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?