No Regrets

Ten years.

It’s been ten years and every year at this time there’s been hype, excitement, enthusiasm.

Every year we’ve buried our frustrations and bad memories from the previous season and embraced the Oilers as our team.

For ten years the team’s results have undermined the foundation of that loyalty, which we fans shored up each off-season.

This year the Oilers have made changes to the blue line, added some complementary roster players, graduated some players to the NHL and added a high-end player to their prospect pool. The defense is left wanting and there are a few roster holes remaining amongst the lineup.

So how are we to engage with this team in a season which, at least on the surface, appears to have repeated the same actions as so many years’ previous?

Listen, I have a rather dry and sarcastic sense of humour. I can, and have, been somewhat sardonic and morbid about the Oilers’ chances this off-season but I do believe in my heart of hearts that they have gotten better.

I’m not talking about the trade. I’m talking about the players here right now.

This team is better today than it was at the end of last season, regardless of injuries.

This summer fellow Rig writer Jon McLeod wrote a piece about undoing your history and wrecking your present – that for better or worse, you need to understand that where you stand today, all the good and the bad, is the product of all the decisions you’ve made, good and bad, over your life.

So, am I excited about this season? Yes.

Even in the face of ten years of utter futility and another season where the chances of any post-season remain slim? Yes.

Why on earth would I do this to myself?

Because, in spite of it all, the bad trades, the stupid narratives and boneheaded press conferences, the mis-handled rookies, the arrogance of senior management, the losses and the heartbreak – in spite of it all, this is my team.

I’m not telling anyone they are less of a fan if they remain skeptical or openly critical. And I’m certainly not saying that this team gets a pass on everything it does because I exist in some bubble of naivete cheering them on as we careen on obliviously into catastrophe – they don’t and I’m not.

No, what I’m saying is I cheer for this team because this is a sport I love and the team that holds my affection, for better or worse.

There’s a scene in the old television series M*A*S*H where Klinger is faced with a daunting dilemma, to go home at the end of the war or stay in Korea to help the woman he loves look for her missing parents.

He asks Colonel Potter for advice on what to do. Potter tells him, when you love someone you’ve got nothing but trouble. And the only thing to do is to either stop loving them, or love them a whole lot more.

Klinger asks, doesn’t loving them more just mean more trouble? Yep, says Potter. So you have to stop loving them or love them even more, finishes Klinger, sounds rough. It’s murder, replies Potter.

I can choose to stop caring about the Oilers entirely, or I can accept that this team is just going to be heartache some days (frankly all teams are, even when they win) and enjoy them, warts and all.

Put it another way, I’ve followed this team for most of my life. There is nothing they could do and no one they could trade that would surprise me anymore.

Being a fan of this team hasn’t been easy since 1988, so why stop now.

Like the song says:

“After all the shit you know we’ve been through it
There ain’t a shovel big enough in the world
That can move it
We got no regrets
Might have seen better times
But maybe we ain’t been there yet
Remember who you are and don’t you forget
Have no regrets”

So that’s it, Oilers. Here we are in 2016-2017, looking at a decent chance at running that playoff drought to 11 years. Probably moving out more players I’ve cheered for and loved over the years. And I’m sure there will be nights of frustration after the losses pile up.

But I’m in.

Really, what choice do I have?