Western confernce champion's banner is not being raised. It's already up there.
To commemorate their 2005-2006 Western Conference championship, the Oilers will show their fans tonight to a four-minute video then shine a spotlight on a banner that will have already been raised to the roof of Rexall Place. And while all that's going on, the Oilers and their rivals, the Calgary Flames, will remain in their dressing rooms, oblivious to everything but the cheering.
"It'll be subdued," Oilers' general manager Kevin Lowe said of tonight's planned celebration. "We've never raised a banner for anything other than a Stanley Cup. It's more and more difficult to get a banner of any type, and it is the first we've added since 1992. But the players feel the same way. Last year was fun for them; now it's time to move on."
As much as I despise the Oilers and everything that they do, this is a good move. Banners and all that garbage are for the fans and there is no reason to include the players and make a big hoopla over it.
The Flames did a big thing last year to raise their banner, and it was really kind of embarrassing, considering how bittersweet a Western Conference Championship is when they didn't finish the job.
The Wings didn't raise the banners for the Central Divsion and President's Trophy last night...I think it's simply the philosophy of the franchise. I like it...
I like those organizations that "act like they've been there before." Wings, Oilers do it right. By contrast, my team, the Dallas Stars, won all the marbles in '99. Nice work. But they raised FIVE banners for that season. Gimme' a break. The big one should've been the only one going up, at least for that year.
