The Edmonton Oilers Are The NHL's Response To Al Bundy
JaredMilne @ Fri Apr 19, 2013 4:38 pm
Does anybody here remember the TV show Married...With Children? It starred Ed O'Neill as Al Bundy, a guy who was a football star in high school. However, he grew up to be a balding, starving, destitute loser who worked in a shoe store and lamented how pathetic his life had become even as clung to his faded high school glory.
The Edmonton Oilers have become the NHL's equivalent to Al Bundy. In the 1980s, they were a juggernaut that crushed just about anyone and anything in their path, led by Wayne Gretzky. It was a true golden age, and one people in the Alberta Capital Region remember fondly. The team was known as the "Boys On The Bus", after a documentary that was done about the team.
Now, however, the Oilers as an organization are worn down by years of failure and defeat. A very large part of the problem is their pigheaded insistence on constantly hiring and keeping recycled ex-Oiler players in the front office, regardless of whether or not they're any good at their jobs, for stupid reasons like "tradition" and "maintaining the brand". Unfortunately, the "brand" has become synonymous with failure and incompetence, even as Kevin Lowe and his crew continue to hang on to their faded glory days, as if playing talent had anything at all to do with front office ability. After all, Wayne Gretzky is the best player to ever put on a pair of skates, but we all saw how good he was at coaching when he was with the Phoenix Coyotes...
The critics and naysayers are told to "be patient", and that good things will come with the Boys On The Bus at the helm. The problem is that we've been told that for the last fifteen years. Every year, we're told that good things are just around the corner...and again, the Boys On The Bus let us down. We're told that they're on the cusp of winning, and that all the futility will be worth it...even though we've had more or less the same management team in place for all that damn time.
The Boys On The Bus hire based on nepotism rather than merit, creating a professionally inbred organization where your being hired and promoted depends on how good you were at playing in the 1980s, not whether you have any skill at your job now.
Al Bundy clings to his high school football days as just about the only thing that validates his pathetic existence. Kevin Lowe and the rest of the Bozos On The Bus are pretty much the same.
</end rant>
commanderkai @ Fri Apr 19, 2013 5:00 pm
The same can be said about the Toronto Maple Leafs 
God I love Married...with Children. Hilarious show.
Freakinoldguy @ Fri Apr 19, 2013 5:56 pm
i still watch it faithfully on Deja Vu. Love it, especially the early ones where Al tried to fix things. 
Besides it's better than watching the Oilers play hockey. 
raydan @ Fri Apr 19, 2013 6:04 pm
Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:
i still watch it faithfully on Deja Vu. Love it, especially the early ones where Al tried to fix things.
Besides it's better than watching the Oilers play hockey.
Besides it's better than watching the Oilers play hockey.
The Oilers play hockey!!!
![[huh]](./images/smilies/icon_scratch.gif "huh?"){kind=icon}
Thanos @ Fri Apr 19, 2013 6:18 pm
Things are bad all over. The Flames have been pretty much destroyed for the next five years by guys who never once laced up their skates for us. 
JaredMilne @ Fri Apr 19, 2013 6:59 pm
Thanos Thanos:
Things are bad all over. The Flames have been pretty much destroyed for the next five years by guys who never once laced up their skates for us.
Yeah, but at least the Flames have been known to fire and replace managers and coaches who prove that they don't have what it takes to do the job.
Besides, if it's any consolation Calgary can claim the emotional satisfaction of being the ones who destroyed Edmonton's playoff hopes for this year.
How's that for a consolation prize?
Besides, I cheer for all the Canadian teams. My ideal Stanley Cup final would be to see the Canucks take on Montreal, Toronto or Ottawa. I don't particularly care which one, just so long as Lord Stanley comes home to where he belongs!
JaredMilne @ Fri Apr 19, 2013 7:04 pm
Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:
i still watch it faithfully on Deja Vu. Love it, especially the early ones where Al tried to fix things.
Besides it's better than watching the Oilers play hockey.
Besides it's better than watching the Oilers play hockey.
He did that all through the show. Remember the classic episode where he and his buddies tried to set up the satellite dish, and their wives started a betting pool on which of them would fall off the roof?
Classic television.
