This is Goodbye

[Fourier]

Edd had a great way of drawing caricatures. His drawing of Trudeau the senior, making him look so hideous and evil…well on second thought maybe he had easy material to work with

For those that maybe don’t know the editorial cartoon you reference, here it is: (kids, it’s 1969, metric hasn’t been imposed on us yet. Those are Fahrenheit and they are cold).

Edit - Edmonton Industrial Airport just saw that, now home to the biggest white elephant municipal residential land development in all of Edmonton.

View attachment 758425

I think I have my certificate somewhere.

The youngin's here might find this hard to believe but at one time Jim Matheson was a must read hockey columnist. Great sport section for both pro and amateur sports. Of course the Saturday comics were also a staple.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I think I have my certificate somewhere.

The youngin's here might find this hard to believe but at one time Jim Matheson was a must read hockey columnist. Great sport section for both pro and amateur sports. Of course the Saturday comics were also a staple.

I wouldn't go that far. he wasn't even a particularly good writer. Neither Jones or Matheson were. Pretty standard fishwrap.

Wayne Overland like I mentioned earlier was a better writer. Barry Westgate was too. Many others. journal had several good writers and columnists at the time. Seemed like by the 70's the sports gigs were taken up by people that couldn't write about anything else.

 

[Stoneman89]

I wouldn't go that far. he wasn't even a particularly good writer. Neither Jones or Matheson were. Pretty standard fishwrap.

Wayne Overland like I mentioned earlier was a better writer. Barry Westgate was too. Many others. journal had several good writers and columnists at the time. Seemed like by the 70's the sports gigs were taken up by people that couldn't write about anything else.

I used to like Dick Chubey of the Sun.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I used to like Dick Chubey of the Sun.

i think I saw his column a lot because sometimes opposite the Sunshine Girl. Always a must look at the time. heh

But yeah, I think he was more interesting. Best hockey reads of alltime probably Gzowski "Game of our lives" and Ken Dryden "The Game" It is possible to write well about hockey.

 

[DavidHasselhoffsFist]

Imagine the Oilers Winning and the entire stadium fist bumping to this. Cheer up the good times are still ahead. We always suck for at least 10 games at some point.

 

[Fourier]

I wouldn't go that far. he wasn't even a particularly good writer. Neither Jones or Matheson were. Pretty standard fishwrap.

Wayne Overland like I mentioned earlier was a better writer. Barry Westgate was too. Many others. journal had several good writers and columnists at the time. Seemed like by the 70's the sports gigs were taken up by people that couldn't write about anything else.

Matheson was never a "good writer". In fact, the columns I was talking about were not even full sentences a lot of the time. But you got details about teams around the league that were not available anywhere else.

 

[Patch101]

I'll quit when I'm dead.

but I've learned to not pay a lot of attention till it matters ( playoffs )

Better using that time to play hockey

 

[bellagiobob]

I think I have my certificate somewhere.

The youngin's here might find this hard to believe but at one time Jim Matheson was a must read hockey columnist. Great sport section for both pro and amateur sports. Of course the Saturday comics were also a staple.

Hard to believe now, but Matty was pretty much the source for any Oiler news. No internet or social media, the Hockey News arrived a week after publication with by then two week old news, Matty was our connection to the team. Every day he had blips and blurbs of news that you couldn't really get anywhere else.

 

[guymez]

Hard to believe now, but Matty was pretty much the source for any Oiler news. No internet or social media, the Hockey News arrived a week after publication with by then two week old news, Matty was our connection to the team. Every day he had blips and blurbs of news that you couldn't really get anywhere else.

I remember that well.
Wasnt too concerned about the quality of the writing/delivery either.
Just cared about the information.

 

[PaPaDee]

I will always remain an Oilers fan, but I’ve become a very casual one over the last number of years. My passion for the team, and maybe the game as well, has evaporated. At one point, I watched every game, highlights, interviews, etc. And now, I’m not even aware most nights if they’re playing or not.

 

[CycloneSweep]

What’s going on with this board and the main boards? It’s been 6 games guys! People are actually leaving this board and just giving up on being Oiler fans after 6 games? Incredible. Is that what it means to be an Oilers fan? You can’t handle 6 bad games and can’t handle a bunch of immature brats on the main boards?

If only it was 6 bad games.
For most it’s the culmination of like what 15 years of failure and bullshit. Team finally looked like it had turned a corner and moved on from most of the pathetic play and bam. Right back to being failures.

 

[Bring Back Bucky]

i think I saw his column a lot because sometimes opposite the Sunshine Girl. Always a must look at the time. heh

But yeah, I think he was more interesting. Best hockey reads of alltime probably Gzowski "Game of our lives" and Ken Dryden "The Game" It is possible to write well about hockey.

I’m with you on game of our lives but found Dryden tried way too hard on the game.

