megfowler.com

UPDATE: And justice is done. For the record? It’s embarrassing it took this long. But it’s the right thing.

***

It’s no secret that I’m a Trevor Linden fan, just as it’s no secret that my roommate plans to marry him, against all odds.

He’s a natural leader, a mental and emotional anchor for a young team, and a hardworking player who — while he may not generate marquee stats in every game, or any game — shows strength, determination and wisdom on the ice. That’s a rare set of qualities in today’s NHL. He’s old-school, he’s clutch, he’s Captain Vancouver… he’s our Trev.

But that doesn’t seem to be enough for our management right now.

Sure, we all like flashy players who rack up huge point totals, partly because they’re fun to watch, and partly because we need those points to win games. The Canucks haven’t had that kind of star power in a long time, what with the painful demise of Naslund’s enthusiasm, and the relative humility of Luongo and the Sedin twins.

Not that they don’t bring the plays that keep us afloat, but they certainly don’t showboat after every goal — or go from the locker room to the pages of tabloid rags — like 90’s sensation Pavel Bure.

That kind of bandwagon-candy glitz is why many people still say that the Canucks were at their best when Bure was lighting up the ice, but I think the best is truly yet to come with our team.

We’re in a huge development phase: our roster features a group of young players who are still discovering their areas of strength, some (fairly) skilled veterans who could use a serious boost in intensity, and a goalie who is breathtaking on his best days… and still pretty damn reliable on his worst!

If we can harness all that post-teenage energy, light a fire under the older guys, and add a strong dose of discipline and skills development to the mix, I think we’re in a position to make big things happen.

I’ve got faith, at least.

What I don’t have faith in is our Captain.

Markus Naslund was a tremendous disappointment during our playoff run this year, and a relative non-starter in many games this season.

There’s really no other way to say it; the totals weren’t there (at least according to his previous standard), and his leadership was so passive as to seem absent at times. There’s no question that he CAN be a HUGE asset to the Canucks, but we haven’t seen him achieve consistently at that level in a while. I think he could use a wake-up call.

Regardless, I’ve long been a believer in the notion that hockey captains don’t need to be the strongest scorers or the most glamourous performers on their teams.

What they do need is a powerful voice in the locker room and on the bench, a sense of honour and gravity in their play, and the ability to take a diverse group of egos and personalities and skill levels and motivate them in the same direction. If Naslund had those strengths, I’d be more willing to excuse the weak performance in other areas. But it’s simply not there to the extent the we need it now.

So who has it?

Trevor Linden. As yet unsigned.

Our management will continue to add players to fill skill holes in the team, and even inject a bit of flash and drama into the roster to keep the media buzzing. I wouldn’t expect any less; hockey is a business as well as a game, after all, with two bottom lines: stats and ticket sales.

But if they continue to treat one of the best leaders on our team like an old horse who may or may not get another lap around the track, they’re doing a huge disservice to the morale of the organization… not to mention turning a blind eye to the wishes of the fans who pay their salaries every year.

We need someone who can reign in all the inconsistencies we’ve seen on the ice for a couple of years now, and turn our rag-tag group of possibilities into a unified, passionate outfit. I don’t think I’m overestimating Linden’s character when I say that he’s the man for the job.

And I don’t think I’m overestimating the idiocy of the way he’s been dealt with when I call it a slap in the face.

We need to stop angling for the next big thing or the next quick fix, and put some dollars and time into building the mental stability of our team. That’s where we fall apart. We lack the mettle that counts when we’re behind in the third period, or facing a Game Seven. We lack the stuff that makes good players great, and the legacy-building spirit that turns teams into dynasties.

Isn’t that what we want for our Canucks?

So hurry up and sign one of Vancouver’s finest, and — even if you don’t slap a C on that new jersey, because I doubt he’d take it from Nazzy anyway — give him a chance to be our hero for another season.

We have a crucial opportunity to build on our successes and address our major flaws in a meaningful way this year, but it’s going to take someone who gets the bigger picture to take us to that next level.

And take us all the way to the Cup.

We love you, Trev, no matter what happens.

Wow! I had no idea there was so much stuff you wished I’d write more about!

So, since I’m lying in bed with coffee and my laptop and not getting anything ELSE done, why not babble a little now?

For Mary:

Hockey is definitely in my blood… it was inevitable that I would become a fan.

My grandfather played in the farm system of what would become today’s NHL, and my dad played in rec leagues throughout my childhood.

I was on skates pretty early on, too, and spent some time growing up in Edmonton during their “hockey dynasty” years, which accounts for the fact that I like the Canucks, not the Oilers, and Mark Messier is a mythically evil figure in my life.

It was always going on around me, really. Hockey was something to love.

But I didn’t TRULY come into my own fanship until my late teens-early twenties, when I began to fall in love with hockey players wholesale and spend all my Saturday nights watching my friends play at tiny community arenas.

