Stupidity - Oilers Pull a KGB

This is the enemy. That's right Oilers' bloggers - the Edmonton Oilers organization think that YOU are a threat to the organization.

The Edmonton Oilers are exercising their rights as a private organization. But who have they targeted as their enemy? The Oilers' fan? Give us a break. The bloggers are so influential on the fan network that the team has employed the same strategy with Colin McDonald, Jen Sharpe, and Taylor Chorney. You see it around the league. Perhaps they want to protect it so that it could used for a profit-venture. Good for them. But the small-market team called the Oilers is heavily dependant on fan support and they shouldn't be targetting bloggers as the enemy.

Look at OilersNation. Look at the Edmonton Journal's David Staples' Cult of Hockey. Look at Jen Sharpe, for the sake of Jesus H. Christ and the holy brigade. The Oilers' bloggers are every bit as effective at spreading the Oilers' love and cheer than any thing the Oilers' themselves have failed horribly to try - such as their inept Pay-Per-View coverage and lacklustre players' blogs (Chorney and McDonald).

Full story here and here.

More about this here.

grease trap said...

What bothers me most here is the fact that any fool could live blog an oilers fame from their blackberry in any seat in the rink.

That someone who is passionate about the team writing for other fans is viewed by the organization as some kind of threat is patently ridiculous and narrowly shortsighted.

It baffles me that a multimillion dollar organization doesn't even have the first clue as to the value of the Oilogosphere to the Edmonton Oilers. Around the hockey world, the Oilers blogs are the envy of other teams.

Battle of Alberta alone has generated over a million hits and if the numbers on my poorly maintained blog are any indication, the frequency of visitors is only increasing.

This kind of Luddite ignorance on behalf of "The Organization" is going to hurt them more than they can even apparently comprehend in terms of reputation and an inevitable diminishment of respect and passion from their most hardcore fans (bloggers) and therefore those same blogs' millions of readers.

Stupidly and cluelessly played, Oilers.

I couldn't agree more, grease trap. The Oilers should be supporting bloggers because we spread hype and garner attention for the team, for free - not punishing us because we do this in our spare time so passionately besides whatever it is we get paid to do in our regular life.