We Are All Kings … My Ass
- Updated: March 2, 2017
It just hit me.
With the news February 26 of the trade of faithful Los Angeles Kings net-minder Peter Budaj to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Ben Bishop, something got to me. The other trade deadline headline of Dwight King being sent to the Canadians also brought it home. It’s always been a reality on a very real level, but now it just becomes so very crystal clear.
The supercharged battle cry for LA Kings team – “We Are All Kings” – is a sham, another marketing ploy, a buzz-line to pump up fans who may forget that these are simply a bunch of adult men working their wares in what can only be called, for better or for worse, a business.
Yes, it’s always been true. It’s nothing new. Players have said it. Fans sort of know it, even as we take part in the very real business aspect of purchasing merchandise, parking our cars for 30 bucks, and forking out our moola for our prized seats. It’s the sort of concept we all accept on a conscious level. And it’s only once in awhile, that the thought may arise that something may be off.
But it won’t be verbalized normally. And why should it as the season goes along and the rooting takes place over so many games? I love my LA Kings team. I love Darryl, his son Chris, announcers Jimmy Fox, Patrick O’Neal and of course Bob Miller (Get well now!). I even love the mascot Bailey, as well as some of my fave players: McNabb, Carter and Budaj. Oh wait, scratch that, he’s gone. Budaj is now a Lightning. No longer one of the Kings in Los Angeles, California. Now a Lightning in Tampa Bay, Florida. Just like that. “He Are Not All Kings!”
How are fans supposed to adjust to such changes of the team and the players we cheer for and commit to? Are we supposed to cheer on and care for the players that make up the team, or are we expected to simply root on the franchise, and
the uniforms? Aren’t teams made up of people, the very humans with whom we can relate? Or do we simply relate to the jersey, as we don our own at games and special events?
If the Ducks’ Corey Perry would put on a Kings jersey, would he automatically be our guy? If we had the entire Ducks team switch uniforms with the Kings, would we automatically be rooting on Gibson, Getzlaf and Kessler? At what point, does our team not become our team? Who would have to leave for our team to fade? Justin Williams? Guess not. Milan Lucic? Nope. Devin Setoguchi? Ha. Ben Scrivens? Who? Mike Richards? No flippin’ way! Jonathan Quick? Hmmm. Anze Kopitar? Hmmmmmm.
With any of the departures of any of our players, the media-coached talking points on the matter are quite burned in: “I understand it’s a business.” That’s the meme. Yet, the franchise sells us another meme of “We Are All Kings.” If it is just a business, and not a team sport made up of sports heroes, would it not be closer to exclaim “We Are All Part of the Money Machine.” It’s disheartening. What’s next? “Go Kmart Go.” “Go Taco Bell Go!” “Go Starbucks Go!!”
So where did it all go wrong?
I personally believe the seed of the crumbling sports “team” was planted in the summer of 1974. Happened not in hockey but in football. The mighty undaunted Miami Dolphins dynasty was thrashed when three teammates – Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick and Paul Warfield – gutted the spirit of the team and jumped to another league for the sake of money. The last game they would play was a heartbreaking loss in the playoffs to the Oakland Raiders. Yes, it was a heartbreaking defeat in the waning moments of a battle that would be termed the “Sea of Hands” game. But I believe that loss was not the reason coach Don Shula outwardly cried following the game. He had lost much bigger games than that, including Super Bowl III when his then Colts lost to the upstart Jets. No, the tears flowed – after this game and after no other – because it was the end of something much bigger than one game … it was the loss of a “team.”
This is all conjecture sure, but I could be on to something here. Now in hockey, this year, you did hear one player reveal some loss around a teammate. In a February 26 post by Puck Daddy, it was reported that Shane Doan of the Arizona Coyotes was unhappy with the trade of teammate Martin Hanzal. “It’s really hard, obviously, he’s a huge part of our team and someone you get to play with for 10 years,” Doan said. “It’s hard to understand how exactly – I mean, you understand people’s hands are tied. Just don’t get it.”
