Nothing.
You get through the decade of darkness, you get through anything.
It can suck, but nothing can stop me for cheering for my team.
I like this answer - a true fan. Do you go to the games? Do you have season tickets? Nice to see some loyalty though you realize it's a one way street right? Read on
I think most fans just distance themselves and then come back when things are better. Hard to do that though with 97.
I'd say mcd not being there or lowe back as gm would be close to doing it.
How about your team moving? I grew up in Wpg - hated - I mean HATED the Oilers - as much as you probably hate the Flames. But 10 years of not having a team, living in Edmonton, and then watching the cup run and Sather no longer here, and I became a die hard Oilers fan. Go figure. But McDavid right now is the last string for me - I'm a huge McDavid fan and as long as he's here - though the way the 'new' Jets are playing, who are my second fav team... well that's an organization the Oilers should emulate again. How do you think they built their Cup teams the first time? Don't take my word for it - just research it. Sather patterned the Oilers after the WHA Jets
Yup. I feel nothing anymore, aside from McDavid and Draisaitl.
It’s like hating your job because you have a terrible manager.
I feel free to look elsewhere. I don’t owe this team anything anymore.
They owe you nothing. All the Oilers do is jack their prices up year after year after year. They had what, 10 million in cap space this year? They didnt' use it to get better to at least try to give the fans who are paying through the nose something to cheer about did they?
Nothing could ever possibly stop me from cheering for the Oilers. No matter how much incompetence runs through the organization or if the losses outweigh the wins, there’s not a ****ing chance I could ever cheer for another team with even close to the same amount of passion. Too emotionally invested and too loyal in nature. Plus I’m a prideful Edmontonian, and the Oilers give the city I love something to cheer for.
Nothing huh? So you realize the Oilers are a business. So lets say you have a favorite restaurant. You proposed to your wife there. You took your kids there for special BD's. You took your parents there for their 50th anniversary. Now the owner change, food gives you diarrhea when you're lucky, you miss a week of work when you're not. The serving staff treats you like you're a nuisance, and you're inconveniencing them. How many times will you keep going to your favorite restaurant before you finally decide "Gee, maybe I should try another place - good memories here but I can't support this place anymore".
That's not saying you can't go back if it cleans it's act up, but you're really going to go back there everytime you have a night out?
Now I know you're going to say 'Its not the same' but you tell me how it isn't. What's that restaurant's #1 priorty? Same as the Oilers. Same as the Eskimos'. Same as Bank of Montreal. Same as any other business MAKE MONEY. Obviously customer loyalty goes a long way to achieving that goal don't get me wrong, but never ever confuse customer loyalty with business loyalty.
If the Oilers cared and were loyal to their fans, they'd be a the max in cap year in and year out and they would all be working very hard in putting the best product out on the ice. The players would also work as hard as they could (realizing of course there will always be slumps and bad bounces) and not out drinking and fighting and hitting tables (different stories on Draisaitl no idea which one is true) in season.
So for those that won't change - hope you're also spending your coin to go to the games and 'support' them LOL.
For me, tide is turning. Doesn't mean I won't go back the Oilers once they start 'serving good food' again, but if they keep putting garbage on my plate and charging me an arm and leg for it - other than McDavid I'd much rather take the money for one game ticket and get NHL center ice to watch the Jets play their games.
All that being said - right now I"m still an Oilers fan (I'm here so obviously as I don't troll) but if they have another off season now like they did last year - I'll be getting NHL center ice in the fall. If the Jets win the Stanley Cup - I probably will anyway. That organisation knows how to build a team, how to develop players, and how to make trades. And the Jet players actually do give a damn about their fans (just read Laine's comments, or Wheeler's). Go figure!