They Give Me Fever

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything.

 Like the girlfriend of the band below, I've been "gone" for a while. So to the six of you who actually read my blog, I apologize. It's just that with the tumultuous start to the sesason - games ranging from "edge of your seat thrill ride" to "slit your wrists depressing" and from "What an encouraging dominant performance!" to "OMG! How the f%$# are they still THIS bad!?" - I found myself with nothing to say...

Their big hit was "My Girl(Gone So Long)" and my brother and I annoyed my mother endlessly by repetitiously singing the deep "Gone, Gone, Gone" part of the chorus. It also wasn't long before this bands career was gone so long. Probably because of naming themselves after a city that's too close in proximity to Vancouver. 

No, I didn't want to discuss in detail another Oilers loss. I didn't want to talk about how the team "had their chances, but didn't capitalize". I didn't want to go on about how Nikitin, Fayne and Pouliot may have been over-priced acquisitions, how badly we need an actual center, how Leon Draisaitl needed to be sent down, how Mark Arcobello is an AHL player, how the top line of Hall, Nuge and Ebs need to become timely scorers and leaders, how Andrew Ference may be too old to keep up, how Yakupov can improve all he wants, but needs to get points, about poor team defence, of yet another injury to one of their top players, of the lack of NHL goaltending...

And I certainly didn't want to try to put some positive spin on one of the most agonizing, depressing, self tormenting, beyond the reaches of time lasting, losing teams in existence.

I wouldn't.

Even if I was constantly fending off the voices in my head (which distinctly sounded like my Wife's and Mother's) saying, " This is just another example of you NEVER finish anything you start..." or " Don't be a sore loser. They're your team. You have to support them win or lose."

*NOTE:  Neither my wife nor mother said any of these things during this time. It's an insecurity that rests within my own head.

I couldn't.


I needed some time, I guess, but it's been three weeks since my last post and I think I've finally been able to wrap my head around this team 'today' and put together a few 'thoughts'. This could change as soon as the next game with the Oilers, so I better get them out now and try to explain myself...

I love me some Black Keys. I've been a major fan of theirs for about 5 years. Now, I know for the music savvy that makes me 6 or more years late to the party, but that's not usually the case for me. A guitar driven, riff-heavy, blues-rock band with an indie spirit? Yeah, that would be pretty hard to slide past me in my youth. Unfortunately, changes in age, children and re-location can hinder one's ability to keep their ear to the ground, so to speak (thank God for my wife, otherwise I'd be completely disconnected). But on the bright side, once I discovered them, I did get about 6 albums worth of music to gorge on! And I went at it like a 14 year old boy after he first "discovers" himself...

I spent the next couple of years consuming the Black Keys catalog. Full length albums, E.P.s, live tracks, television appearances, YouTube videos, you name it. I bought tab books, downloaded riffs and learned to play over 50 of their songs on my guitar. So when I heard they were releasing a new album last spring, I was elated!

Until its arrival, I occupied myself with their past works and escapades. Every once in a while I'd check the internet for news of progress, updates and projected concert schedules daily, just in case there was any new information to be found.

Upon the release of Turn Blue, my wonderful wife downloaded (completely, absolutely, %100 legally of course..) the full album and sent it to me to enjoy at work...

Stare at the center of the screen long enough and you get a glimpse of what it is like to fall into the endless void that is being a fan of the Edmonton Oilers.

Boy, was I excited. It was like Christmas and when the album hit my inbox, I tore into it like a beautifully wrapped gift. But like the giant package you stared at under the tree for weeks that turns out to be socks and underwear stuffed into an old microwave box with newspaper, I couldn't hide my disappointment...

Like a kid checking through the box for more as though something MUST have been missed, I listened over and over again, but was still left feeling like a teen-ager after their first sexual experience - "That was it!?"

In the coming weeks, friends of mine would ask my opinion on the new recording to which I often responded with, "It needs to grow on me, I think." But in my head I thought differently.

