Shane Doan recently signed a one year contract to extend his hockey career.
To most Coyotes fans, this was welcome news because Doan is somewhat of a folk hero in Arizona because he chose to spend his entire career with the franchise that drafted him.
Fans not only respect the way Doan plays the game, but they respect his loyalty to the team and city, and the fact that he didn't bolt to a contender the first chance he got.
He's not the greatest player to ever lace em up, and he's unlikely to make the Hall of Fame. Doesn't matter though- because in Phoenix, he's synonymous with hockey.
I have written before that the Coyotes should move on; that sentimentality is no way to run a hockey team. However, I was probably wrong to say that. I think I may have underestimated just what Doan means to the team in a town where very little about hockey means anything to anyone.
I don't think Doan gets enough credit for his loyalty. Now, maybe I'm naive and should be more cynical - but I think it's worth something in the world of professional sports when the player transcends management, agents, lawyers and the league to make a real connection with the fans.
I don't know what, exactly, it is worth, but it's just nice. Greed abounds and Doan has taken less money and less fame to play where his heart is. It's a cool story, especially when the team he chose to be loyal to may be, from an outside perspective, the strangest of choices.
What I like about Doan especially is that the connection is between him and the fans - whatever off-ice crap has gone on (and there has been a ton of it) Doan has been a constant, dressing in nearly every game the franchise has played in Arizona. This is just my perspective, but it seems that Doan is loyal to the fans, more so than to the team, owners or organization.
Recently, I was thinking about Doan's situation in light of his new contract and comments from an ex-morning zoo radio DJ in Toronto, who now, for reasons explicable only to Kid Rock and WWF fans, hosts a morning show on the all sports-talk Fan 590.
They’ve got a guy who loves sucking. He looks forward to it — every season. He has no clue. He has no desire to win. I have never in my life seen anything like it.
- Dean Blundell
I don't care if some radio guy thinks Doan is a loser - there's too many people with too many opinions to care about any of them. But his comments are interesting for what they say about our culture.
A mercenary who will leave his teamates, coaches, fans and the people who looked after him and helped guide him to being a sought-after free-agent is not criticized at all when he bolts for more money. The team that lost him's fans tend to be upset, but generally, everyone just understands that professional sports are predicated on a sick amount of greed in the first place and goes about their business.
No one even talks about how you win, just that you do.
For instance, Ray Bourque spent his whole career with Boston and jumped ship to a stacked team in order to win a late career Championship. Way to go Ray, you're finally a winner!
But, isn't that win pretty cheap? It probably means something to Bourque, but, if he's honest, I would bet it doesn't mean close to as much as it would have to win it in Boston on his team, where he was a major part, not just a passenger.
Face it: Bourque might as well not even have won a cup at all. He basically won it on a technicality.
If you were a fan of sports and you switched allegiances to whoever was winning, you'd be mocked for being a bandwagon jumper. For whatever reason, that doesn't apply to the actual guys playing the game.
Doan doesn't want a cheap victory where he's a bit player on a team that would have won the Cup anyways. He wants to win it on his terms, with his team.
And yeah, he likely won't. His age means that his last years of playing and the competitive window of the team he plays for are unlikely to coincide.
But I think it's pretty low to criticize him for not chasing empty victories just so he can say he had one. I think his loyalty to the people who have made a millionaire out of an uneducated guy with no teeth is commendable.
And the fact that he'd be criticized for not being greedy, for not being a mercenary and for not chasing empty championships is indicative of a society who values style over substance and perception over fact.
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