Thought of the Day - April 14 2021 - Why Is Our Home Team So Quiet?

Growing up every kid has their favourite sport, favourite team, and favourite player. For me, it was hockey, the Bruins and Bobby. Kids take inspiration from "superstars" not only how they play, but how they look, and what they say.

As we have all seen in recent weeks our home-town hockey team has been "laid low by the Vid". A sobering thought when you consider these are athletes, in the prime of their life, with plenty of screening and medical attention. Four games were rapidly postponed; in this the Canucks are not alone, there have been 45 games cancelled across the league because of COVID.

One of my thoughts, when I saw the news, was that publicizing the Canucks outbreak in late March was a perfect opportunity to get critical COVID messages across, starting with: If it can happen to us it can happen to anyone. Remember when it comes to information on COVID more people pay more attention to their idols than the press or officials ( Thought of the Day - March 15 - Viktor Navorski Has COVID ).

With our 'third wave' kicking off, both the BC government and the Canucks, who should value their regional fan base, could have leveraged this outbreak to sensitize the public. This would have been far better messaging than Horgan's "Don't blow It for the rest of us" appeal to those in their 20s and 30s.

But what has happened instead? Absolutely nothing. The Canucks retrenched to their standard playbook, trying to keep details of infections out of the public eye. They do this when a player is injured. They use terms like "lower-body injury" so the opposition does not get the upper hand when players play hurt.

Where are the testimonials? Where is the advice to the general public? Where are the inspirational comeback stories? Nada.

I guess this just underscores that at its core professional sports are really just entertainment for the masses.

Cheers

Cliff