Now Is Not The Time For Woe-Betidings
Some mornings you wake, the sun streaming in from a quiet street to warm your house, and everything seems to be right with the world. Until you think back to the night before, and then everything tastes like ashes.
We’ve heard from Coach Boudreau. We’ve heard from several of the players. We’ve heard (an earful) from Alan May. We’ve read all the finger-pointing, blame-naming, frown-inducing commentary from the Caps Commentariat.
It’s clear there are problems with the Capitals execution right now. But there’s another problem which just runs counter to anything productive: the immediate grab for gloom.
Remember that ridiculous Hee Haw sketch (OK, no, most of you don’t, but work with me) of four dejected hillbilly losers wailing about “gloom, despair, and agony on me?” What made that bit work (to the degree anything really ‘worked’ on Hee Haw), apart from the Lil’ Abner bumpkin hats and cardboard moonshine still in the background, was that these four weren’t the victims of genuine misfortune. They were clearly pre-disposed to seeing “deep dark depression (and) excessive misery” on their own.
They were losers exactly because they declared themselves losers.
“So that’s where we’re at now,” you may ask; “taking life lessons from Junior Samples?” No, that’s not where we are. But we’re also not whiners crying about bad luck or whatever had been handed to us.
This runs completely against the general grain right now, which makes us suspect that we might be onto something. The Capitals are a professional team. From the head office down they need to get their shit together. And precisely because they are professionals, and exceptionally talented ones at that, we expect that they will.
What’s not helping is the chorus of bleating about how so-and-so stinks, or how we’re a team that consistently grabs defeat from victory.
Calls for accountability? Fine. Gloom, despair and agony on us? Not likely.
It’s sack-grab o’clock. Let’s suit up, fix what needs to be fixed, and get on with it. Save the wailing for people who know how to do it, like Joe Doe and Exene.
What I think is interesting is that at this time last year, it seems like the same conversation was happening. Well, perhaps it wasn’t the same, but there were quite a few of the same elements.
Is this a pattern?
its considered insanity if you do the same thing over and over expecting a different result the next time you do it.. that said.. the washington capitals are insane.. a change has to happen.. the easiest and well cheapest change would be to throw bruce boudreau under the bus..
i would suggest a change of venue for sasha, but i fear the pink mafia (craig n doug) would hunt me down for taking away their piece of eye candy..
I’ve never thought of myself as mafia before. Now I wonder if we have real pull…
Oh wait, we’re just two gay guys.
As far as Sasha goes…suffice it to say we’ll be following him.
There! Now everyone is creeped out! hahahahaha