Sportsfrog.com

Bear with me, this is not a hockey column.

There were only two games on the NHL schedule Monday night: Tampa at Washington and Edmonton at New York.

Now, I live in Tampa, but I live for the Oilers.

Watching these two games at the same time (on two tvs) provided me with a stark example of why the Oilers are the only team i root for in all of sports.

But they aren’t just a team to cheer for, they are more like a fine wine.
With the Oilers, you don’t just root for a jersey, or a logo, or a town of stereotyped people.
With the Oilers, you know they are going to play a style of game that few others try.
No matter who the coach is, no matter who the players are, if you’re an Oiler, you’re part of something unique.
That’s tradition, in its purist sense.

So, it got me thinking, are us Oilers fans the only people in North America who get to enjoy such loyal love?

What other team, in any sport, can you count on always playing the same way, and always have the same kind of players.

The Steelers, for example, have a strong identity, but their players and system change over time.
For the Yankees and Red Sox, well, a tradition of assholes isn’t really what I’m thinking about here.

I don’t follow the NBA close enough, so maybe someone can help me out here. But maybe the Pistons have this?

Again, I’m not talking about a history of winning, I’m talking about who plays for them and how they play.

The Mike Shanahan era in Denver isn’t what we’re looking for. More like the Red Wings recent history of puck possession teams that have dominated the last 10 years. But that’s just a portion of their total history and is largely due to Niklas Lidstrom. So what happens when he retires?

Obviously, younger franchises have more of an advantage at defining the entirety of their own narrative.

So if there’s something else out there, I’d like to know.
Tell us in the swamp, if you’d be so kind.