Winnipeg Jets fans lighting Phoenix Coyotes jerseys on fire?
The original Winnipeg Jets never made it to the Western Conference finals, unfortunately for the fans and the city. The team that they turned into, the Phoenix Coyotes, start play in the conference finals tomorrow, and understandably some fans of the original team are a bit upset. Sad with nostalgia at what could have been, yet happy to see their old franch-
Oh, they're lighting Coyotes jerseys on fire? I guess scratch that whole "happy to see their old franchise succeed."
From the Winnipeg Sun comes this odd gem of two Jets fans, one new and one old, setting an old peyote Coyote jersey aflame in their driveway as a way to cope with the fact that their old team's having success while their new team's playing golf. While understandable that they would be a bit frustrated that the team's current incarnation is having success in a market where hockey isn't exactly a massive draw, this entitlement culture of some hockey fans has got to stop.
"Hockey is back where it belongs." A) it doesn't belong in one particular spot and B) it's not a thing, it's a sport. Sports can be played anywhere that there's equipment and a field (or, in this case, a rink). Good teams exist in odd places, and while the desert isn't exactly a hockey Mecca, that has no bearing on the team's success. The players, coaching staff, and management do.
I feel for the guy in the video who still roots for the Coyotes even after they moved. I know of a few former Thrashers fans who are now Jets fans, and more power to them. Some can't do what they've done, but hey, I understand it and I don't begrudge them for doing so. But to be a Coyotes fan in a city where there are still a select few schmucks like these guys who're lighting your team's jersey on fire? Yeesh.
"It's a chance for me to show my affection for the Phoenix Coyotes..." says the guy holding the jersey for the guy with a lighter in his hand.
You could always have it worse. You could be a Nordiques fan who had to suffer the pain of watching your former team win the Stanley Cup the season after they moved. At least some time's passed, and you have a new team to cheer on. If it's all right for some Jets fans to lecture Thrashers fans about "letting go" and "getting over it" -- which I got, just a scant week or two after the relocation, mind you -- I think that argument is appropriate here as well.
To be absolutely fair, a majority of fans in Winnipeg would never do this, like a majority of fans in Winnipeg also didn't make snide comments to Thrashers fans. But these two guys? You're giving the rest of the fans in your city a bit of a black eye. And to the Winnipeg Sun? Shame on you for helping out.
Nothing breeds contempt quite like winning after you leave, be it for players, or whole organizations, I suppose.
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@hildymac See, I had that thought, but then I remembered that Keenan basically ran him off, and I didn't feel so much like lighting him on fire anymore. Now, Keenan, I'd burn a toupee of him in effigy, at least. heh
@miendiem Every time I saw him on my TV doing "analysis" with JR, I wanted to light my TV on fire. Does NBC have a thing for hiring terrible GMs who lose stars for their teams?
@CollegeWolf @JohnnyStatsLange There are lots of folks in Winnipeg who never heard of Don Waddell before last June who probably hate his guts. Thrashers and Jets fans have a lot in common if so.
