Have been a hockey junky for six decades and a Flames fan since the first season. I've lived and died with this team and bled the colors, even while moving to other markets with better and more successful teams to support. But you can take the boy out of Calgary but you can't take Calgary out of the boy, so I have always stayed true to my team. Unfortunately my love affair with this club has become abusive and toxic through a never-ending cycle of bad personnel hires and decisions which has taken the joy out of supporting the team.
For me, I've kind of become ambivalent to the team. I used to watch every game start-to-finish regardless of outcome, just couldn't turn it off. Even during years of mismanagement. To go from insane hockey junky to not really caring is a tough turn, but a long one coming. I could document the watershed moments (Fleury and the disintegration of a championship team, mishandling Iginla, and the Treliving era) but this would turn into a book.
Suffice to say the low point was this past season. Treliving assembled a decent team on paper, but was saddle with an obstinate antagonist who was supposed to be a partner in achieving success. The guy who was supposed to provide the guidance and leadership to the players and figure ways to use their strengths became uncooperative and adversarial in his approach. He turned every possible positive the team had working in its favor throughout the year into yet another distraction and means to either tear players down or force them into the place he felt they should be in. The team took on this personality and turned into one of the least likeable teams in the organization's history. At that point ambivalence began to evolve more into antipathy. This is also what I have felt brewing in the GTs and PGTs throughout the year.
Fan antipathy is the thing the Flames must protect against. Fan antipathy is what kills franchises and makes it impossible for them to be successful. The Flames are headed well down the path toward a high degree of antipathy toward the club and this past season was the tipping point IMO. There is just so much wrong with this team. From the management to the coaching team, to the owner, to the arena debacle, it is obvious to see how ambivalence can turn to antipathy. It is bad when the local market loses interest, but it is a death knell when the local community works against you and what you are trying to do. The Flames have reached the point of antipathy IMO, largely on the shoulders of Edwards and the arena. Their next moves are crucial as they have to restoke the fires of enthusiasm to counter the conditions they themselves have created, otherwise they may have really screwed themselves.
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