He’s not a deranged lunatic. He’s a not very good GM that you you seem to take perverse pleasure in by insulting him in juvenile ways. That’s what people object to.
He is just incompetent . Calling him a lunatic is absurd. It's not his fault that he has not been fired and the more he remains GM the more people will start to hate him. A smart person would step down and retain some dignity. He made good money in the last seven years.
Just a few game notes from inside the arena. (Watched this game with @Melvin, which was very cool).
- I brought a bunch of signs, as many of you will know. I had them velcroed together so that it would look like just one sign, blank on the back, but it was five surfaces in total. The security guy was not taken in and asked me to see each surface. I thought I might lose them, either because of the sheer number or because they were negative or what have you. But no, he told me he was just looking for profanity... all of them made it in!
- As noted, I was not one of the guys with the "Extend Benning" or "We [heart] Tucker Poolman" signs. Those were very funny.
- As always in Ottawa, a ton of Vancouver fans in the crowd. Everyone we passed in the concourse was supportive of the visible "Fire Benning" sign, with many clapping or hooting. One guy told me "Green needs to go first." Everyone else onside or clueless.
- And there were plenty of clueless... we always talk about the casuals in Vancouver, but obviously folks on the road who just want to go the one time a year their hometown team is in town also fit this billing. A number of people around us (a plurality of whom were Vancouver fans) didn't get any of the references and asked who "Benning" was.
- The very kind usher next to our mostly-empty row had no issue letting me set up the signs along the empty seats, but finally his curiosity got the best of him and he, too, asked who Benning was. When I explained, he was kind of surprised but empathetic (plenty of Ottawans want to fire Dorion too, of course). Then he told me how good he thought Tyler Myers was.
- There was this adorable young woman in a Canuck jersey who was cheering with her full spirit throughout the game as though there were serious stakes on the line. At the end of the game she asked to take a photo with my Aquilini tweet sign (I think she mentioned putting it on Reddit if anyone saw anything turn up there), but she too had no clue who Benning was or that the team had been mired in turmoil for the better part of 8 seasons. It was sweetly innocent. Her boyfriend immediately recognized the Aquilini tweet and was floored to learn it was a real tweet – "I thought that was just a meme!" he said.
- The craziest part? Both were from Toronto, no connection to Vancouver. The guy had switched allegiances to the Canucks when Mats Sundin arrived. That's insane to me.
- On our way out, a lone Senator fan started a "Fire DJ!" chant. When I held up my sign, he laughed, and began alternating "Fire DJ, Fire Benning".
- Neither here nor there, but probably the loudest shout of the night belonged to some guy leaving in a cab, who very relevantly shouted to the exiting crowd: "Flames rule, Senators suck balls!"
- We put on the local sports radio station on the way back from Kanata just to marvel at the universal hilariousness of sports show callers. They all want to fire everyone too, and seem not to realize that, unlike our guys, they actually are rebuilding.
Just a few game notes from inside the arena. (Watched this game with @Melvin, which was very cool).
- I brought a bunch of signs, as many of you will know. I had them velcroed together so that it would look like just one sign, blank on the back, but it was five surfaces in total. The security guy was not taken in and asked me to see each surface. I thought I might lose them, either because of the sheer number or because they were negative or what have you. But no, he told me he was just looking for profanity... all of them made it in!
- As noted, I was not one of the guys with the "Extend Benning" or "We [heart] Tucker Poolman" signs. Those were very funny.
- As always in Ottawa, a ton of Vancouver fans in the crowd. Everyone we passed in the concourse was supportive of the visible "Fire Benning" sign, with many clapping or hooting. One guy told me "Green needs to go first." Everyone else onside or clueless.
- And there were plenty of clueless... we always talk about the casuals in Vancouver, but obviously folks on the road who just want to go the one time a year their hometown team is in town also fit this billing. A number of people around us (a plurality of whom were Vancouver fans) didn't get any of the references and asked who "Benning" was.
- The very kind usher next to our mostly-empty row had no issue letting me set up the signs along the empty seats, but finally his curiosity got the best of him and he, too, asked who Benning was. When I explained, he was kind of surprised but empathetic (plenty of Ottawans want to fire Dorion too, of course). Then he told me how good he thought Tyler Myers was.
- There was this adorable young woman in a Canuck jersey who was cheering with her full spirit throughout the game as though there were serious stakes on the line. At the end of the game she asked to take a photo with my Aquilini tweet sign (I think she mentioned putting it on Reddit if anyone saw anything turn up there), but she too had no clue who Benning was or that the team had been mired in turmoil for the better part of 8 seasons. It was sweetly innocent. Her boyfriend immediately recognized the Aquilini tweet and was floored to learn it was a real tweet – "I thought that was just a meme!" he said.
- The craziest part? Both were from Toronto, no connection to Vancouver. The guy had switched allegiances to the Canucks when Mats Sundin arrived. That's insane to me.
- On our way out, a lone Senator fan started a "Fire DJ!" chant. When I held up my sign, he laughed, and began alternating "Fire DJ, Fire Benning".
- Neither here nor there, but probably the loudest shout of the night belonged to some guy leaving in a cab, who very relevantly shouted to the exiting crowd: "Flames rule, Senators suck balls!"
- We put on the local sports radio station on the way back from Kanata just to marvel at the universal hilariousness of sports show callers. They all want to fire everyone too, and seem not to realize that, unlike our guys, they actually are rebuilding.
The organization will never win a cup in your lifetime. Certainly not with the current ownership
