2014. A year that will live on in infamy in Oilers history. The year the organization finally realized it’s errors and parted ways with Dallas Eakins, and Oilers fans had finally had enough. The team was tanking hard and out of the playoffs by November, and a small group of fans decided to take matters into their own hands and started the “Lowe Must Go” movement on Facebook.
I find it to be a fascinating movement as it’s an interesting example of how social media has impacted society on every level, right down to sports. In the past, it was mostly reporters who had their say on the team, and if they happened to be in management’s back pocket, well… There wasn’t much the fans could do about it except grumble to each other around the water cooler. The advent of social media has completely changed the dynamic between professional sports teams and their fans, and Edmonton has a very storied history in this regard.
I always admired the tenacity and determination of the Lowe Must Go movement, and I think it’s a compelling footnote in Oilers history. That’s why I recently reached out to the movement’s founder, Pete Bauer, for an interview. He graciously accepted and took the time to answer some questions for The Oilers Rig.
The Interview:
Kjell: Hi Pete. Thank’s for taking the time to do this. You and I have been acquainted via social media for some time now. I’ve known you were the person behind the “Lowe must go” campaign for ages but I’m a strong believer in online privacy (for obvious reasons). Why do you now feel comfortable coming forward with your name, where perhaps at the height of your campaign you chose to remain anonymous?
Pete: I’ve never been adamantly opposed to people knowing who I was in relation the Lowe must go thing, I just never felt like my identity was important in the grand scheme of things. It wasn’t about me and making myself publicly known would’ve gave people something to go after negatively. If anyone ever wanted to ask me I usually told them the truth though. Not many did so I don’t think anyone really cared about my identity, honestly.
Kjell: Tell us a bit about yourself and your history as an Oilers fan.
Pete: Born and raised in Sherwood park, 32, 6’3, blue eyes, super ripped. Oh this isn’t that kind of interview? Haha.
But seriously, I’ve been an Oilers fan since I was old enough to watch a television. I think I’ve not watched about 10 Oiler games since they started broadcasting the entire season. And the games I’ve missed I usually listened to on the radio. I might have a problem, depends who you ask I guess.
Kjell: Other than the obvious, what drove you to start the “Lowe Must Go” movement, and did you think it would take off like it did?
Pete: I had had many discussions over the previous couple of years with fellow Oiler fans about the situation with the team and they all seemed to keep coming back to the same point, Kevin Lowe had been the man in Edmonton for far too long, with such a terrible record to show for it. The organization had to show that it wasn’t bush league, it needed accountability.
I honestly woke up on January 4th pissed off and mildly hungover after the Oilers lost to the ducks the night before (it was a Monday don’t judge me) and I thought “screw it, I’m gonna start a Facebook page” thinking I’d get something like 100 likes. Which was actually the initial goal. I said that if the page got 100 likes I’d start making bumper stickers that would be sold to fund the billboard. So ya, I didn’t expect it to get nearly as big as it did. I was super wrong.
Kjell: What were some of the legal hurdles you had to consider when you originally launched this movement?
Pete: I actually had a couple of people with legal backgrounds that I was consulting with before we’d do anything major. I wanted to avoid placing myself in a position where anyone could claim I was slandering them, for legal and moral reasons. I love hockey but I try not to be an ass as much as possible.
We actually did have one of our crew detained and banned from rexall when we went there to hand out bumper stickers after the Penguins game on January 10th. He was pretty scared about not being able to go back for the year because he worked for a company that had a box, so he actually hosted clients a couple of times a year. He went and they never did catch on so we had a good laugh over it.
Kjell: Did you ever receive any sort of backlash from the organization in the form of legal threats or anything similar?
Pete: No, nothing like that. We were basically banned from setting up any fundraising stuff at a bar that sold Molson products because of their affiliation with the Oilers though. It’s amazing how much pull the organization has in Edmonton. I took to calling them the Edmonton mafia after a while.
Kjell: You managed to raise the funds for not only 2 billboard ads that advertised your facebook page, but also a full page ad in the Edmonton Journal. How did you manage to raise the funds to do so?
Pete: The 2 billboards were direct sales from bumper stickers and then eventually t-shirts mostly, but some people did send in money for the second one. The first one we crushed our goal and ended up donating over $500 to charity afterwards. We helped send a local underprivileged kid to Vancouver to attend a soccer camp. That was one of the coolest things I’ve ever been apart of.
We tried doing bumper sticker sales for the newspaper ad but the deadline was too tight, so we had to cover most of it through gofundme. People came through huge. And we may or may not have gotten a discount on the ad because of our cause. We will never know though, life is so mysterious.
Kjell: You were under a certain degree of criticism from some who doubted your authenticity and questioned whether the money you were raising would be spent appropriately. How did you mitigate those concerns and provide your critics with proof of your integrity?
Pete: There were detractors, as you get in anything where public opinion is involved, but I just provided receipts and invoices for everything we bought and that seemed to ease people’s anxiety. We weren’t dealing with large sums of money so it’s not like I was going to retire in Mexico off of it haha. I think i got a discount t-shirt out of it in the end lol.
Kjell: How do you feel social media has changed the dynamics between fans and management? Do teams hear the fans more than they did during the era of print media, and do they even care?
Pete: They definitely hear them more with social media, whether they admit it or not. We certainly were on the Oilers radar. Some people take offence to fans voicing their opinion on a sports team because it’s “their business. They can do what they want”, but I believe that once you put the name of a place in front of a sports franchise, or any business, you have a certain moral obligation to represent that city and its citizens in a positive overall manner. And when you aren’t doing that you should expect to hear about it.
