. You have our full and undivided attention and when we take our seat in Section 315, Row 96 Seat 1 on opening night, we will put our money where our mouth is and cheer you onto the ice.
Tomorrow: Picking the Goat.
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