I’m leaving… but I’m not going anywhere

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/10/2015 (3876 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I’m often asked how Winnipeg has changed since the Jets came back. The truth is, we’re not so different. Our image has improved, but the things that make this city and its people great, they remain a constant.

Winnipeg got a little lost in “the national conversation” during its 15 years outside of the NHL, sadly looking in. But Winnipeggers didn’t forget who they were. They just didn’t have as many opportunities to show the world their spirit of community, their warmth and their drive.

Winnipeg was labelled a second-tier city during those 15 years, and now visitors marvel at how the city has “come back.” I find that notion more than a bit hollow. The spotlight was turned off but people here didn’t stop living full and rich lives. Sure, the 40 or so nights of hockey are great. But they’re not all-defining.

Maybe there was a temporary funk after the Jets left, but by the time I arrived here in the summer of 1999 it had begun to lift.

It was August when I drove in from Thunder Bay. The Pan Am Games were in full swing and Winnipeggers were draped in those awful salmon-coloured volunteer jackets. The world had arrived for an international sporting event. Athletes were the stars, but Winnipeg triumphed. The city was vibrant. It had gusto. And a lively rhythm. I fell in love almost instantly.

A run of bad fortune and bad press had outsiders expecting to find the city had rolled up its sidewalks. The departure of the Jets, a national focus on Winnipeg’s crime rate and a tough economy had dinged up the city’s reputation.

But for new arrivals that summer, me included, Winnipeg offered surprises.

The Free Press newsroom was humming. So were the restaurants and sporting venues. To be honest, that first week, I was a little awestruck. To me, Winnipeg had it all.

In the ensuing years, the province unveiled to me its remarkable way of life. Cottage country steeped in Canadiana, a historic but ever-refreshing music scene and multiculturalism that is celebrated rather than stifled. My Winnipeg is so colourful — Jewish and African and Asian and indigenous and Irish and French-Canadian.

The Pan Am Games revealed a city that had soul, pulse and relevance. That feeling faded a bit after the athletes and international media left town, but it was my original impression of Winnipeg and it proved lasting. It was also a preview of where this city was headed.

My first job at the Free Press was on the copy desk, working nights, writing headlines and trying not to mess up stories written by reporters I’d admired from afar.

When an opening in the sports department came up, I leapt. Over the next decade and a bit, I moved in and out of the hockey, football and baseball beats. I’ve been a columnist the last few years.

It’s been an education, an endless stream of thrills, early morning flights, laughs and deadlines. I have absolutely loved it. My office walls are covered with framed stories from my time at the Free Press. A Mike Keane tribute, a John Ferguson column and a series of stories from the Olympics.

This will be my last column for this newspaper. I’ve accepted a position with TSN to write and talk about sports. A colleague once said to me, “This is the best job there is. You get to see the world and sporting events all on someone else’s dime.” For me, truer words were never spoken.

I’m excited for the next challenge, saddened to be departing the Freep, but comforted knowing I’m not leaving my home.

That’s what Winnipeg is to me: home. It’s where I met my wife and where our daughter was born. It’s where my neighbours, friends and colleagues are, and for me, it’s the only place to live.

It’s funny, we Winnipeggers like to knock ourselves. And God knows the rest of the country likes to take its shots.

But for me, Winnipeg has always been this incredible place. It has never seemed too big or too small and it’s never seemed remote.

In my 16 years here, Winnipeg has opened a new downtown ballpark, built a new rink and a new football stadium. And yes, the Jets came back, too.

The Jets, with their consistently packed houses and caffeinated fans, have become the cover of the sports book in Manitoba. The images of the NHL franchise leaving and then finally returning have been shared worldwide. The story of loss and redemption the Jets represent is the one people outside Manitoba know.

But for me, after living in this province for 16 years, other stories resonate with equal strength.

Cindy Klassen and Clara Hughes, Ace Walker and Rick Forney, Milt Stegall and Charles Roberts, Jonathan Toews and Jocelyne Larocque, Jennifer Jones and Jeff Stoughton.

We’re not just the Jets and the NHL didn’t save Winnipeg. Quite the opposite. Our hockey fans and our corporate community gave the NHL a soft landing when the Thrashers cratered in Atlanta. We took them in. They needed us as much as we needed them. We shouldn’t forget that.

Earlier this summer, watching the Bombers play a game before a less-than-capacity crowd, I was awed by the oomph of the fans. There may have been only 25,000 in the stands and the news all week had been grim. Fans were grumbling about another losing season.

But when the game started, the fans came to life, loud and on cue. Times were tough and many had talked about abandoning the Bombers — but there they were, roaring in full throat. It strikes me that this is what sports in Winnipeg is about, as much as the big lights at the MTS Centre.

The spirit and devotion isn’t just for show, to be trotted out when Hockey Night in Canada comes to town. There’s durability here. Heartache, and the ability to overcome it, is more a part of Winnipeg’s fibre than any new-found attention.

The Free Press indulged me and allowed me to write this piece, with the stipulation that it not be a list of thank yous. That list, of course, would be long and wouldn’t fit into a single column.

It can, however, be wrapped up in three simple words for a city where I found myself, in more ways than one: Thank you, Winnipeg.