SAVING OTTAWA SPORTS: WE'VE HEARD THIS BEFORE, IAN MENDES

(Alternative title: "Why Most TV Talking Heads Shouldn't Blog.")

It's not clear what Rogers Sportsnet's Ian Mendes was thinking when he devoted a blog post late last week to the age-old question, "Ottawa: Canada's Worst Sports Town?"

Why even go there? It's so played-out, yet Random Lazy Columnists keep going on and on about how Ottawa is a lousy sports town. You go into the litany of failed franchises (Rough Riders, Renegades, Lynx), rag on the Senators for having "the lowest season ticket base of any Canadian team," add water and stir.

Save your bandwidth, Sportsnet. Everyone made up their mind about whether or not Ottawa is a lousy sports town a long time ago. There's already been a million and ten columns about "Canada's Worst Sports Town." Try to argue how it could be different here, or find another topic.

Now, Ottawa Senators supporters are about the easiest sports fans in the world to mock, but that's neither here nor there. Mendes' lame post sort of goes to show why media outlets shouldn't give blogs to TV guys.

It requires being able to do the cranial gymnastics to a) call attention to an underplayed or off-the-beaten path story or b) add a fresh take in the wake of the news. Having met a few TV types in my day, it's clear most just don't pack the necessary gear for that sort of thing. That's not meant in a mean way. We all have different skills. You don't see Roy Halladay batting cleanup for the Blue Jays when he's not pitching.

This isn't about Ottawa sports fans. It's about Mendes' weak thinking. It's not clear what the Sandy Hill he was trying to prove by rhyming off the same old-same old about the Ottawa sportscape. Does Mendes actually believe he was being being daring by writing this as an Ottawa resident? Then again, enough readers took the bait -- 69 comments as of this writing.

Someone should tell Mendes to come up with a better idea next time. Better yet, someone tell his ant overlords to assign the task to someone who can (cough, someone like me, who's begging to have his societal niche co-opted).

It would be over the top to say of Mendes' post, "Like a lot of blogs written by TV guys, this reads like a Grade 9 English paper that was slapped together in 15 minutes." That would be unfair. It probably took him at least half an hour.

(Postscript: Notice how the article never mentions the improving spectator support for the various Carleton Ravens and Ottawa Gee-Gees teams? Like a lot of the big-shot media types, CIS sports apparently aren't even a consideration for Mendes.)

Related:
Stop Lamenting The Lynx Already ... Say Hello To The "Capital Bandits" (Sept. 6)
Good Weekend For the Ravens And Gee-Gees (Sept. 4)
Vote Of Confidence For City's Football Future (Aug. 10)
We Eat TV Sports Personalities For Lunch (June 27)
The Ottawa Senators and Homer Simpson (May 9)

OK, since you asked, here's why are Senators fans so highly mockable:

1. They remain in about their precious team, namely that most of its players are far too precious to go into the corner to fight for the puck in the third period or overtime of a 2-2 playoff game.
   
   True fans are always brutally honest about their teams' flaws. Take it away... the Leafs are slow, the Jays don't make good enough use of the resources they do have, the Vikings don't have enough playmakers and the Toronto Raptors don't play any defence.
2. Most have no sense of humour about their team -- certainly not the kind that will serve you well in this cold, harsh world, especially if you cheer for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
3. Most are former Montreal Canadiens fans -- the epitome of "we're with you, win or tie" type -- who turned tail when that team stopped being so glorieux in the mid-'90s. The Habs' decline, combined with the Senators getting good and a renewed separatist movement in Quebec all happening around the same time caused a lot of English-speaking fans to jump ship.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.