the 4th star

Friday, Feb. 12, 2010
Between the La Grange and Stairway to Heaven, a Winnipeg radio station heats up an old rumour regarding the Atlanta Thrashers moving its operation to the Manitoba capital. The rumour was originally reported in October on Hockey Night in Canada, and quickly faded after everyone was stonewalled on concrete details. David Thomson is the guy doing the heavy lifting, Friday’s report repeats, but two new details are added. One, the Manitoba Moose will be moving to Saskatoon and two, an announcement will happen after the Olympics. Again, this is a report of a rumour. Not actually what’s going to happen. Let’s keep that in mind.

Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010
Twitter and the message boards go nuts with the *new* information. While fans get excited about the prospects of the NHL coming back to Winnipeg, not one major NHL media outlet reports this as having any heat. Yeah, but everyone is focused on the Olympics, you say. Nope. The NHL still has two days of action left before the break. True North scoffs at the suggestion. That doesn’t stop the mill from churning, though. Regina is thrown into the mix as the new Moose destination. The Coyotes are believed to be headed to Kansas City. Nashville is on the move to. A lot going on.

Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010
Someone drops me a line via the email. A friend of my dad’s was asked by someone at True North if his company would be interested in paying a little more for their box should the NHL come back to Winnipeg. This plays along with the whispers that the MTS Centre staff have been doing a little research on what their market is regarding season ticket prices — like any smart business would. Another whisper: Gary Bettman has been spotted at the Winnipeg airport. HE CAME HERE ON A JET!! Still nothing on the Thrashers move to Winnipeg from any of the TSN guys or anyone inside the big national media outlets, though. Not even a tweet.

Monday, Feb. 15, 2010
I find it interesting that the guy who put the rumour back in the microwave has not put anything about his *scoop* on his blog. Again, nothing from anyone on this. I check out what the *real Jets owner* has to say about the situation. I actually hurt myself laughing on the pouting tone of his post, as he wonders why he’s not been informed by the people who are rumoured to be making this happen. Outrageous!

Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2010
Something called the ‘National Newswatch’ comes up with this beauty. Press conference March 4, 2010. Twitter goes bananas again. People are saying that it’s true. ‘I told you so’ becomes a common refrain on the message boards. Again, nothing reported by anyone on the inside about the sale or move to Winnipeg.

What have we learned? Well, everyone is an expert in the world we live in now, as the suggestion that something might be true morphs into what could actually happen and ultimately becomes a version of truth. What makes this version of the rumour so interesting is that there’s an actual end point to it, rather than just an singular point on the horizon that may reveal itself over years and decades. It’s like that Simpsons episode when the stone angel predicts the end of the world. The whole town believes it and comes together waiting for the end, only to realize that nothing has happened. Things have remained exactly the same. All that’s truly revealed is that people have an underlying need to believe in something. Having a deadline is cause to get excited — and it makes things spin out of control as each day passes — but what becomes of us if March 4th disappears and nothing happens?

There must be a gas leak in the offices of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. How else can you explain this bit of nonsense, especially when the organization just went through this bit of nonsense last season? Have we not learned from past mistakes? The similarities are amazing. If this does happen and another back-up quarterback from another team moves over here and assumes control of the offence, and things do not work out again, what do we say then? Hey, maybe Mike Kelly wasn’t alone in his insanity. Do we run Paul LaPolice out of town? He does know the way so it won’t be anything new for him. If Steven Jyles — is that his name? — does end up in Winnipeg and is given the starting job, and then wilts under the Canad Inns pressure, what is the Plan B? LeFors? Kerry Joseph? Michael Bishop? Santos Little Halper? Geesh.

What’s the over/under on the seven wins Kelly cobbled together last summer?

Word up. I’m Vancouver-bound in one week. Here’s a list of things I plan to do there:

Attend the women’s 5,000 kilometre in speed skating, yo. Sorry, it only feels like 5,000 kilometers.
Playfully bitch about the seats I’m not paying for.
Lament the fact I didn’t bring my skates with me.
Channel my inner Klassen for the whole event.
Annoy my girlfriend and everyone around me for the whole event.
Locate Free Press sports dudes Ed Tait and Randy Turner. Bring them clean underwear.
Find a ticket to a quarterfinal hockey game.
Wait in line.
Wait in another line.
Be a part of a medal ceremony.
See if Jennifer Botterill remembers me (she won’t).
Talk up Sami Jo Small while the women’s hockey team gets their medals.
Listen to Burton Cummings.
Listen to Streetheart.
Ask Disc Jockey Co-operative to play some Streetheart once Streetheart gets off the stage.
Dance with the old lady to Streetheart.
Jam those red mitts deep into my ear canals if anything but Streetheart is playing.
Look up people who I told I would keep in touch with when they moved out there, and then not call them.
Climb the chain link fence.
Climb into the back of every truck I see and pretend I’m Gretzky.
Locate Loverboy. VANOC Wrap Jam, yo. Name a better song to play at the start of a power play before the face-off. Not possible.
Consider buying a Russia hockey jersey. Forget about nationality, those suckers look cool.
Attempt to blog something.
Attempt to write something for the paper?
Wax poetic on former visits to Vancouver; realize I can’t recall anything accurately.
Curse my pathetic memory when looking for the camera that I will inevitably leave in Winnipeg.
Check if there any Swedes at IKEA.
Bore the life partner (heterosexual) to tears with stories of seeing Ozzy at GM Place and Dan Cloutier getting beat from centre ice in the playoffs. Fuck, those were good seats!
Look for the world’s most expensive beer.
See if those Thrashers to Winnipeg rumours — you know, the ones from October — have made it out west.
Overpay for everything.
Bring up Tony Tanti in conversation.
See if ‘Being Buble’ really works with the wet yoga-clothes clad masses.
Worry about being on the plane as Canada skates in semifinal action.
Find Trevor Linden.
Get a ‘B.C. Sucks’ chant going.
Find someone who actually likes the CTV coverage.