Another player who showed much outward care about leaving his team was Wayne Gretzky, from his beloved Edmonton Oilers in 1988. He cried. The city of Edmonton was enraged. Beyond that, my recollection goes to Pedro Guerrero who was traded in 1989 from the Los Angeles Dodgers to the St. Louis Cardinals. I can still see in my mind’s eye the visual of him crying into the chest of his young child he was holding during a TV interview. It hit him hard.
Anyone notice when Jarret Stoll left the Kings? Or Justin Williams? For the latter, the best we got out of his hardened business heart was a sly smirk. That’s in my mind’s eye too. Disheartening.
Budaj heartbroken over leaving Kings.
Even with the recent departure of Budaj, the hard-working goalie was quoted on NHL.com after he flew from Minnesota where the Kings were to play on February 27 to his new hometown of Tampa: “It’s exciting. The weather is great here. You can’t ask for more, going from Minnesota and coming here. Pretty awesome.” What? Comparing the weather of the town where the Kings landed for ONE game to his new home-rink location in sunny Florida? Is he delirious? Did he get the wrong media “talking points?” Or does this 34-year-old grown man, with a family to support, simply feel overjoyed to be working – er playing – anywhere?
What you will never hear Budaj or another player say: “I work my ass off and this is how they repay me?” Nope, NOT a quote you will hear. But do such players think it? A player who cares about his team might. A businessman moving across town or country to another paying gig would not.
Here is how GM Dean Lombardi explains the business transaction of human being Dwight King: “We’re trying to bridge a gap here. You’re caught between buyer/seller mentality. We weren’t going to be able to sign Dwight.”
It just doesn’t matter, does it? It’s a job. While the fans root for these players, the managers manage the money, and the workers earn their paycheck. I guess it would be the same if someone came to our work and cheered us on, hoping to get a glimpse of us while we walked into our office building, maybe grabbing a picture near our car in the parking lot. If we had to change jobs with another company, would it matter about those supporters … especially if we were moving to a better company, making more money?
So being a fan then? Is it a sham? Or maybe it’s all just part of the game. And I don’t mean hockey game, but rather the game of being in a movie, where we play a part of this character who roots on this club. If it’s not the players that make up the team we love, then it must be about the city the team originates. And it must be about winning and home pride. And it must be about a context and team spirit of which we can feel but perhaps not see on the surface.
It’s a business OK. It’s a job for these players, owners and coaches OK. I get it. I will gladly pay for my seats, my gas, and even for the outlandish parking. As long as the underlying vibe of this team, from my beloved Los Angeles legacy, is gutsy honor, gritty playing and clean sportsmanship, I will cheer and I will root.
I will accept that it’s a business that can change for any player on a dime at any time. And if that’s the case, then let’s not pretend anything else. Come on – we are not all Kings.
We are all Kings’ fans. And I can live with that.
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3 Comments
About Jim Ellis
Corey Wisla
March 2, 2017 at 10:46 am
Kings acquiring Gretzky really helped pave the way for untradable players to be tradable. Granted, if he hadn’t of got traded to a California team, the California hockey scene wouldn’t be what it is now as it helped drum up enough interest in the area to bring in more teams.
Though on the point of ‘We are All Kings’ I think it is more saying the fans are included. Comparable to the 13th man slogan that the Seattle Seahawks have.
Greg
March 2, 2017 at 12:11 pm
There is a reality here of the business of sports. Sorry to see them both go after their time and tenure and notable contributions but when the GM and ownership weigh costs versus return, players will come and go. Obviously when the team is winning there is a sense of chemistry between the players that can influence keeping someone on an off year but when the team isn’t posting the wins, what is there to do? Fire the coach,…deal Kopitar, Gaborik, Brown, or? When all is said and done I have to wish King and Budaj well with their new teams (they will always be Kings).
Bill Culbertson
April 6, 2017 at 12:06 pm
Please goto this site, and research what the “Salary Cap” era means
http://www.hockeybuzz.com/cap-central/team.php?team=LA
It’s easy to be just a fan, but to be an informed fan takes 5 minutes of reading