Then I started to absorb stats and highlight reels with vigour… and it was all downhill from there.

Today, I am a die-hard, non-bandwagon, devoted no-matter-what Canucks fan, and will be that way until they put me in the cold, hard ground. Or the cold, hard ice, on a particularly vicious check.

For Liz:

Sports thuggery is a major pet peeve of mine, actually. As a hockey fan, I’m pretty used to guys mixing it up on the ice, but the inability to keep cool OFF the ice is really not cool. Fortunately (and I say that wryly), hockey players tend to be more of the “bar fight” variety of idiot, and not so much the “cap in your ass” types.

Many of them actually come from small towns on the prairies and Quebec where their mothers would have tossed them in the well if they’d shown up late for chores or even talked back. Lots of family influence, lots of religious influence, lots of strong role models.

Then again, hockey parents can be HORRIBLE. So it’s six of one and half a dozen of the other.

I do watch the NFL (never been a huge basketball girl), and I’m pretty disappointed by how some of the players conduct themselves.

The sad thing is that a sudden influx of money into the lives of many professional athletes creates power and conflict situations that they just aren’t prepared to deal with, and things unravel accordingly.

Background plays some role, cultural forces play some role, external relationships play some role, and team dynamics DEFINITELY play some role, but at the end of the day, there’s no excuse for abusing your privilege. I don’t care where you come from.

I believe in criminal charges, harsh suspensions, major fines, and league sanctions for athletes that take liberties on AND off the field. Period.

For Shane:

Onions make you cry because they’re nasty little bitches.

Sure, HowStuffWorks.com says this:

“When you slice through an onion, you break open a number of onion cells. Some of these cells have enzymes inside of them, and when they are sliced open, the enzymes escape. The enzymes then decompose some of the other substances that have escaped from sliced cells. Some of these substances, amino acid sulfoxides, form sulfenic acids, which then quickly rearrange themselves into a volatile gas.”

But I believe that there is just a natural human-onion conflict — like that which exists between men and women — that creates this phenomenon. And sadly, unlike the gender crisis, we don’t have sex to make it all better. So we cry.

And don’t even think about having sex with an onion. You think it hurts your eyes? Wait until they get at your bits.

For Barbie:

Yes, I do often wonder about peoples’ blog names. Sometimes, they explain the little “nicks” in their “About Me” page, and sometimes I actually just email them about it out of boundless curiosity.

Usually, however, according to the content of the blog, you can kind of figure out why they chose the name they chose. But, again… if I wonder, I ask.

I will admit that really weird, lengthy, oddball blog monikers make me roll my eyes a little, mostly because you’re not really helping anyone remember you if you make it too complicated. But that might not be what you want, anyway.

(Oh — and any blog that uses “69″ in the URL or nick is dead to me. Ha!)

Many people use their blogs as an anonymous place to vent or express things they need a special outlet for, and that’s totally cool. I love that the Web has given them that opportunity to seek out community.

I do that, too, but I don’t write about work, or express frustration that I don’t express to the source of the frustration first. That keeps me out of hot water… generally.

When people email me about starting blogs, I usually advocate for starting under their own names if they are looking to build a writing career… otherwise, it just doesn’t matter. Many people feel safer in general with a pseudonym, too, especially if they have kids.

More to come!

ROUND ONE! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Game Seven!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

We’ve got to score — and that means the Twins need to kick it up a notch, and Naslund needs to play like a C, not a D.

I’m practically VIBRATING, I’m so excited.

(And Dad, if you leave a naysayer comment here, it won’t make it through.)

GO CANUCKS!!

1. In need of a dentist.
2. A VANCOUVER CANUCKS FAN.
3. Sharp-tempered.
4. An insomniac.
5. Shy.
6. A spontaneous dancer.
7. One to fall hard.
8. An asker of questions.
9. Overconnected to my laptop.
10. Confused about what to do next.
11. Prone to overthinking.
12. The weirdest combination of confrontational and avoiding.
13. Fiercely proud of my family and friends.
14. Obsessive about laundry.
15. Ironic.
16. One who sings along.
17. Easily distracted during Scrabble.
18. Good in a crisis.
19. Uninterested in drama.
20. Ready.

1. It only takes seven dates to figure out whether or not it works.

2. Everyone is pretty up front about scoring being the objective.

3. If he denies saying something stupid, you always have video replay.

4. No heels required.

5. If you get confused, you can turn to your coach for advice, instead of Cosmo.

6. Men wear actually wear uniforms to indicate which team they’re playing on…

7. Hand passes are permitted in the defensive zone.

Meg: call the score

Dad: 4 - 0 Dallas

Meg: such a jerk!

Dad: Well you asked.

Meg: not for THAT!

Dad: you can’t handle the truth

Meg: you don’t KNOW the truth

Dad: I know all things

Meg: Okay, then who am I going to marry?

Dad: you can’t handle the truth hehe