Watch your back, Jets

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/09/2011 (5194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Distractions along with other ills such as over-confidence can lead to misery for professional athletes. Just ask the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Fans are only too happy to pump players’ tires and then slash those same wheels when things begin to go a little sour.

Take note, Winnipeg Jets. You’re the toast of the town today and folks will be only too happy to pour on a little adulation, but it comes at a cost.

Winnipeggers want to meet and greet and cheer you on. But they also have demands and expectations that will have to be met.

I’m sorry to say, but it’s true, the good people of Winnipeg can turn on a team like a cat on a dog. One minute it’s all purr, purr, meow and the next it’s fangs bared and claws a-scratching.

Two weeks ago the Bombers could do no wrong. Now? My inbox is full of vitriol and angst. Two losses and the Bombers all of a sudden are being asked to pick up the cheque. Easy come, easy go and the ride down is way faster than the ride up. Painful but true.

Having gone 15 years without a loss, or even a game for that matter, gives the Jets plenty of rope right now but it too will run out. Sooner or later the fans will wake up and determine they want their pound of flesh.

Winnipeg may be all roses right now but this is a sports town like any other and the time will come when it will be win and win immediately.

Today, the players are wrapped up in seeking new homes and figuring their way around town and determining the best places for pizza and sushi. Hockey takes up a couple of hours of the day and then it’s on to the business of building a life.

The distractions are a lark as players walk into clothing stores and find themselves mobbed and begged for autographs and pictures. After years of anonymity in Atlanta, all this attention must be fun.

But it’s just about time to put away the Sharpies and pull out the Sher-Woods. The focus must move from hype to backchecking and slapshots. Hockey and not hoopla needs to carry the day.

But that’s easier said than done.

The Jets have yet to shoot a puck or make a save and already they’re the hottest item in the city.

Pick up a paper or turn on the radio and there are the Jets, front and centre. They’re the big dog in town and there’s no doubt about it.

But the games are about to start and from the minute they do the fans’ biological clocks will be ticking. They want to be the proud parents of a winning hockey team and they want it fast.

Excuses will get old in a hurry and results, as in all of pro sports, will be the only barometer for success. All the feel-good stories in the world won’t change the number of wins and losses or the team’s position in the standings.

No one expects a Stanley Cup just yet, but more wins at home than losses would be a good start and a push for a playoff spot would be better.

Time for players to squeeze into skates and fans into seats. Time for players to play and fans to cheer.

So enjoy the press clippings, fellas. It’s all good now.

But the summer of love is just about through.

The next season? That’s up to you.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca