What Do I Do?

Rioters! I have a serious problem. As you well know, I support the Winnipeg Jets more than any other american, other than possibly Jay, but I have a very serious issue on my hands and I don’t know what to do. You see, if you’ve been following along over this past year  you know that I may support the Jets with all of my heart, but I bleed the red, white and blue of the New York Rangers since I’m 5 years old. With that knowledge, here’s my dilemma, tonight the Rangers travel to Winnipeg to take on the Jets. Now if this were January or November, this would not be that big of a deal, but with 5 games left in the season; the Rangers battling for the President’s trophy and the Jets battling for the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference, I don’t know who to pull for.

The Rangers stand 3 points ahead of the Penguins for the eastern conference lead and stand 2 points behind the Blues for the President’s trophy while the Jets are in a must win situation standing 8 points behind the Sabres, 6 behind the Caps. Basically the Jets are going to have to win all of their remaining games, while the Rangers have a margin for error, albeit slim (the Pens are currently the hottest team in the world right now). So on the surface it looks like I should pull for a Jets victory, right? Maybe a shootout victory would be best, this way the Jets will get 2 points and the Rangers still pick up at least 1 point and stay ahead of the Pens. But see, as I just typed that, I felt a twinge in my fandom bone that tells me you should never root against your team. That’s why a “Suck for Luck” situation could never be an option for one of my teams; or at least one I’m not willing to accept. Who knows what kind of ramifications could come from such a blasphemous thing as rooting against the team you’ve rooted for your whole life. This could set off another 54 year drought for the Rangers and let me tell you, I cannot be sitting in front of my gigantic 3 story hologram TV in 2048 hearing ”54 years!” and “1994!” I just couldn’t take that again. My poor 72-year-old heart wouldn’t be able to take it. And you know as well as I do, some dumbass Quebec Nordiques fan will be doing the shouting (I’ll give you a minute to make that connection….that’s right, because the new Nords fans will be old Islanders fans who lost their team back in 2013) after winning cups back in the early 2030′s….it’s a nightmare not worth risking. So I’m going to reverse it and do the only thing I can accept, not watch the game, pretend it doesn’t exist and pray the Caps, Sabres and Pens all lose so neither team will suffer the ill effects of a loss.

So, “Let’s Go Rangers!” and “Go Jets Go!”…….I’m taking the cowards way out. I know the MTS Centre will be a madhouse tonight (I expect no less from the greatest fans in sports) and Rangers fans will be on edge because winning the Atlantic division means the difference between the 1st and the 4th seed in the playoffs. The Penguins are a force to be reckoned with and every win is priceless to the Rangers, while the Jets have to win virtually every game to make it. So feel free to send me a Twitter message @TheSportsRiot when the game has ended and tell me what happened, or email me chris@thesportsriot.net and take me off the hook.