Does Evander Kane posting this photo to Twitter signify the end of the honeymoon between the Jets and their fans? (TWITTER.COM)
Will Donald Fehr be able to negotiate an end to the lockout in time for a compressed season in 2013? (FRED THORNHILL/Reuters)
Will Bombers GM Joe Mack keep his job? (JASON HALSTEAD/Winnipeg Sun)
Will Buck Pierce be able to complete a successful season? (FRED GREENSLADE/Reuters)
Will the Bombers be able to capitalize on their new stadium? (COURTESY BOMBERS)
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Normally this is supposed to be a rumination of the year that was. A look back at some of the highlights of the last 12 months.
There. Done.
Seriously, 2012 will not go down as a memorable one for Winnipeg sports fans.
Going in, our local CFLers were supposed to follow up their 2011 Grey Cup appearance with another serious run at their first championship in more than two decades.
Instead, the Blue Bombers turned out to be a one-year wonder.
A few clicks to the east down Portage Avenue, there at least were some highs involving our pucksters.
But our exciting new taste for the NHL would turn more sour by the month, beginning with the Jets crash-and-burn from playoff contention and culminating with the hollow, clanging sound of yet another lockout.
Considering we had one the year before the original Jets bolted for Phoenix, I suppose it?s some sort of cruel symmetry we have one the year after they return.
Wasn?t 2012 also supposed to usher in an exciting new era in sports facilities in this town?
Alas, we?ve killed enough trees on that story.
Add it all up, and it?s enough to make a Winnipeg sports nut go nuts.
lnstead of revisiting the gory details, I thought we?d look ahead.
So here are five storylines worth watching going into what has to be a better year in the toy department.
Because it couldn?t get any worse ? could it?
Frozen Fallout
As of this writing, the NHL had cancelled games through Jan. 14, or more than half the season.
That doesn?t mean we can?t have a compressed 48-game campaign, probably with conference play only.
But the two sides are getting closer and closer to the edge of that cliff, as that type of season would have to start around Jan. 20.
You?d think the deadline would produce a deal, like most deadlines do in labour negotiations.
You wonder, though, how much anger the players and owners have stirred up in fans and sponsors, and how it?ll be manifested whenever they do get back on the ice.
End of the Honeymoon
On a related topic, a few members of the Jets have had bad off-seasons, led by Ondrej Pavelec?s drunk driving crash and conviction in the Czech Republic.
Others, defenceman Ron Hainsey ? the face of the lockout ? and winger Evander (Moneybags) Kane have simply raised the ire of fans looking for people to blame for not having hockey.
Coupled with the normal subsiding of the NHL honeymoon, does the local shinny shack become a less friendly place for the home side in 2013 and beyond?
?
?
Field of Dreams
The Bombers will finally move into that spectacular facility down at the U of M, and that will create quite a buzz on its own.
Until 2013?s opening kickoff, at least.
How the Bombers play in their new digs will either buff the place to an impressive shine and launch the team to new financial heights or tarnish it, hurting the team?s ability to ?maximize revenues,? as they say.
After last year ? the losing, the security clampdown, the firing of yet another head coach ? the Bombers don?t have a lot of credit in the fan goodwill account right now.
There shouldn?t be any empty seats in the first year of a facility that?s now costing $200 million.
If there are, it won?t help the Bombers as they begin repaying a whopping $95 million in debt.
Armed or Dangerous?
What happens at quarterback for the Bombers is the story to watch on the field in 2013.
There isn?t a team in the CFL more in flux at football?s most important position.
If the Bombers don?t get this right ? having Buck Pierce somehow complete a successful season or finding someone who can ? they will be doomed to extend the longest championship drought in franchise history to a 23rd year, and then some.
That?s a dangerous road to stay on, new stadium or not.
If the Bombers solve their quarterback problem, GM Joe Mack will have gone a long way to saving his job.
Entering the last year of his contract with a 21-35 record in games that matter, Mack needs to show CEO Garth Buchko he knows how to build a consistent winner, not just a team that stumbles into the Grey Cup game once in a while.
If the Bombers post another losing season, Buchko will be forced to undergo the difficult task of conducting a GM search, and the Bombers will be back at the drawing board. Again.
That would leave a lousy taste in the mouths of poor, downtrodden Bomber Nation.
It?s true head coach Tim Burke will be under the microscope in his first full season as head chef. But it?s Mack?s job to supply the ingredients.
So there?s you?re recipe for a successful 2013.
After the past year?s heartache, is that too much to ask?
How would rate 2012 for sports in Winnipeg?
Source: http://www.winnipegsun.com/2012/12/29/a-year-to-forget-in-winnipeg-sports
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