 

[Stoneman89]

Edd had a great way of drawing caricatures. His drawing of Trudeau the senior, making him look so hideous and evil…well on second thought maybe he had easy material to work with

For those that maybe don’t know the editorial cartoon you reference, here it is: (kids, it’s 1969, metric hasn’t been imposed on us yet. Those are Fahrenheit and they are cold).

Edit - Edmonton Industrial Airport just saw that, now home to the biggest white elephant municipal residential land development in all of Edmonton.

View attachment 758425

Gawd, I remember that like it was yesterday. We thought the earth was ending and if climate change was a thing back then, people would have been all over it.

Hard to believe now, but Matty was pretty much the source for any Oiler news. No internet or social media, the Hockey News arrived a week after publication with by then two week old news, Matty was our connection to the team. Every day he had blips and blurbs of news that you couldn't really get anywhere else.

And as has been noted many times, the main reason he's in the HOF is due to the Oilers massive success during those times. He was carried along in the stream with them. Had they been a crap team and stayed that way, not many people would ever have heard of him.

 

[Stoneman89]

I will always remain an Oilers fan, but I’ve become a very casual one over the last number of years. My passion for the team, and maybe the game as well, has evaporated. At one point, I watched every game, highlights, interviews, etc. And now, I’m not even aware most nights if they’re playing or not.

Good reasoned post. I think there are a lot of people like you out there. Disillusioned and frustrated, to the point of not following much, but always a fan.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Good reasoned post. I think there are a lot of people like you out there. Disillusioned and frustrated, to the point of not following much, but always a fan.

I'm going to the Heritage Classic and it's the first Oilers game I've been to in Edmonton in about 5 years. It's insane how apathetic the fanbase is right now, but not unexpected at all.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

I just feel like there is something wrong with the league. Too American. Too biased. Too much parity.

What's the point of watching a team grow at all? When you get upward salary pressure in one location and then hoolahoops and cap circumvention in another market.

Is it rigged? Or is it a shit product due to incompetence....I'd say both.

I do enjoy it when they play good or prove people wrong but it's sort of at endgame. Like if they win I'll just think the league is still trash anyway.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I remember that well.
Wasnt too concerned about the quality of the writing/delivery either.
Just cared about the information.

Back then the radio was more the source and various stations would have Oilers news and of course the games on. Most of the games not being on TV you'd be listening on radio anyway if you had the time.

 

[guymez]

Back then the radio was more the source and various stations would have Oilers news and of course the games on. Most of the games not being on TV you'd be listening on radio anyway if you had the time.

Thats true.
One of my favorite things to do to unwind a little (as a teenager) was to go to a Dairy Queen and get a Peanut Buster Parfait (with extra hot fudge) and park my boat of a car somewhere (usually somewhere with a view of the river valley and downtown) and listen to Rod Philips call a game that wasnt televised.

 

[Stoneman89]

Thats true.
One of my favorite things to do to unwind a little (as a teenager) was to go to a Dairy Queen and get a Peanut Buster Parfait (with extra hot fudge) and park my boat of a car somewhere (usually somewhere with a view of the river valley and downtown) and listen to Rod Philips call a game that wasnt televised.

Shit, Rod was so damned good back in the day, it was sometimes better and more fun to listen to him describe a game than to actually view it on TV!

 

[brentashton]

Shit, Rod was so damned good back in the day, it was sometimes better and more fun to listen to him describe a game than to actually view it on TV!

I remember a couple of things about listening to Rod on the radio.

I worked at an IGA store as a high school student when the Oilers first came into the league, so we used to turn the games from the Oiler Radio Network (CFRN, CHED or whatever it was at the time) onto the store intercom so we had something to listen to before and then after close while we did restock and cleaning. Owner didn’t want the game on when the store was open but we’d often push the envelope and patch it in at 730pm, I think we closed at 8pm if I recall right.

And like others, on nights when the game wasn’t on ITV, it wasn’t uncommon to fire up the 1969 Chev C10 (god I wish I still had that truck but it was not reliable for university) and go for a drive so you could listen to the game. But man living on the east side of the province, I think it was CHED broadcasting then, would power down at 7pm and sometimes I’d end up in Islay, Alberta in order to get a strong enough signal.

We were really fortunate to have had someone that we should include into the all time greats of hockey radio broadcasting being the voice of the Oilers during those years.

 

[oobga]

I had a more thought out post that got deleted so hopefully the mods are ok with this one.

I just wanted to say that my time as an Oilers fan has expired. I will miss the conversations, the memes, the TOPPEP magic and the arguments over 13th forwards and 7th defenseman.

Love you guys, and be kind to one another.

 

[DavidHasselhoffsFist]

Imagine the Oilers Winning and the entire stadium fist bumping to this. Cheer up the good times are still ahead. We always suck for at least 10 games at some point.

 

[PositiveCashFlow]

 

[Mez]

Was the OP Ryan Whitney?

 

[gordonhught]

What a bunch of babies in this thread.