Like Edmonton, Winnipeg is not only cold as hell, but lacks most of the urban attractions most NHL cities have. If you can't go outside, you want to have good inside activities. Winnipeg just doesn't deliver.
I thought we were over this whole "Winnipeg has nothing going for it" garbage. The city was named Cultural Capital of Canada in 2010 (as an example). Surely, one would think, that indicates at least
something interesting takes place here.
...and where does this "if you can't go outside" notion come from? Yes, it's cold as balls here, but we still go outside all the time. Where do you think all of those Hall of Famers from Manitoba learned to play hockey? Do you think Terry Sawchuk was playing on outdoor ice in Winnipeg in the
summer? Just because it's cold, that doesn't mean everyone is locked in their homes, hibernating until spring. We're outside on a regular basis, all year round.
On a related topic, has anyone posted this little item yet? (
http://www.fiveforhowling.com/2011/...s-want-to-feel-human-too-the-case-for-phoenix) It's from a Coyotes fan site, and although the headline says "the case for Phoenix," it's full of little digs at Winnipeg, particularly at the weather.
Lately, those sentiments have been expressed vehemently from loyalists in the small Manitoban city of Winnipeg, a city desperate for the return of NHL hockey. Why would a hockey player want to live and play in a city that does not appreciate them? is the refrain, voiced over and over in newspapers, social media, and television. In Winnipeg, the players would be treated like HOCKEY GODS.
They are, of course, correct. NHL players would be fawned over, cheered lustily, always recognized on the street or in restaurants, and in the public eye at all times. And if the team was full of narcissists who feed off of those things like normal people require food to survive, then who wouldn't want to brave the elements to play in Winnipeg?
...and this one is particularly nasty, despite the writer's attempt to say 'nice' things about Winnipeg:
In essence, then, the payoff of being treated like a HOCKEY GOD is not sufficient for most of these players to balance the scales when one has to roll out of bed early in the morning to melt ice off of a car door lock, or bundle up in Eskimo-style garb and spend twenty minutes warming up the car just to drive down the street. Winnipeg is not a slum, nor is it an eyesore - it is actually a very nice city with plenty to recommend it. It's just that for most of the year, that allure is coated with a glistening carapace of ice and embellished with snowdrifts, and outside of Norman Rockwell paintings, such things are rarely appreciated in day to day life.
This is the kind of crap that is typical from the pro-Phoenix (or should I say "anti-Winnipeg") crowd, and it's very frustrating. It makes it sound like we're some frozen wasteland for "most of the year" and that our very active winter season -- which, again, is a time most of us spent
playing hockey as kids, which is the sport we're taking about here -- is "rarely appreciated."
Sorry, champ. I'm a Winnipegger who actually
likes the winter, and I'm certainly not the only one. Our winters are a big part of the reason why I appreciate living in Winnipeg and why I don't want to move. It's not like everyone's stuck here. The vast majority of Winnipeggers live in this city
by choice, and that's something the Phoenix fans don't seem to understand. They seem to think we were just dumped here by some unfortunate turn of fate, and we all want to pack up and move to somewhere warmer at a moment's notice.
Very, very irritating.
