Trying to understand what to make of the Winnipeg Jets is getting easier now, no really it is. With the win against a struggling and desperate Canucks on Friday and a gritty battle to win in Montreal for the first time since 1985 we might be seeing an identity forming. There’s that word again, identity.
No one has really known just what the Jets identity is to date, nor what kind of hockey former coach Claude Noel wanted his troops to play. However, under Paul Maurice, and his 8-2 record since taking over, something is starting to appear.
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, rather the size of the fight in the dog that matters….
That there is the key difference between these Jets and those under Claude Noel- they are fighting to win. It’s no longer important why this has happened, only that it continues and the Jets seems to see it that way too. Take the helmet, a slick fighter pilot one, that is now awarded after the game to a player by the players. My son’s minor atom team does that with hard hat. It’s not new, nor is it innovative but it is telling. The team, the collective of players, has now taken it upon themselves to honour and award one of their own for play. The first two recipients- Setoguchi and Stuart- two guys who came to play and shone against Vancouver and Montreal.
These kinds of moves are subtle, but telling as when it’s the players doing it there is different motivation and accountability. It’s one way of bringing everyone together and showing how each player is accountable to everyone else in that room and organization. If you have read this space you will know that ‘accountability’ has been a topic for some time.
Going forward fans and media alike have benchmark to look at now as to how this team plays and challenges in each game. Doing it for a job is one thing but doing it for each other’s jobs is another thing and it’s too bad a guy had to lose his job to get to this point.
Super Bowl.
I won’t bore you with a recap but I had more than a few people on Twitter complain about the volume of Seahawks content in my time line. Late last night I tweeted that I would explain why so here goes.
Growing up in Vancouver I became a Seahawks fan with Jim Zorn and Dave Kreig as the quarterbacks. Curt Warner was the dynamic running back with Steve Largent as WR and Kenny Easley the star safety. They were my team and no, it’s not about how long I suffered without a championship for the team.
I was lucky to have access to tickets as many people in Vancouver had season tickets and would make the .5-hour drive for Sunday games. Before I was old enough to drive I had to get to Seattle and that would be with my uncle Ken. He lived with my aunt in Blaine, Washington, just across the border. My mum would drive me down and visit with her sister while my uncle and I would go to the game.
That’s all well and good right- why is that so important? My dad was basically out of my life by age 11. Gone to a haze of liquor and bad decisions ultimately landing him in a lot of trouble but before he could pay his debts to society he was hospitalized with a rare condition due to alcoholism that destroyed his short term memory. How bad you may wonder. You could walk into a room and talk to him, leave to pee, come back and he would not know who you were. When I finally reconnected with him 18 years later that experience was almost too hard to grasp.
However it was my aunt and uncle who really filled the void in my life left by my father’s departure and illness. My mum was a single mother trying to navigate her way through an unfortunate and confusing point in life. They took me to their home, a great hobby farm on a few acres, which is now a winery: shameless plug here Dakota Creek Winery in Whatcom County. I was lucky enough to learn some of the basic things in life that kids should experience but rarely do, driving a tractor and riding lawnmower. The latter resulted with a hilarious event when I drove and could not stop and didn’t duck while going under a fence. I flipped it up, fell backwards as my neck and head hit the wire fence and landed in a cow pie.
They let me have near free run to help and do anything there with projects and stuff around the property: Cutting trees, building things for all the hobby farm animals and learning about cars, engines, carpentry and more. I helped him castrate a steer with a kitchen knife, and ‘harvets’ chickens, turkeys and ducks among other animals. My uncle started a mail order computer business in his spare bedroom- The Micro Place- this was way before the Internet. They gave me my first computer his old Vic 20 and then later an Apple IIIc clone which served me through university. We went to ‘pirate parties’ where everyone would show up with their computers and copy games and programs on mass. Bit Torrenting- hah! One summer they took me on a trip to Montana, which still is the best fishing I’ve ever seen.
All the while in the fall we managed to go see a few Seahawks games every season and never, ever missed the Broncos. This continued through university for me too as I would come over from UVic just to see a game with him. They were always a part of my life, even when I wasn’t close to them geographically or just being a distant and confused young adult, you know ‘those years’ they were always there.
When I had kids they treated them just like they did when I was young, and as my oldest son started to have interests away from the normal young kid things my uncle Ken was right there to feed the curiousity. On one visit he gave him his leatherman tool and showed him how all the devices worked. My aunt taught my youngest how to make pizza dough and then cook pizzas on the barbeque too. Hero worship was on in full effect and they played it up every time we saw them to some different degree. My kids were their kids.
This past summer when my family was visiting them before we drove back to Winnipeg, my uncle, oldest son and I sat down and went through the Seahawks schedule. Ken and my son looked at the games and figured out what were likely wins and losses and discussed how the season might end with a 13-3 record. Prophets they were!
Last night after the Seahawks clinched victory and the celebrations had begun I called my uncle and we had a great chat about the season, Super Bowl game and some of memories of going to those games years ago. It wasn’t until after we had hung up that I realized how significant that call really was. It was me coming full circle to understand how important he and my aunt were in my life.
I was not a troubled kid or anything but without their influence and efforts in my life things really could have gone sideways. They gave me grounding, some structure and some experiences that kids need, ones I may not have ever had without them. That’s not to say my mum wasn’t amazing but it’s that ‘father’ thing kids need a bit of each parent. That was my uncle, just being there.
So last night when I called, and I didn’t know what his plans were, there he was answering the phone when I called, just being there as he and they always had been when I needed them. The Seahawks and the Super Bowl win was something that we shared but it only really is a small part of what our relationship was. The fact that it happened this year, as my son took an interest in the team and then got to share it with my uncle in the same way I did only reinforces his and my aunt’s value and meaning to me, it’s high time I accepted and expressed it.
We’ve got some plans, my son and I are going to come out for a game, be 12’s and scream our faces off one weekend. Hopefully my son can learn a bit more about his uncle and be as amazed by him as I was.
Here’s a thought for you, take a good look around at who you know and care about and take a moment to consider their importance in your life. Some times you have pause, see things for what they really are so you can appreciate them. I know I was long overdue but the Super Bowl sure helped remind me of something important.