By Gregory AdamsMany Manitobans, and hockey fans in general, rejoiced earlier this year at the announcement that the Winnipeg Jets were coming back to the NHL this coming fall. Weakerthans frontman John K. Samson was among those who cheered for the team's return. That is, until he saw the team's revamped logo.
In an editorial in the Winnipeg Review, the musician shared his concerns over the team swapping out the classic airliner motif of the original logo for a sleeker look based on the old Canadian Air Force emblem.
While he admitted he was initially excited to follow the new team, despite missing out on seasons tickets, the new logo's militaristic implications rub him the wrong way.
"Inspired by a CF-18 fighter jet, it attempts to tie our professional hockey team directly to the Canadian Forces base here in Winnipeg, a link that was invented in the boardroom of the new team owners, True North Sports and Entertainment," he wrote.
"Sports teams, of course, often have military implications to their names and logos, and sport as war is an understandable if overly simple simile, but I can't think of another team anywhere that has attempted to attach itself as blatantly and directly to an existing, contemporary arm of the military. 'Bombers,' and 'Raiders,' for example, are vaguely militaristic names with somewhat militaristic logos. The Jets new roundel is a recruiting device for a specific branch of the Canadian military. There is an obvious and massive difference there."
One of Samson's concerns is that the team's new look splits up two distinct groups of people rather than rallying them behind the sports team, effectively putting off fans that aren't as inclined to support a war effort.
"Where does that leave those hockey fans that feel varying degrees of otherwise?" he questions. "The new Jets logo will tell some of us that we simply aren't welcome at the rink."
Samson isn't the only Winnipeg punk to question the good old hockey game. His former bandmates in Propagandhi pondered sports commentator Don Cherry's alleged jingoistic war-mongering on their "Dear Coach's Corner," from 2009's Supporting Caste.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-08-02 15:26:39I think the argument that you are pitting fans into two camps is overly simplistic. It is completely possible to support members of the military without supporting a particular military action. And I highly doubt that recruitment to the RAF will be increased by one person as a result of the Jets' logo. http://www.jetslanding.ca...
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-08-02 16:55:07Agreed. Much ado about nothing.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-08-02 17:29:52It's like suggesting NJ Devils fans worship Satan or Edmonton Oilers fans support the oil industry and the tar sands.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-08-03 00:13:06Well said John K.
I am from Winnipeg and I am a hockey fan but what John says resonates with me. I will go to a game here and there but I will never purchase anything with that logo.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-08-03 01:57:34Tyler Shipley of the Consumer Goods wrote a similar piece last week available on uptownmag.com - and his band has a song called Hockey Night in Afghanada - opening with the line "fuck Don Cherry, there I said it".
Most people don't care about the logo, but they should. Especially since hockey has absolutely nothing to do with war. Apparently if you're anti-logo, you're a pot smokin' hippie who is also anti-support the troops. Whatever. I miss the Manitoba Moose already!
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-08-03 10:06:461. GREGORY ADAMS IS A FUCKING LOSER TO WRITE SUCH GARBAGE. THATS THE NEW LOGO SO DEAL WITH IT. 2. TO THE ASSHOLE WHO SAYS 'ILL NEVER WEAR OR BUY ANYTHING WITH THAT LOGO... WELL FEEL FREE TO TAKE A BULLET FOR THE COUNTRY YOU ASSHOLE. 3. DON CHERRY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. 4.FOR THE ASSHOLE THAT ARE GETTING OFF ON THIS GO FIND A CURE FOR CANCER OR AUTISM SINCE YOU IDIOTS SEEM TO KNOW EVERYTHING. 5.PLEASE FEEL FREE TO GRAB A RAZOR AND SLITS YOUR WRISTS TO YOU ASSHOLES YOU WHINE OVER A FUCKING HOCKEY LOGO THAT REPRESENTS CANADA RCAF. YOUR FILTH AND SCUM PLEASE DIE
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-08-03 10:10:09JOHN K SAMSON , i agree with the guy above you write total shit , get off the net and go cover a story in the school yard. you suck. i like the jets new logo as well
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-08-03 15:26:40Way to shoot the messenger dickheads. Greg is just relaying John's opinion, not his own. Or maybe you can't read properly. I heard all-caps losers are prone to such idiocies.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-08-04 01:39:16The new Jets logo is a disgusting attempt to plant the seeds for a new, military-based, fascist war economy in Canada. The logo frightens me beyond belief. However, those who support the logo and blindly support the Canadian military frighten me even more.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-08-04 10:00:37I said the same thing when Conn Smythe named the Leafs after the Maple Leaf Regiment back in the '20', and had their logo resemble the Leaf on our uniforms in WWI. But no one listened to me, so here we are 80 years later having the same debate.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-08-05 11:47:34The responses by 10:06:46 and 10:10:09 pretty much sum up what many of us here in Winnipeg know - there are a lot of sports fans who are painting our city in a way that I am not comfortable with.
Resorting to childish attacks without providing any valid counterpoints, like the two above have done, is only hindering their cause.
Can we not engage in respectful, intelligent dialogue?
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-08-06 16:50:49Actually the Conn Smythe guy has a very valid point. Sure, it was very sarcastic but children don't really appreciate sarcasm so I wouldn't call it childish. As for the guy afraid of Canada's fascist military-industrial complex he's dreamed up and it's association with a hockey team, yea, he could use some growing up.
I'd like to think that the citizens of Winnipeg are capable of distinguishing between a hockey team clearly privately owned by a couple multi-millionaires, some of whose more focal members will be European & American, and their own government. If not a contentious hockey-logo is the least of their problems.
CONCERT: Buck 65 - Venue, Vancouver BC May 18
Aug 02 2011
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Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-08-02 15:26:39I think the argument that you are pitting fans into two camps is overly simplistic. It is completely possible to support members of the military without supporting a particular military action. And I highly doubt that recruitment to the RAF will be increased by one person as a result of the Jets' logo.
