SAVING OTTAWA SPORTS: SOMEONE ELSE WILL HAVE TO PLAY THE SAVIOUR, APPARENTLY

(Originally posted Friday, Oct. 13.)

A while back, Rogers Sportsnet's Ian Mendes penned a blog post that pondered whether Ottawa was Canada's worst sports town, and yours truly was a little over-the-top in attacking both the reasoning and regrettably, the man himself. That was unfortunate.

Ian extended a chance for rebuttal Thursday on Sportsnet.ca. General reaction was less than glowing, although someone with the screenname "Gayjock" was effusive in his praise. In this day and age, you're nothin' without a gay following, so thanks.

(The netizens on the "Unofficial" MJHL Web Post also noticed, allowing me to take a nostalgia trip back 2 1/2 years to when I covered the Manitoba Junior Hockey League for the Portage la Prairie Daily Graphic: "My 6 year old has a blog for frick sake," one commenter wrote.)

Sorry if I wasn't, to borrow one commenter's words, "the knight in shining armour" who proclaimed Ottawa to be the bestest sports town around, and everyone lived happily ever after, The End. This is real life, where people have adult opinions. And of course, Ian Mendes isn't the bad guy here. He's a journalist, trying to make a honest living like everyone else. It reflects poorly on me that I lost sight of that.

The basic argument was that it's time for people in Ottawa to move beyond the "Canada's worst sports town" debate. It's taken on the tone of Grade 9s arguing in the cafeteria. It never goes anywhere. That was my message then and it hasn't changed.

Who cares whether or not this is a better or worse sports town than any place else? Why does that matter? We live here, so let's focus on our sporting landscape.

Ottawa is a 'tweener city for sports. Is it is a big minor-league market, or a minor big-league market? Instead of dwelling on the failures, why not embrace having a little from Column A and a little from Column B?

This is a city can support a National Hockey League team. For sports, though, it has more in common with Hamilton, London, Kingston or Halifax than that certain city of 6 million people far too many people here have an inferiority complex toward.

With some more dedicated owners similar to Ottawa 67's owner Jeff Hunt, we could have a well-run CFL team and a minor-league baseball franchise (just not necessarily Triple-A) that gets healthy crowds. That would add to what's here with the Senators, the junior hockey club, the Ottawa Fury women's soccer team, and the various Carleton Ravens and Ottawa Gee-Gees varsity squads.

Bottom line: The best course of action is to quit dwelling on the "Canada's worst sports town" stigma and work with what we have to change that perception. OC Transpo doesn't include routes to Negative Town.

Don't be a "Why?" type, be a "Why Not?" There's far too few of the latter in this day and age, and not just in Ottawa.

Related:
We've Heard This Before... (Sept. 18), Stop Lamenting The Lynx Already (Sept. 6), Good Weekend For the Ravens And Gee-Gees (Sept. 4), Vote Of Confidence For City's Football Future (Aug. 10)

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