Thanos @ Fri Apr 19, 2013 9:32 pm
JaredMilne JaredMilne:
Thanos Thanos:
Things are bad all over. The Flames have been pretty much destroyed for the next five years by guys who never once laced up their skates for us.
Yeah, but at least the Flames have been known to fire and replace managers and coaches who prove that they don't have what it takes to do the job.
Besides, if it's any consolation Calgary can claim the emotional satisfaction of being the ones who destroyed Edmonton's playoff hopes for this year.
How's that for a consolation prize?
Besides, I cheer for all the Canadian teams. My ideal Stanley Cup final would be to see the Canucks take on Montreal, Toronto or Ottawa. I don't particularly care which one, just so long as Lord Stanley comes home to where he belongs!
Ehhhh, if it had guaranteed us one of the top-three draft picks I would have accepted the Flames losing all their games to the Oilers this year. Thanks to them now winning when it was absolutely pointless for them to do so the Flames are probably going to miss out on the top four or five can't-miss kids and draft no better than sixth or seventh and end up with nothing to show for it, again. Typical fuckin' Calgary, can't win when they need to and can't lose when they need to either.
bootlegga @ Sat Apr 20, 2013 8:04 am
JaredMilne JaredMilne:
Does anybody here remember the TV show Married...With Children? It starred Ed O'Neill as Al Bundy, a guy who was a football star in high school. However, he grew up to be a balding, starving, destitute loser who worked in a shoe store and lamented how pathetic his life had become even as clung to his faded high school glory.
The Edmonton Oilers have become the NHL's equivalent to Al Bundy. In the 1980s, they were a juggernaut that crushed just about anyone and anything in their path, led by Wayne Gretzky. It was a true golden age, and one people in the Alberta Capital Region remember fondly. The team was known as the "Boys On The Bus", after a documentary that was done about the team.
Now, however, the Oilers as an organization are worn down by years of failure and defeat. A very large part of the problem is their pigheaded insistence on constantly hiring and keeping recycled ex-Oiler players in the front office, regardless of whether or not they're any good at their jobs, for stupid reasons like "tradition" and "maintaining the brand". Unfortunately, the "brand" has become synonymous with failure and incompetence, even as Kevin Lowe and his crew continue to hang on to their faded glory days, as if playing talent had anything at all to do with front office ability. After all, Wayne Gretzky is the best player to ever put on a pair of skates, but we all saw how good he was at coaching when he was with the Phoenix Coyotes...
The critics and naysayers are told to "be patient", and that good things will come with the Boys On The Bus at the helm. The problem is that we've been told that for the last fifteen years. Every year, we're told that good things are just around the corner...and again, the Boys On The Bus let us down. We're told that they're on the cusp of winning, and that all the futility will be worth it...even though we've had more or less the same management team in place for all that damn time.
The Boys On The Bus hire based on nepotism rather than merit, creating a professionally inbred organization where your being hired and promoted depends on how good you were at playing in the 1980s, not whether you have any skill at your job now.
Al Bundy clings to his high school football days as just about the only thing that validates his pathetic existence. Kevin Lowe and the rest of the Bozos On The Bus are pretty much the same.
</end rant>
The Edmonton Oilers have become the NHL's equivalent to Al Bundy. In the 1980s, they were a juggernaut that crushed just about anyone and anything in their path, led by Wayne Gretzky. It was a true golden age, and one people in the Alberta Capital Region remember fondly. The team was known as the "Boys On The Bus", after a documentary that was done about the team.
Now, however, the Oilers as an organization are worn down by years of failure and defeat. A very large part of the problem is their pigheaded insistence on constantly hiring and keeping recycled ex-Oiler players in the front office, regardless of whether or not they're any good at their jobs, for stupid reasons like "tradition" and "maintaining the brand". Unfortunately, the "brand" has become synonymous with failure and incompetence, even as Kevin Lowe and his crew continue to hang on to their faded glory days, as if playing talent had anything at all to do with front office ability. After all, Wayne Gretzky is the best player to ever put on a pair of skates, but we all saw how good he was at coaching when he was with the Phoenix Coyotes...