Kjell: The “Lowe Must Go” movement was a fairly tumultuous time for both Oilers fans and the club. I distinctly recall the official message board censoring people (in some cases with an outright ban) who referenced your movement. Did you experience any of that personally, or hear from those who did?
Pete: I actually wasn’t involved in the Oilers social media world much before this thing started so I never experienced any of those things myself, but I did hear stories of it from people that would message the Lowe must go page or comment on our posts. I understand that the Oilers want to protect their brand but once u start censoring people’s opinions, minus the swearing and vulgar stuff, you almost start fanning the flames of discord because those stories get around and you look doubly bad in the public eye.
Kjell: What are your thoughts on the fact that Kevin Lowe still remains with the Oilers organization?
Pete: I honestly am surprised he’s as far removed as he is. I never expected him, or wanted him, actually fired. I know that might be hard to believe but I don’t have a problem with Kevin Lowe other than his tendency to be a little arrogant and conceited. He was doing his job to the best of his abilities. The people above him were the ones that needed to start making tough decisions.
Aside from Kevin Lowe stepping down, which I don’t think Katz would’ve let him do, I don’t see what Lowe could have done differently. I knew from the start that there was no way Daryl Katz could turf Lowe. That would be admitting that his tenure was a mistake, and it really wasn’t. It wasn’t as successful as it could have been, and should’ve been recognized and fixed earlier, but I don’t think a lot of people saw Lowe being hired as POHO as a mistake at the time.
Kjell: What are some of the issues you had with Kevin Lowe’s tenure as both GM and President of Hockey Operations?
Pete: Kevin Lowe seems to be a guy that takes those management positions way too personally IMO. He clearly could not fully delegate the running of the team to the gm when he was president and couldn’t let the coach run his bench when he was gm.
Now I don’t know if this was a Daryl Katz issue or a Kevin Lowe issue, but I got the sense that there was a real sense of pride in all of the high end draft picks, and a reluctance to properly evaluate and criticize their play from up top. That is (I think) what led to the entitlement issues that have plagued this team since 2010. The kids were put on pedestals when they walked in the door and had no one to answer to. I’d hate to be the coaches that had to try and turn the team around during that era.
Kjell: Kevin Lowe was one of my favorite players when I was a kid, and it was tough for me to see his fall from grace. I was personally very critical of his time in upper management, but I always respected him as a player. Did you get to see him play at all?
Pete: Yep I saw him a bunch back then. Great defenseman. I have zero issue with Kevin Lowe the hockey player. He was a good enough coach, a sub par upper management guy but those things don’t overlap with his playing career to me.
Kjell: What is your opinion on Daryl Katz? Do you feel he’s shifted his directive or are the “Old Boys” still driving the bus?
Pete: No question, unless you are of the belief that peter chiarelli moved his family to freezing cold Edmonton to be a figurehead in a Kevin Lowe and Darryl Katz run scheme.
I believe wholeheartedly that Taylor hall, Justin Schultz and Nail Yakupov would still be with the Oilers if this were still a team run on cronyism. Those picks were supposed to be part of the old boys management legacy. This is peter chiarelli’s team and Todd McLellan’s dressing room.
Kjell: What are your thoughts on the hiring of Bob Nicholson and the subsequent “forensic audit”? Do you feel the process was legitimate given the fact that Lowe and Mactavish are still involved at high levels of the organization?
Pete: Yes I do. I think the length of time it took gives people apprehension but I believe bob Nicholson took his time and formulated a plan to fix deficiencies as he found them, not just identify problems and kick the can down the road. Mact and Lowe are worth having around, they know the game and they’re under contract, so why not?
Kjell: How do you feel in general about Peter Chiarelli’s first year as GM and President of Hockey Operations?
Pete: Chia’s first year was truly all about evaluation IMO. Darryl Katz wasn’t going to let him walk in and blow up his baby without Peter taking the time to accumulate evidence and formulate a plan. I’ve noticed a big difference in the way he’s gone about organizing the team between last season and summer and this most recent summer and into this season. Chiarelli is making this his team and he’s clearly received the ok to do it. If the team slides I wouldn’t put it past him to shake things up even further.
Kjell: Do you think that Kevin Lowe still has any input on hockey decisions?
Pete: I bet he has input as in opinions but I don’t think he makes the decisions. That being said, it would be a waste not to listen to him.
Kjell: I have to ask. Thoughts on the Hall trade?
Pete: Needed to happen. I hated it but I feel it was necessary. I accept that it was the best he could get (the return) because why in the name of God wouldn’t he make the best trade available? Unless someone’s holding him hostage he’s going to make the best deal he can get to bolster what was basically the worst defence I’d ever seen.
Kjell: The Oilers have stormed out of the gate. As a fellow fan, do you feel they’re a playoff team this season?
Pete: My gut says no but my heart says yes. If they can get their chemistry aligned and stay healthy I’d say they’re in for sure, but the mental game is an issue with these guys and until they fully commit to giving everything every night they’re gonna have problems. I think we’ll have a much clearer view of the where this team is at by the end of this road trip.
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We’d like to thank Pete for taking the time to do this interview. You can find his new group (the oil refinery fan forum) at the same location as his old group here: https://www.facebook.com/Lowemustgo/?fref=ts
You can also find him on twitter here:
https://twitter.com/lowemustgo
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