Silver Nuggets: Optimism v. Pessimism

Hi folks! Welcome to your biweekly Silver Nuggets.There's not a ton of Sens news this week, but I thought we'd talk about something spurred by a comment on SensChirp's blog found here: (contains foul language).

Basically, the gist of the commenter's qualm is that with all the budget talk surrounding the team in a shroud of negativity, we should focus on remaining more positive. Now, I myself am a bit of a pessimist - I plan for the worst possible outcome and set my expectations appropriately. My line of thinking is that if I expect the worst, anything better than that (which is the usual outcome) will make me feel better, and if the worst does in fact happen, I'm planned for it. Win-Win, right? In terms of blog coverage, I think that we should be set in realism, and this works in both ways. It is possible for there to be both positive and negative things about the team!

Yes, the Melnyk issue is negative and has left fans in a sour mood, but there are also a bunch of positive things to say about this team as well. Part of the issue with covering all the budget talk surrounding the team from a fan standpoint is that it's hard to know all the behind the scenes information surrounding the team, which leads to a fair amount of speculation. As a general rule, it should be taken with a grain of salt, but it is also possible to create an argument supported by information released by the team, respected media outlets like the Citizen, or by listening to radio spots by Sens execs in order to infer things about the financial status of the team. I'm a big believer in that you're not entitled to an opinion, but that you're entitled to an opinion you can back up. I personally won't ever say "false" things in order to make people feel better, but that doesn't mean that you can't argue with my designation of true and false information.

My question to you is: How do you think blogs should cover a team, and do you feel like we've done a good job at it so far?

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Sens Links

• With all of that being said, go check out SensChirp's blog post on eight things he's looking forward to in 2014-15. See, there are positive things to say about the team! [SensChirp]
• In Melnyk news, Nichols transcribed his most recent appearance on BNN [6th Sens]
• Over at the Inside the Senate, Chris Neil talked about his summer and offered his thoughts about the vacant Captaincy - his choice? Click through to find out. [Ottawa Senators]
• Episode 6 of the WTYKY Scotchcast is out, and I'm listening to it right now while I type all of this up for you! They also discuss the Optimism v. Pessimism issue, which Varada touched on earlier [WTYKY, Varada]
• Justin at SenShot looked at whether the Sens should keep or trade Colin Greening [SenShot]
• The Sens also announced their pre-season schedule. The first game is on September 22nd v. the New York Islanders, with the first game in Ottawa on the 24th v. the Toronto Maple Leafs [Senators Extra]
• Yost offered his thoughts on Ottawa's looming Centre problem [Travis Yost]
• Mrs. O took her turn at the Tactical Formations series, this time covering the Dump and Chase [Tactical Formations]
• The next article in our Email Hotstove series was released, in which we discussed Free Agent Frenzy [Email Hotstove]
• Sheer_Craziness gave us his Five Thoughts for Friday [Silver Seven]
• Lastly, Mrs. O started off our "Making of Ottawa Senators Fans" series, which I am really excited for. I hope all of you share your stories in the comments of those posts [Silver Seven]

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