Kingston, Ont., politicians are going to vote on May 30, a week from Tuesday, whether or not to go ahead with building a $37 million arena to supplement -- not necessarily replace -- the decrepit Kingston Memorial Centre.
The Kingston Frontenacs owner, Doug Springer, says the team could move if the new rink isn't built: "If the city votes against it, the hounds will be out the next day to find out where we stand."
There are legit concerns about the arena project and about who stands to gain from it. Apparently the chamber-of-commerce types have cut themselves a sweet deal; the terminal do-gooders (organized under the aegis of Kingston Concerned about the LVEC, or KCAL for shot) are worried there will be cost overruns that will have to get picked up. To them, that's taxation without representation.
Normally I'd be on their side. But in the eyes of this admitted jock sniffer, the terminal do-gooders should all drink a big glass of shut-the-hell-up and join the real world.
This is how it gets done these days if you want to have a franchise in a sports league of any significance. You shake hands with the devil, because if you don't, he will simply move down to the next person in line.
I don't want to get off on a rant here, but if Kingston doesn't vote to build a new arena and the Frontenacs pull up stakes for some town in Michigan or wherever, it will be proof the city I consider my hometown is the epitome of small-town cheap. Not building a new arena would be about as smart as burning down your own house in order to solve your ant problem.
It would be absurd to not have an Ontario Hockey League team in Kingston, which is not only credited by some sources as the game's birthplace but has given the game people such as -- including but not limited to -- Don Cherry, Wayne Cashman, Bill and Bun Cook, Doug Gilmour, Jayna Hefford, Ken Linseman, Jay McKee (who might help bring the Buffalo Sabres a Stanley Cup this season) and Kirk Muller (who scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal when the Montreal Canadiens won their last title).
Secondly, look at what other cities such as London, Ont., have done with their new arenas -- that city has hosted and won a Memorial Cup, can attract A-list musical acts, and has an institution every Londoner can look at proudly. It's a symbol. It says This is my hometown, we have pride in living here, we want to live and flourish here, so hang the expense.
That's what will ring true, and be remembered long after you and your lot have shuffled off this mortal coil, having died young because you were afraid to live and instead wasted your beautiful mind kvetching about cost overruns.
Maybe it's not a well-chosen symbol, but it's better than a big bag of nothing, which is what Kingston will have if the terminal do-gooders get their way.
And while I'm no champion of the current Frontenacs management or ownership -- one first-place finish in 34 years speaks for itself -- and while it's clear a new venue won't be a cure-all for the team, they sure as hell can't get anything done as long as they're playing in that old barn of a rink.
Could the Frontenacs get 4,000 fans for each home game if they had an arena that wasn't a complete embarrassment? Sure they could. I remember the Mem Centre being filled to its 3,300-seat capacity in 1994-95, the last time Kingston had a decent team. That season, they could have sold another 700 seats if they'd had them to sell. So surely, if Kingston ever had a decent team in a top-notch arena, they could and would.
Hey, don't get mad at me. I'm just hurling truth into the face of your bourgeois language.
And if you say, "Well, London's a bigger city," well, look west down the 401: Belleville managed to get a nice new arena built. So did that hick town where I was born, Napanee. Nap-a-nee!
That's what can happen when you see your city and its outlying area as a place people want to stay in, rather than doing things the way they do them in Kingston, which is to indirectly force young, creative people to look elsewhere for opportunities because the so-called city fathers and the boring bureaucrats who don't have any vision for the city beyond being a way station for people from Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal (the analogy fits whether we're talking about filling your gas tank or getting a degree from Queen's) won't do a damn thing to improve the overall quality of life for young people.
At least the politicians have an excuse: they live in mortal terror of the same seven old crones who show up at city council meeting every Tuesday to whine about how their property taxes might go up by 50 cents.
The terminal do-gooders who hung their arse on a pension a long time ago and are determined to turn Kingston into Ottawa Lite, the new version of the City That Fun Forgot? I don't have a screw's clue what their problem is.
At the risk of sounding like a bit of a brownshirt, drop your little picayune objections -- go ahead and hold council's feet to the fire -- but realize that there's a price to pay if Kingston is ever going to be more than a stagnant Ottawa Lite that people can't wait to get the hell away from.
Easy enough for you to say, Sager, you might retort, you don't have to pay taxes in Kingston.
Granted. But I'd like to pay them again someday.
Jésus. No wonder I don't know of anyone from my high school graduating class who still lives there.
OTHER BUSINESS
- Ordinarily I'm a fan of the Toronto Star's Dave Feschuk -- his column on why Canadians should rally around the Sabres should be required reading -- but his outlook on the Ricky Williams/Toronto Argonauts situation would probably improve tremendously if he sampled some what he presumes all involved are smoking. Damien Cox has a good take: if Pinball Clemons thinks Williams playing for the Argos can work, that should be good enough for us.
- Team Canada is losing 5-2 to Sweden early in the second period in the semifinal of the World Hockey Championship. I love when Canada plays Sweden, because the worst-case scenario is that the result leaves me one-quarter happy.
- If I hadn't seen the highlights, I wouldn't have believed it: Canada beat Brazil in soccer. Next thing you'll tell me Canada beat the U.S. in baseball. Or that the Americans lost to Argentina in basketball. Or that the U.S. lost to Sweden in women's hockey. Or that Canada lost to Switzerland in men's hockey? Does that fit too? Alas, it does.
OK. I kind of ran out of steam there. Only time for four items. But we got our money's worth with that first one, eh?
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