"Tanguay for N"

Welcome to summer, folks! Some interesting things have happened in the last while since I have moved, and without an internet connection for an entire month (although it was actually kind of nice), I haven't been able to spew my thoughts (and that is also probably kind of nice since I've had a week to digest some pretty funky acquisitions).

Let us begin with the first newly acquired Flame reunited to our team on July 1st, Alex Tanguay. I'm actually quite glad that he is back for a few reasons. Before we get too serious about stats, attitude, and yes of course his request to be traded while under the wrath of Mike Keenan, I have a heartwarming story for you.

My youngest of four brothers are twins, now the age of 11. A few years back, the 2003-04 season, they started watching hockey with me. They were so darn young, but I'll tell you, the things they remember is pretty incredible. Now, rather than name names I'll refer to them as "J" and "N" since they are too young to vouch for themselves and allow me to talk about them on my public blog. J loved the Flames right away, seeing as his big sister loved them so much and he would have only been 5 going on six years old that seems fair and expected. What is funny about twins is that they either need the EXACT same things or the EXACT opposite although usually something quite often triggers the opposite effect. During that season, N remembers the Calgary Flames losing the cup in a very intense final round to of course, the Tampa Bay Lightning. THAT team from now on is HIS team, plain and simple. I'm sure our earliest memories of any sport would trigger us to want to cheer for the winners, who doesn't want to win? You don't cheer when someone loses, so if I do bug him every so often about his choice, I do it with very little enthusiasm. I just love that they share my love of hockey, or at least they will when they're older. (And how cool is it that your biggest sister is the one that taught you all you know about hockey! Fist pump)

So, since we don't get to watch all that many Tampa Bay games, N gets very excited when they do come around. He'll cheer for them, and sometimes just to spite the rest of us...he cheers for any team playing against us with a few exceptions I've warned him he is NOT allowed to cheer for. However, he has always, always loved Alex Tanguay. When he was traded from the Flames, N was a bit upset. If we happened to be playing against him and he scored, the joy of watching his face light up was pretty special. Thus, when I got the call about Tanguay re-joining our roster I called N right away to let him know. "YAY!!" - and that is a direct quote.

What I do think is that the people of Calgary don't remember Alex's incredible statistics when he was with us. His all time high for points was in fact when he played for us, second in points only to Jarome Iginla that year, which I believe was his 2006 season? He actually happens to be one of my favorite names called out by our Dome announcer, bar none; the enthusiasm always seemed to be a pitch higher when Alex Tanguay scored a goal on home ice. To be fair, he and Keenan had no interest in getting along with one another and Tanguay felt as if he was letting his team down. There have been numerous interviews and publications that I think if the fans of the Flames took the time to read, any hard feelings or anxious sentiments would melt away almost instantly. This move, unlike most of the others made this season, is nothing but good.

And then there's the head scratcher, Olli Jokinen. Didn't we just deal that guy off for next to nothing because of his lack of performance and to save a few pennies? (Well, more to the tune of a few million pennies - but who's counting?) Weren't we paying him far too much for his 10 goals that he managed to squeeze in this last season as a Flame? Why trade him off in the last month of the regular hockey season to go crawling back July 1st and bring him all the way back for $6 million over two years?! Is it just me or is that absolutely ludicrous? Reading my blog, you all know how I really feel about Jokinen, I'm sure he's a great guy but as far as him being on our roster, I haven't got a clue what Darryl Sutter is doing. Listening to the Fan 960 on July 1st and onwards has been nothing less than a riot. For the most part all of the broadcasters have tried their best to hold their tongues but I haven't heard them swear in the middle of the afternoon more in the past few weeks over the air. It's been entertaining for sure, but I don't think many of us can wrap our heads around what our team may or may NOT look like this year. One of the broadcasters insisted that this team is either going to step up to the plate this year and make big things happen or we're going to flop from day one and never catch our feet again. I, personally, couldn't agree more.

At this point my faith in Darryl Sutter has wilted. I used to argue on his behalf to the death of me and perhaps I was blinded by his power behind the bench rather than accepting how very different his role as a GM would play out. What I see now has left me cringing every time there is news about a move or a shift to the Calgary Flames roster. All there is to do now is sit and wait.

Switching gears again, my brother is very excited, as am I, to have Tanguay back. And I am making a promise to myself and to you all. I'm turning over a new leaf this upcoming season. I will let go of my past grudges and move forward. I will not mention Olli Jokinen and Michael Cammalleri in the same sentence. I will transform with my new team.

I promise.

T