Let the Silent Majority Be Heard

If you listen to Vancouver sports radio, or read the sports section in the Vancouver Sun or Province, you will realize that the city is in crisis mode. The BC Lions are 1-4 and everyone is calling for the head of GM/Head Coach Wally Buono. It is very reminiscent of what happened to Canucks Head Coach Alain Vigneault during a losing skid in January.

The Team 1040 Radio Station fields calls like, “I think Buono’s over the hill. He used to be good but he’s lost his passion.”

And, “Buono has always had a talented team and that’s why he’s done well. He can’t succeed without a very talented group.”

I’m not going to get into refuting these ideas, because there’s no need. The point I want to make is that the majority of radio callers are going to be negative and this is because of who they are. The hardcore sports fan is a blue collar worker, to whom the local sports team is most important. He or she does not have a very balanced approach to life and is from a largely uneducated segment of the population. As such, he lacks the scope to understand that a loss in any given week, or even 3 weeks in a row, is not the end of the world.

The Lions have over 20,000 season ticket holders, and the almost all of them attend every game in support of the local team. They understand that Coach Buono sports a 75-37-1 record as Lions Head Coach and is ranked second in the CFL in all-time wins with 227. They comprehend the idea of a rebuilding phase and a movement to younger players. It’s just too bad that instead of calling the radio, these people just sit back and listen, chuckling at the mindlessness of the comments and focusing on the more important parts of life.