The evolution of ‘blame-storming’ is scape-goating. It’s the process of picking something or some one to assign blame to in an effort to distract from the real cause of malaise. This is Winnipeg, this is what we do here and unfortunately the players on the Winnipeg Jets know this reality.
When Andrew Ladd went back to Winnipeg last spring to be with his wife for the birth of their second child a small outcry happened. When asked about it Bryan Little said, “he was not surprised”. Now with the team facing early season adversity and fan outrage Ladd explained, “that’s part of playing in a passionate market”.
It’s not my fault.
That’s not a shot at Ladd, a player who probably knows he’s barely passing in hockey right now, but more of the approach the team takes and perhaps the entire organization. Don’t listen to the fans they know nothing.
Is it that bad right now? No, but hyperbole is ramping up and that’s never a good thing because what it does is mask the real issues, the very things that need to change. Instead we’ve got f-bombs from the coach, one who sounds in tone, and cadence of speech, a lot like the last coach.
Today on the radio the talk was about if the Jets should beat the Hurricanes does it buy the team time with the fans. It might but does that matter? It’s the contradictions that are so puzzling right now. In one breath the fan base says ‘it’s only five games’ while in the next they are saying that a win tonight makes a difference. Which is it?
Today on Twitter Mitch Kasprick asked, “I wonder if the Jets were 4-1 would we be planning a Stanley Cup parade? Or at least a talking playoff matchups?” My response was pretty simple, “no but praise would be falling on Maurice and Chevy would be a genius.” Why? Because that’s what TNSE sold us since the beginning of last off-season, are you still buying?
There’s the issue- change was coming because of the coach, a developing talent pool and sublime free agent signing and re-signings of existing players. There’s been no sign of change, no sign of improvement, and no evidence it’s coming soon.
The last part is the most important because every fan and observer should know by now that Maurice was bringing change. He said he was, outlining a basic way in which he was and said that judgment on the most controversial issue within the Jets (goaltending) should not happen until after changes in place.
Yet fans, bloggers and some media discuss/argue over Thorburn’s role, defense pairings, effort, mental toughness, player usage, and more. All of these are the same things that have been noted, discussed, analyzed, over and over and over again and again since the Jets returned. Frankly, people want off the merry-go-round not because they don’t care or support the team but because they are bored. They want a direction not a circle or repetitive cycle.
So what happens to fix this? Right now it’s finding a scapegoat, something or some one to blame who should not be accountable, you know, taking the fall for others.
As I mentioned in the last column the Jets seem incredibly patient in their evaluation process of Pavelec yet were ready to sign Maurice to 4 years after three months of work. They extended Bogosian for 7 years after 2 years of play and Stuart for 4 after 3 years but can’t figure out where problems lay within this group in the same time period?
You can pick on the players, you can criticize the coach but at the end of the day there is a group that’s assembled them all and it’s high time some questions were asked and more than ‘draft and develop’ accepted as an answer. We know that’s not going to happen, not in this town and not with this ownership/management group.
Scape-goating is a rather lame process but so is witch hunting. Either way both actions are often the resulting stage of evolution after blame-storming. Don’t be fooled into thinking only the team lacks leadership or character, that deficiency goes much further within the organizational culture of the Jets. Asking for the real leaders to stand up and be accountable for the mess that is the Winnipeg Jets is over due.
I’m not sure why Ladd, as the captain, has to take the heat for something he has no hand in building. He’s just a much more accessible person and easy to pin as the scapegoat. Fans, media, and most importantly bloggers, may not always agree with Ladd’s leadership style but he doesn’t duck and cover, allowing others to take the blame, which is a lot more than the GM can say.
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