The power of sport
Its a funny thing – you can be thinking poorly of your city, or your work, or your life. And then something so peripheral, something you have no control over, can impact your feelings and your thoughts.
Sport has that ability and the Winnipeg Jets playoff run is a prime example.
The city – a long suffering hockey town – was mesmerized by the Jets and their recent performance. Civic pride ran wild and social media was filled with Winnipeggers retweeting positive comments about the city – especially those made by people from out of the province.
It didn’t change who Winnipeg was – and it didn’t change our individual lives – but there was an energy and a pride on display that had not been as evident as it was this past month. And it made it feel, at least for the moment, that the city could do anything!
That’s the power of sport. And in some ways, one of the subjective benefits of having a major sports franchise. It’s encouraging that after all the scandals and the stories and the problems that sport has had in the new millennium, it can still impact a region this way.
Given our recent experience here is Winnipeg, you have to hope that sport never loses that ability to energize and to excite.
