Get The Duck Out Of Here

OH, OH (two step towards climax) AHH! DAMN IT! FUCK!!!! (three steps toward depression)

That basically sums up my night last night after the Oilers blew a two goal lead and gave the game away in the last 17 seconds and overtime.

I had such high hopes. I had my mullet, my Oilers third jersey (which they were also wearing, it should have been a sign), my mickey of rye and hence over-inflated sense of self-confidence to boo Pronger all night long, where did it all go wrong?

Maybe it is karma.

At Pronger's press conference Monday night he had a huge list worth of ass kissing which he thoroughly orated. He praised everyone and everything in Edmonton. They played it during the intermission in the PPV broadcast. If you ask me, it looked like he was reading it from his knees. I won't go as far as to say he was begging forgiveness, because he wasn't, he was simply putting on the "I'll be the better man" face. And for this, perhaps, he was rewarded by the cosmos given the unforgiving reception he received.

I'm not sure it would have mattered what the reason for the trade request was. Whether his wife didn't like the cold or the isolation or that her husband was sleeping around, would it really matter? What self-respecting sports fan would accept those reasons for cutting and running? Pronger knows it and was therefore spewing rhetoric to his advantage to convince the quasi die-hard fans that he just has a big heart.

I don't think anybody seriously hates the guy for leaving for "personal family reasons." Would anybody have spit in his face given the chance? I would like to think that (sober) Oiler fans would react better than that. If any individual left a contract job for the good of their family, most people would say that is a respectable thing to do.

However, Pronger is a public figure in the sports arena and is subject to public scrutiny and judgment. When paying fans get one of the best defensemen in the league and he signs for five years and then leaves amid swirling innuendo and rumours after playing for only one of those five years, should he not be sent to the gallows?

In sports, there is always an accountability to the fan. On and off ice factors contribute to this. It does happen occasionally that players are unhappy and demand trades. Often their performance is even questioned given their desire to part ways with the team and/or city. How should a fan react to this? It doesn't matter where you are, they will react the same. Tell me how much Jonny Damon is loved in Boston right now. Tell me how much Sol Campbell is embraced by Spurs fans still to this day (he doesn't even play for the team he left for, Arsenal, anymore). Tell me how much Chargers fans appreciated Eli Manning on his first visit with the Giants. Tell me how many Burris fans there are left in this province.

To say that Oilers fans have no class for not respecting Chris Pronger and giving him the boo birds is to say that no sports fan on the face of the earth has any class. Show me a place where given the situation, he would be forgiven and forgotten. AND, need I remind anyone, I have watched this several times, when Gretzky returned after being traded he was given a standing ovation for the entire pre-game skate. The ENTIRE skate! No, Oilers fans don't lack class, they are simply self respecting enough to know when they were let down.

Just for fun:


And besides, when this all gets looked back on, Chris Pronger will be able to say to himself that the magnitude of the anger directed his way was simply a testament to his quality. How many people would have cared if Marc-Andre Bergeron did what Pronger did after last years playoffs? I would have been happy. Nobody would have booed Bergeron. Not anymore than they would boo him now, anyway.





I have a right to boo Chris Pronger. We all do. Whether he did left for the right reasons or whether he just couldn't keep it in his pants, he abandoned my team, and in a selfish world, he is a traitor for disappointing me. He will continue to be booed no matter what. I know this. He knows this. He knew this the day he decided to submit his trade request. He made that decision himself.