I know a lot of people love to loathe the Irvings, a subject that I rarely wade into out of sheer lack of knowlege, but you have to admit Robert Irving’s handling of the Wildcat’s has been amazing. Never mind that the glitz and glamour he injected into the team raised the excitment level. Never mind the sanity around food prices during the game (a welcome change). Never mind that the Cats have been mostly successful since he took them over.
He friggin’ brought in Ted Nolan – a former NHL coach of the year. Now that was a coup if there ever was one.
Everywhere you go and every time I turn on the TV the comments are all positive and gushing about the quality and excellence of the WildCat’s organization.
Why do I mention this? I’ll tell you why. If I had a nickel for everytime someone in the economic development field grumbled about the lack of vision, talent, resources, money and just plain interest in economic development in New Brunswick, I’d be rich.
Imagine a ‘Ted Nolan’ strategy for the economic development of New Brunswick? Imagine a government willing to do whatever it took to be a winner. Imagine bringing in the ‘Ted Nolan’ of economic development – I don’t know from Ireland or Alabama or somewhere. Imagine building a team capable of winning the Memorial cup of economic development.
Imagine… for a brief moment.
And then turn your thoughts back to the real world. Go Cats.