I’m a pretty laid back casual bum when it comes to most things. A lot of meatballs out there I find are far to serious routing for there favorite club, obviously I pay a lot of attention to the Oilers and the Eagles because they are my two favorite sports teams. I cheer for the Edmonton Oilers because I grew up living in Northern Alberta and have had a lot of influence from my family..living in Edmonton these past 6 years have only magnified the obsession. Obviously as a young pup you tend to follow other peoples leads and tend to cheer for whoever is winning most nights but I, like most, grew out of that and have followed the Oilers and Eagles for as long as I have followed the sport, which is something I can proudly say is far greater then the average sports fan.

Picking a team is often trivial. As a youngen I bounced back and forth between teams, I often found myself cheering for the Blackhawks in the late great days of Eddie Belfour but as I slowly grew up my focus shifted more and more to the Oilers thanks to being able to attend games and watch them on TV. The Gretzky days were arguably the highlight of any historic Oilers fan but I was to young to really care or remember. The 1990-91 cup run however would etch my name as a true blue Oiler fan once and for all. I’ll never be able to forget seeing Billy Ranford’s wild pad stacks lead his team back against the Winnipeg Jets and carry his club to there 5th Stanley Cup with the likes of Messier and Lowe. That team defied all odds which is something I just couldn’t hate.

I know what you’re thinking, anyone can cheer for a winner. The sad reality is too many people ONLY cheer for winners. I guess I never really understood the philosophy of cheering for another team other then the Oil, the only other team I would consider in my opinion is those homosexuals from the south the Calgary Flames and of course we all know that wont happen.

The 90′s were terrible for Edmonton…medicore seasons along with the near sale and relocation of the franchise. Times were tough and it was even tougher being a fan. Yet here I stand knowing full well I wouldnt be able to cheer for anyone else. Obsessive? Maybe. But isnt that what being a fan is all about?

Still I go to games every night only to see the most random of all teams having more and more fans because the Oilers aren’t sporting the best record in the N.H.L. Case in point the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight. Sidney Crosby is the leagues best player and arguably the most popular but would all these people in Edmonton be cheering for the Penguins if he wasn’t on the team or if the Penguins were still the laughing stock of the N.H.L? I have a hard time believing they would. I like Crosby as a hockey player but the Penguins are douche bags and I have a hard time understanding why anyone would want to a cheer for a team you never get to see…oh wait thats right they’re winning now with the leagues best player, it makes it easy.

Then again maybe its all those people falling off the bandwagon from our 06 playoff run and hitching a ride on someone else…to that I can say

Good Riddance.

Walks