Quote:
Originally Posted by dissentowner
He has also said multiple times on air with Steinberg he does not care about the Flames at all, he is just a neutral hockey fan. I remember him saying he loves watching the BOA but he doesn't have a side in it. The opposite of the Oilers media who are all hardcore Oiler fans.
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Yeah, Sather controlled the media in Edmonton to control the message. Why did it take a Sports Illustrated article in 1986 to expose the debts, coke habits and other issues behind the scenes with the Oilers, when all the local press knew that?
It's something Lowe learned and did on in the 20+ years he was an Oilers exec. Get the Matheson's, Jones', Cam Cole's and Staples all engaged with the team. Invite them to dinners, golf tourneys etc. Drop them rumors and other things. Get them to be a fan and feel part of things. Then, when Lowe makes a dubious decision (and he made many of them a year - Tier 2 fans comments, offer sheets, spat with Burke, coaching hiring and firings) or wants to run a player or coach or GM out of town, he has sympathizers ready to help do his dirty work and deliver the messages, or keep quiet and not critize a bad decision, and lessen the blow of running a player out of town (Comrie, Souray,Pronger)or give one sided reason to the general public.
When the McDavid lottery ball hit, Lowe then pushed national media to do similar, pushing them to push McDavid as the star that Canada needed to treat like Gretzky, and SNet needed to get ratings, and Rogers did, and has, and will continue to go full in on the Oilers. He then expanded his reach to do the national media favours, give them inside information. Ron McLean a good example. He goes to every Oilers charity event there is and his coverage on random Saturday nights show that. Inside info on the Oilers comes from all over the place, because they are cuddling up to the Dregers and Serivelli's as well.
Those favours and coziness with media locally and nationally, to an extent no other organization would dare open themselves us up, also, and not coincidentally, got Lowe to get those same media members to vote him into the HHOF 25 years after his middling career on successful teams, came to an end.
The Flames, and most NHL teams, are not they open book, or have they been a "I'll rub your back if you rub mine" and push via favours, their media into fans.
Prior to insiders and the social media proliferation, in the late 2000s, most teams kept their best writers informed but also the writers also knew to stay quiet or they would be no longer welocme. Duha said as much many times.
When insiders and social media hit, embracing and using the media like Lowe (abused) was never Sutter (as GM) or Treliving's way of doing things. The blowhard GM in between them tries but with zero credibility it didn't get him or the organization very far.
So the local guys in Calgary didn't and don't get the rumors from Sutter or BT to be a true insider for the Flames and personally profit from, as other beat writers and insiders around the league...which is basically why Francis is supposedly a "neutral" because the Flames haven't given him the ability to be a schill and a fan.