Continued from WORLD WIDE HOCKEY TOUR –
A local baseball team owner (Ray Kroc of McDonald’s fame)
had purchased the San Diego WHA franchise and assigned his management team to
run it. The problem was they had no experience with hockey and the Mariners
were not considered a priority endeavor like the Major League Baseball club.
Thus, they neglected the squad. Ownership lacked patience to hold onto a good
team which only needed a few more pieces to truly become a championship
contender. The Mariners made the playoffs all of the three years during their
run in San Diego .
If the group would have kept the club a couple of years longer, this team
probably would have been absorbed into the NHL due to having a big name owner.
The Los Angeles Kings would have had a California
rival instead of waiting for the expansion San Jose Sharks in 1991. Unfortunately,
Kings owner Jack Kent Cooke’s greedy desire to also have the San Diego market to himself helped doom the
Mariners as well. Plus, Kroc’s new administrators lacked vision and as a result
sold the squad after one year and the Mariners folded into obscurity. [whahockey.com/mariners.html;
Wikipedia]
It seemed to Mekkar that he could do no right in this game.
Lacroix knotted two goals and two assists while Mekkar either failed to do an
adequate job covering him or rode the pine in the sin bin. San Diego spanked the Selects by a score of
seven to two. It could have been much worse. The home side drew well that
evening versus the Selects, much higher than normal for that season. Mekkar
didn’t think the Selects were of the caliber like a national squad to pull in a
lot of fans, so he assumed it some sort of promotional giveaway night.
Mekkar had read one of the local newspapers prior to the
match regarding ownership unhappiness about the usual low fan attendance. There
was a minimum level of paying patrons expected to be drawn on a nightly game
basis and expectations were not being met. Mekkar summarized from the articles
and other local sources he read that hardcore fans of the previous team that
the Mariners replaced never accepted the WHA club. The Western Hockey League San
Diego Gulls had been established for awhile and developed a rabid fan base but
the team had to fold with the Mariners’ arrival in town and was not happy
regarding the demise of the minor league operation. Mekkar was aware from back
home that when a fair amount of the most knowledgeable hockey attendees in a
city stay away from the new squad’s matches that negatively impacts the long
term viability of any new franchise. [Wikipedia; WHA San Diego Mariner
Historical Site – sdmariners.htm; WHL San Diego Gulls Historical Site –
sdhulls.htm; whahockey.com; Playing Hockey The World Over … wha.htm;
billsportsmaps.com; The San Diego Union Tribune; Other Local Media Sources]
As Mekkar searched for perspective on his opponent during
his pre-game ritual process, he remembered a statement that Sirga made that
became ingrained into his and younger brother Alf’s heads. A concept that reading
makes a person smarter. The subject was brought up so often by their mama, they
it became a habit for all of her children to just get her off their back.
Since the Selects players have a few days off until the next
matchup they decided to do some sightseeing of the area. During the next day
after the game it dawned on Mekkar that he wanted to eventually play for the
Mariners club and live in San Diego
too! However, it was not to be due to future events making that dream impossible.
Unless, San Diego
received another franchise …
The city was also an option for Mekkar and it was his choice
of where he wanted to go for his high school exchange program location. The
arctic boy chose San Diego
because he liked it. Questions of how would he survive during the summers,
which are much warmer than back home. That could be an issue, but he did not
consider it as a factor at the time. His views like most teenagers, are very
short-term and limited whether they admit it or not. Mekkar wasn’t very
enthused about his mama’s preference for him to do his overseas studies in the United Kingdom .
She wanted him to be closer to the family and not almost half way around the
globe. Sirga wanted her oldest son to go to a place where he would improve his English
speaking and language skills.
She had a vision into the future about the state of affairs
in regard to their home nation’s economic status and it was with dread when she
mentioned it to Mekkar. Well, Mekkar thought that he could cover all the bases
and fulfill her language requirements for him here in this location. It’s not
like he had not been to this city before. He journeyed with his papa when he
was younger. Since Far North Native’s choice and decision was against his mama’s
wishes, Mekkar tried to get his papa involved to help convince Sirga. The thought
was to have Henrik arrange all of the details. Mainly, because he was so
experienced at those aspects as shown on other previous occasions.
When Sirga heard about Mekkar’s selection, she knew that
this situation would be a showdown and it wouldn’t be easy to turn the older son
back to her way. Primarily, because Mekkar is just like her, stubborn as a mule.
The whole idea behind Sirga’s determination in this matter was to help him grow
up and adapt to the modern world lifestyle. So, he could make a successful
transition like she did and expand his mind by relying on himself more. Added
to that, was growing into full adulthood by weaning him off from the family
safety net support system, if necessary. This planning was all predicated on
her premonition based on future events. Calamities such as a down-swing or
eventual collapse of the national economy were taken into account. Lack of
opportunities for her son’s skill set in relation to the region employment
market was another foreseen factor. This prediction came to pass by nineteen
eighty eight. However, by that time, Mekkar was already gone due to other
catastrophic circumstances that affected him.
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