Is it just me or is it hard for any of you to get ‘INTO’ the season this year?
We hear a lot about having a superstar on a team and how it can galvanize a fan base. I’m sure it must but for some reason I don’t agree completely. There has to be more than just having Ovie or Syd to make you invest in a team. Its easy to back a winner. What makes fans stay in the hard times?
I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about not being able to recognize our team any more. That the numbers and players are all running together. Hearing a lot about how hard it is to put your soul into players who keep disappearing like mist on a mountain.
I guess for a lot of us, the investment in the individual players is just as high as in whether the team is winning or losing. We’re rooting for OUR ‘guy(s)’ to do well as much as we are rooting to win. So what happens if you have no ‘guy(s)’? Is that what is causing my own semi apathy?
Every year I seem to find a guy, someone to watch grow or to ratchet up the total experience of the game. First Z then Bryz they gave the games something extra for me, there has always been a few extra special players each season but not like that ‘favorite’ guy. We know they rarely stay until retirement but it seems like we Coyotes fans have just had too many losses too fast and it is starting to affect our excitement levels in watching the team play.
The other thing that made it easy to fall in love with these guys was the constant fan interaction. How easy it was to connect to a guy who explained his tats (his boy’s names) and showed you the pics of his kids to match (DMo) or the guy who they literally have to cut off his line and bodily take him away because he can’t stop talking to the fans (Doaner) or even the guy who couldn’t really speak English and was so shy that his blush made him look like a specialty tomato (Hanzal) but he compensated for the lack of scintilating conversation with big hugs and huge smiles in every picture.The memories cemented in the minds of the fans gives them something extra to hang onto when times are hard and hope is scarce… for a cup and for an owner. These personal things also help get fans revved up for the next season… I miss them.
I still love my DDawgs but I think I am (like many others in the family) starting to distance myself against further losses. Add this to the lackluster start and the regular ownership issues eating away at the fans and I think we are seeing the results in the stands yet again. If this shite is affecting the die hards like me… I don’t even want to think about how it affects the sane people who have lives beyond hockey.
Okay whine done… just thought I’d ask… is it just me?