Loyalty - is it just a word nowadays???

I am listening to Vancouver's leading sports radio, TEAM 1040, yesterday (i listen to it always on my way home) and all they can do is pad their backs for outbidding CKNW 980 for the broadcast rights of Vancouver Canucks hockey games.

Congratulations guys! i mean it! well done! awesome! i wont have to flip stations anymore when i cant watch the game but have to listen to it. Its always a pain to remember that the pre-game show is on 1040 and the game on 980. Now i dont have to switch channels anymore.

Hold on! There was a message here. Oh yeah! LOYALTY!

CKNW held the rights to the Canucks broadcast for 35 years! 3 5 Y E A R S!! They produced a Hall-of-Fame broadcaster in Jim Robson, a tradition of excellence in sports journalism and first and foremost - a HUGE fan base! listening to the radio during a game was always fun - Robson's sidekick, Tom Larscheid, as annoying he may be, was always good for some kind of childlike dumb remark that would infuriate my senses (he is still doing it - with John Shorthouse as play-by-play man!).
My favorite was always the greeting Robson and Larscheid would sent to those that couldnt attend it or even see it on TV - the blind, the shut-in's and the sick!
It was like joining a family for 2-3 hours every broadcast night.

And after all that time and tradition - MONEY talks. The TEAM mother station CHUM paid over CDN$1 million (i think i read 1.3 but i dont want to be quoted on that!) for the rights to broadcast Canuck games for 6 years. CKNW paid $665ooo last year and either couldnt or wouldnt fork out millions (My guess is a bit of both).

Here is my question: are the Canucks so money hungry that they would forgoe tradition and loyalty over a measily 700 grand? Is that fanchise in such desperate need of cash that they would walk over a company that has supported the team thru good times and bad???

I see this trend more and more for a while now: Loyalty and tradition means NOTHING! They are two words that happen to be in the dictionary but their meanings have been forgotten.

Large corporations and also small business are now more focused on getting rich or richer then treating those that worked their asses off to make them strong with the respect they deserve. In todays society the average a worker stays at their job is what - 3 years? maybe 4?
heck - i worked at places for a month and quit because i found something better!!!

But what does that say about our society!!! How do we explain to our children that honoring someone who's old and wise just because they are old and wise?!! Respect has to be earned but should it not also be just given based on experience?
Should i teach my children that it is ok to make friends of all races and believes but also teach them to make sure and turn their backs when those friends are in desperate need of their help??!!!

I am a big fan of the TEAM 1040, i listen to their morning show driving to work, their evening show driving home and sometimes even during the weekend just driving around. And i truly congratulate them for the heist of the century!!!! nay, the MILLENIUM!

But my already shaky respect for the Vancouver Canucks has taken another hit! I am appalled by the way that fanchise is treating their traditions - and if you can't and won't respect your traditions, then you dont respect your fans!

Loyalty and tradition are top priorities in MY life. And although i dont expect every person to share my view - i hope that i will raise my children with a sense of both - because if i didnt - i would have failed as a parent!

cheers