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Dispelling Myths

In case one writes into a search engine “Coyotes Move to Winnipeg”, it might cause you to bump here.

That might be good or bad for you depending on where you live.

Rumorsphere that I alluded to earlier today has twitter abuzz with this “story” that even caused our local reporter to chime in.  I’ll link there, but not to the buzz that created this monstrosity of a story.  More of that in a bit.

[begin rant]

What concerns me more though is that most people take to what is written on the web as gospel, without considering the source, which is why that I think the Main Stream Media shouldn’t go away any time soon.

They have editors, fact checkers, and from time to time, journalistic integrity.  Some bloggers though don’t have any of that.  They can write what they want, post it to Facebook or Twitter, and people will repeat what is said, and before you know it, the place is viral with misinformation.

Now, I’ve been one to be myopic about all things Coyotes – hell, I missed some obvious signs that our franchise was in a bit of trouble – but the bottom line is that I would never write something to pass off as “fact” (hence my blog’s name – One Fan’s Perspective; I already give you the perception that I have no insider knowledge of anything).

So, if I write something outlandish, the reader should really consider that I’m just a hockey fan, that knows how to write, but has no relationship to anyone inside the organization.

The same thing should occur for any of those reading a hockey blog of any sort (unless it comes from a journalist of some kind).  The reason being, one would not get a community all up in a tizzy that needs some calming down about one franchise moving to another location.  In fact, the mayor of that city wouldn’t need to respond to anything that someone printed, like the mayor of Winnipeg had to do.

The only problem with social networking sites is that the opposite end of the spectrum gets printed far faster than normal.  They’re great for like connecting people, and spreading communication, but not so great when the communication is just poor.

So, the Coyotes are here, not moving to Winnipeg, the story that these people are writing is just not true.  It’s too bad that the “owner” of that website is so very irresponsible that he hires very irresponsible people to write for them.

What’s worse is that people believe him/them and when they do, I call it job security.

[/end rant]

Here is what Jim Gintonio of the Arizona Republic had to say:

More Nonsense from North of the Border

And some other articles can be found here:

The Whole Truth and Nothing But from The Winnipeg Free Press

Get a Grip Winnipeg from Slam! Sports Canoe

Attendance Improves for Coyotes Home Games

It’s been awhile since I’ve written about our beloved Phoenix Coyotes.  Mainly, it’s due to my professional and personal obligations.  However, there is another concern.

I’m superstitious. I hate when our beloved sports announcers/analysts in Dave Strader and Tyson Nash “jinx” our team by talking about the opposition’s players that have been cold, only to score the timely goal against us.  But that hasn’t happened in awhile.

Still, since I’ve stopped writing, the Coyotes have gone on a tear having the fourth best record in the NHL, and did some remodeling by bringing in some quality players (one of them on a second tour with Derek Morris).  So all is well.

/self-indulgence

What I’ve noticed now is that the rumorsphere from those with a computer and access to the interwebs have decided to create an atmosphere of it’s-not-fair-itis (note: I’m not linking to them…not that I get a huge surge in traffic anyway, but the sources are very weak and I don’t want to participate in giving them any more credit than I have).  The Coyotes are winning, poised to make the playoffs, and quite possibly do some serious damage.  We have people who cry foul because that’s not supposed to happen, and posit that since the sale to the Tampa Bay Lightning group went so quickly, something is rotten in our Denmark because the sale of the Coyotes isn’t happening so quickly.

As Hip Shot Blog points out, our former wonderful ownership group, with Bal-silly, really tarnished what was right about Arizona hockey.  In fact, it has taken Todd Walsh to keep reminding us that hockey has been in the desert a long while – much to the “historians” dismay.

My point?  This article from the Phoenix Business Journal explains that our attendance issues are improving, in spite of the other entertainment vehicles that compete for the scare dollars that exist in the Phoenix Valley.  The article reminds us of what is happening in terms of Sports Entertainment out here, and the city can be a great sports town if one looks hard enough.

The Coyotes are winning, people are returning, and it’s what I’ve written all along.  Hopefully, the buyers from Ice Edge or others will step forward and put all this rumor mongering to rest.