Where were the riffs? The southern blues base? The raw energy? What was with all the layers of synth? The constant singing in falsetto? The meandering, long-winded psychedellia? This is NOT what I wanted! Not by a country mile...

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the best description of how I feel about the Oilers this year.

Alright, unlike the Black Keys, the Oilers recent past certainly doesn't contain much of 'Top 40' material , but they do have a long and storied past of success spanning decades. And on top of the rhetoric coming from management, they were also trending in the right direction, leading one to believe that better days were on the horizon. And like Turn Blue I was chomping at the bit for its arrival.

I was excited to see a return to form for the the Oilers and with this years' off-season additions, I sucked up the company Kool-Aid until the well was dry.

It seems that all I've got for it, is a tummy ache.

The first section of the season was horrendous, an 0-4-1 start. Sure, there were a few good moments in there, but the start was as bad (if not worse) than last years. A huge initial let down. But I carried on and continued to 'listen'.

I was rewarded with four straight wins (every album has at least one or two good tracks) against good Eastern teams. That was proceeded by four more awful losses.

And when my friends and peers would question me about this years season, I would respond with, "They just need to gel together a little bit."

Gel, my ass. Bad goal tending. Poor team defense. An inability to score 5 on 5. An inability to score on the power play. Team break downs mixed with third period let downs with a sprinkle of sh$@ty starts.

I thought we were done with this crap.

Not that I believed it would never happen mind you, but I thought it would be blips or hiccups, not septic tank sized bed sh#@ting. I'm left here expecting better, wanting more and feeling terribly and utterly disappointed.

I should have known that when this years 'In Focus' with Tom Gazzola on Oilers.nhl.com started using 'Fever' as its background music that it would portend this seasons beginning...

The ageless boy wonder that is Tom Gazzola. I sometimes think that the perma-smerk plastered on his face is saying, "I can't beleive someone actually pays me to report on this awful f*&%ing team.

I have since had much time to think and reassess my feelings about both the Black Keys new album and the 2014 version of the Edmonton Oilers. I think it all boils down to expectation and desires.

Much like I wanted the new Keys album to be the blues-rawk, Zeppelin influenced band of the past, I wanted the Oilers to be the old high octane, offensive power house it used to be. Neither are going to happen and both need to be appreciated for what they are and the new direction that they're both headed in. And that needs to be the basis for which they are evaluated.

The Black Keys are evolving and becoming a new entity. They may perhaps never revisit the type of music in their past, maybe they will. But if you weigh this new album in light of what the band was wishing to achieve, there is a lot to enjoy there. With this new mind-set. I have listened to the album with new ears, so to speak, and have found myself getting into their new groove. It may not be exactly to my taste, but it is a good album.

As for the Oilers, well, I have to remind myself just how far back this team has to come from just to be average (currently 6-8-1, double the number of wins than at this time in 2013).  Or in other words, you could give everyone Shea Weber's shot, but if you fire it from the red-line, you're still going to be hard pressed to score. They also need time, with a roster of almost 50% new faces, to forge an identity and become whatever it is they are going to be. They can be a good team.

There are visible improvements in this teams forward depth and back end. The team has played some decent hockey against some good teams and even better players (Ovechkin, Stamkos, Nash) Even the goal tending, at times, is better than before. It just requires a change in attitude and perspective to see it.

So, with that, I am shedding my previous attitude and will continue to write about this team, rain or shine, win or lose. I feel energized and ready to write! They are MY team and I WILL  continue to cheer them on!

Many more blogs to come with far fewer absences.

Turn Blue Track Listing

1. Weight of Love

2. In Time

3. Turn Blue

4. Fever

5. Year In Review

6. Bullet In The Brain

7. It's Up To You Know

8. Waiting On Words

9. 10 Lovers

10. In Our Prime

11. Gotta Get Away

The (1) of the Oilers is making me (3). They promise that (2) the team is going to be (10), but watching them is giving me a (4), especially when looking at last (5). Oilers, (7) to make good on your promises, otherwise I (11) before I put a (6) and end it all.