The critics and naysayers are told to "be patient", and that good things will come with the Boys On The Bus at the helm. The problem is that we've been told that for the last fifteen years. Every year, we're told that good things are just around the corner...and again, the Boys On The Bus let us down. We're told that they're on the cusp of winning, and that all the futility will be worth it...even though we've had more or less the same management team in place for all that damn time.
The Boys On The Bus hire based on nepotism rather than merit, creating a professionally inbred organization where your being hired and promoted depends on how good you were at playing in the 1980s, not whether you have any skill at your job now.
Al Bundy clings to his high school football days as just about the only thing that validates his pathetic existence. Kevin Lowe and the rest of the Bozos On The Bus are pretty much the same.
</end rant>
herbie @ Sat Apr 20, 2013 11:42 am
Kwicher Bichen
Are you still waiting for a cup after 43 years?
GeeGeeMcFee @ Sat Apr 20, 2013 12:06 pm
I am a HUGE Oiler fan and I totally agree. If you ever played for the Oil you should not be coaching.
I watched Calgary kick the shit out of us the other day just before they fired Tambellini and I knew it was time for a change. I cheered loud when I heard he got fired then I smashed my Oilers coffee mug when they named Craig Mcfuckingtavish as the new GM.
The Oil have more talent than everyone except maybe Pittsburgh and it sucks that we can't put together a winning team. Clean house, no more over the hill Oilers trying to manage and run a great team. Get some new blood and lets get to the FUCKING PLAYOFFS at least!!!
Bouboumaster @ Mon Apr 29, 2013 9:02 am
Problem with Oilers is that they don't seem to be able to build a great defense corp, and got no goaltending whatsoever.
They got plenty of talents in front, but it means jack shit if they can't stop the damn puck.
martin14 @ Mon Apr 29, 2013 10:20 am
raydan raydan:
Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:
i still watch it faithfully on Deja Vu. Love it, especially the early ones where Al tried to fix things.
Besides it's better than watching the Oilers play hockey.
Besides it's better than watching the Oilers play hockey.
The Oilers play hockey!!!
Not any more.
I wonder if they will beat the Flames' players for tee off times though.
Yogi @ Mon Apr 29, 2013 10:23 am
The OILERS ET AL are WINNERS, WINNERS, WINNERS. And they have all of 'you' to thank! They get paid their millions cuz folks like you keep buying their overpriced merchandise & tickets. You're the ones who actually have all the power to change the way they operate, but you won't so quit bitching about it.
Compare the Edmonton Oilers to any other business. Would you continue to patronize/support another business which provided, at best, sloppy, lackadaisical service and an inferior product with a laissez-faire attitude at premium prices?
Would you be willing to travel for miles in terrible weather to go out to a farm, pay the exact same $$$ to slog thru mud, work in the rain/sleet/hail to pick, clean, trim, bag vegetables that you can get at your neighborhood grocery?
But people do just that for hockey!
JaredMilne @ Mon Apr 29, 2013 10:29 am
Yogi Yogi:
The OILERS ET AL are WINNERS, WINNERS, WINNERS. And they have all of 'you' to thank! They get paid their millions cuz folks like you keep buying their overpriced merchandise & tickets. You're the ones who actually have all the power to change the way they operate, but you won't so quit bitching about it.
Compare the Edmonton Oilers to any other business. Would you continue to patronize/support another business which provided, at best, sloppy, lackadaisical service and an inferior product with a laissez-faire attitude at premium prices?
Would you be willing to travel for miles in terrible weather to go out to a farm, pay the exact same $$$ to slog thru mud, work in the rain/sleet/hail to pick, clean, trim, bag vegetables that you can get at your neighborhood grocery?
But people do just that for hockey!
Compare the Edmonton Oilers to any other business. Would you continue to patronize/support another business which provided, at best, sloppy, lackadaisical service and an inferior product with a laissez-faire attitude at premium prices?
Would you be willing to travel for miles in terrible weather to go out to a farm, pay the exact same $$$ to slog thru mud, work in the rain/sleet/hail to pick, clean, trim, bag vegetables that you can get at your neighborhood grocery?
But people do just that for hockey!
Don't look at me, buddy. I haven't paid one red cent for Oilers merchandise, and I quit watching the games a long time ago out of sheer disgust. I just can't take it anymore...