The 2011 AIHL season will see the introduction of a new AIHL team; the Melbourne Mustangs. The Mustangs played a series of exhibition games during 2010 and showcased their talent pool with teams around the league, so it will be great to see them play in 2011.
On a similar front, the Pandas, a team allegedly put forward by a Brisbane group has seemingly gotten lost amongst the Bamboo and is nowhere to be seen. While those of us here in Brisbane would love to have a new Brissy team, the talent pool up here is simply not good enough to put together a second South East Queensland team.
I’ll never forget a few seasons back, we had one of the players come and sit with us in the stands during a Blue Tongues game. It was the first time he had really sat and watched a game and saw it from a fans perspective, and he was relatively surprised by how differently he saw the game. More importantly, he started to get a better understanding of why the fans see the game often so differently from those playing it.
The reason I mention this is because it was bought to my attention recently that my posts are often critical of the Blue Tongues, and that I don’t give equal praise to the team. I started looking back over my previous comments and, much like the aforementioned player in the stands, I found myself being surprised, even slightly angered by my own comments.
I want to apologise to any of the team who have been reading my commentary here. No offense is ever intended by my comments, and my criticism was never meant to come over so negatively. I also want to personally thank the player in question who bought this to my attention.
I would like to give those players who don’t know me a little history of me and my history with the Blue Tongues.
My wife, Wendy and I have been to almost every single Blue Tongues game. We were there at the very first exhibition game in Brisbane the year before the team entered the league, and, as far as I am aware, are the longest standing fans of the team. Now please understand, I’m not blowing my own trumpet here, I just want you to understand how long we have supported the Blue Tongues. During the years since then, the team has gone through changes, moved location, had some great players and some not so great players, imports return, imports leave, and had had both highs and lows. As fans, we have been tested, pushed to extremes, and challenged over our faith in the Blue Tongues…
But we’re still here.
Wendy and I drive from north Brisbane to every game, over 90 minutes each way, rain or shine to watch our team play. We’ve flown once and driven the 14 hours to Newcastle (and Erina) twice times to watch the team play, two trips for regular league games and last year to support the team for the Finals. We’ve flown to Canberra and Sydney to watch the team play on the road. We wear our jerseys proudly, scream support to the point of losing our voices and will ferociously defend our team if anybody dare insult them. Hell, in 2006 we even gave Blue Tongues jerseys to Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen of the Dallas Stars!
We’re fans.
Which I guess is where my posts here have confused, or even angered some people. How can fans say such horrible things about their team? I got challenged a few days back on Facebook, and a player (the gentle giant he is) asked me if I was a fan, or a critic. To me, they are not so different. The only real difference is that a critic has no team loyalty, whereas a fan of course does. I always thought of myself as a fan who is honest, but i’ve been shocked to see that what my posts show me as is a critical fan, and that actually made me sick to my stomach.
I believe fans should be critical of their team. I don’t believe in rose coloured glasses and believe honesty is always better than simply cheering blindly. But, there comes a point where critique becomes negativity. I crossed that line, and I am incredibly sorry that I did.
Last NHL season I read an article on one of the hundreds of emails I receive each week that talked about “when fans go bad”. At the time I thought it was funny because it talked about fans who literally lose their minds after games. Montreal Canadiens fans are a great example for those who followed the playoffs. The article coined this great phrase, “IPF Syndrome”, or “Insanely Passionate Fan Syndrome”. Great phrase eh? All it means is we get so caught up in our passion for the game and the team that small things become big issues, and losing… well, that just becomes painful to take. As many of those who know me understand, when the Blue Tongues lose, it hurts. I forget however, that the players are even more upset at losing than I, as a fan am. Heck, that gives you guys (the players) such a huge amount of respect in my mind… seriously!
You guys are more than a team to us. The Blue Tongues have become an integral part of our hearts.
In 2 weeks the Blue Tongues travel to Canberra to take on the Knights. Wendy and I are traveling to Canberra that weekend and will be at the Sunday game, decked out in Blue and as always, screaming on our team to win… GO BLUE TONGUES!
