Recently on BB and across Rangerland, fans have engaged in heated debates about whether the Blueshirts deserve their financial support.  The frustration with Glen Sather and Jim Dolan has reached a boiling point for many people, and some no longer feel like they can justify spending money on tickets and Rangers memorabilia as long as the current regime remains in place.  Some of these disillusioned fans have tried to rally fellow Rangers fans in a boycott to protest against upper management.  The plight of these activist Rangers fans is similar to a personal situation of my own: vegetarianism.  

When  people find out I’m a vegetarian on moral grounds, they frequently tell me that my not eating meat will have no impact on meat production in the United States, that one person can’t change American diets or food production.  They’re right, but that doesn’t make me change my mind about eating animals; it’s something I’m personally against whether the Oscar Mayers of the world are affected or not.  I don’t expect anything to change in the meat industry because of my views, and I know the vast majority of Americans will enjoy meat for the duration of their lives.  But I feel strongly about my views, so I continue to avoid meat products. 

Like my futile struggle against butchery, Ranger fans that refuse to spend their money on the team really have no hope for success.  The Rangers are among the most popular teams in the NHL, and have a following that spans the globe.  There’s simply no hope for a large enough group of fans to cease spending and cause actual damage to the franchise.  The reality is that a handful of followers that stop investing in the team will barely be a blip on the radar for ownership.   

But that doesn’t make it wrong.  If these extremely frustrated fans can no longer stomach the arrogance and repeated failures of management, then they have every right to keep their wallets closed.  They shouldn’t expect to see actual results for their efforts, but they may sleep better at night knowing they’ve stopped contributing to the runaway train that is the Sather/Dolan regime. 

As I can attest to with my herbivore lifestyle, it can be very rewarding personally to take a stand in something you believe strongly in, whether the general population agrees with you or not.  But it’s also important to accept that halted spending on Rangers merchandise and tickets, or eliminating meat from one’s diet, will have no real effect on the gigantic corporations that cause our distress in the first place.

It’s a personal choice, and just as many people don’t see the point in cutting delectable filet mignon and baby back ribs from their diets, many Rangers fans don’t agree that the cost of abstaining from watching their beloved Blueshirts is worth the reward of sticking it to Sather.