March 21, 2012
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Dear Columbus Blue Jackets
I received an email last night from a fellow fan of the Blue Jackets(though he says he’s going back to the Red Wings). It said this, “I honestly don’t care if the team leaves at this point. They’re a bunch of losers. The game wasn’t even entertaining, it just pissed me off and made me feel bad for putting in the emotional investment for as long as I did.”
I also was at last night’s game. Less than ten minutes into the game the score was already 3-0. The final score was 5-1. Yes the score was bad but your play was piss poor. Jeff Carter coming to town was the best thing that could have happened and while yes, he never wanted to come here, I think that if he and Rick Nash had clicked and worked together that the top line could have put up some great numbers this year. Both of them are perennial 30 goal scorers. Nash even tied for the league lead in goals a few years back.
Now Carter is gone and Rick Nash, our captain, has publicly stated that he wants out. More than likely he will be traded to the Rangers, or perhaps to another big spender like the Toronto Maple Leafs who tried to get him a couple years ago when he was a free agent. In any case, our captain is leaving and it seems like the team, your team, has given up on the season, their teammates, and the team itself. I went to four games this year, the worst year of the franchise, and watched four lousy efforts leading to four defeats. I went to a game in December, January, February, and now March. All four months were terrible for the franchise. I mean, you guys had a four game winning streak and were still seven points out of second to last place Edmonton! That’s terrible!
So the question is: What are you going to do now? The franchise is in the gutter, everyone wants out, and the fans are holding rallies to get everyone out, including management. Supposedly Columbus is going to pay for the arena from now on by using money from the new Casinos. I’ll bet you just about anything that this issue is going to come to a vote as that money was supposed to be used by the city for roads and bridges etc. People are not happy with this. So what will happen when it comes to a vote and that money gets shot down? Will you move to Quebec and become the new Nordiques?
No one can answer these questions except the people who run the team. And I want to know what the plan is moving forward. You have about ten or eleven games left in the season and then this miserable show is over. What will next year’s team do? I’ll probably go to some games still and support the team. I’ve been a fan of the team since four years before it even got here in 2000. I feel like I deserve an answer. I feel like WE deserve an answer.
Signed,
A Blue Jackets Fan.
Comments (8)
It’s not that the team lost. I went to like 10-12 games the first year. That team tried. They fought and clawed their way in every game. And they lost a lot more than they won but you always felt the team tried and just didn’t have the pieces in place.
This team, they don’t try. Mason is terrible. He was laboring to stop gimme saves all night. They had a powerplay and no one on the team had the patience to actually set up a shot and they went a whole PP without getting a single shot near the goal.
There’s no one that’s even that likable on the team anymore.
I went to the game and I didn’t even wear my jersey. I told my wife that I didn’t want to be associated with the team like that. But I got pissed off at them last year. They lost some game and the coach was on the radio making the same excuses I’d heard for most of the franchise’s history. I was done then but came back when the team actually tried to sign some free agents. Of course, this happened to the team and the management will use it to justify never spending on free agency again.
And look at Ken Hitchcock. They scapegoated him and said HE was the problem. Well, look at St. Louis. Fired their coach early in the season and now he’s led them to the best record in the NHL. The players were the problem. Management should’ve kept Hitchcock and found players that would play for him. 2000-2012 and he was the best thing that ever happened to the team.
Ummm, hockey?
@BoulderChristina - Yes hockey.
. Btw the Pittsburgh Penguins I mentioned on your blog are from the National Hockey League too. 
That’s rough
So what’s going to happen to the Arena district now that the arena in question might be unused?
@ClashoftheTaiten - Well the Jackets haven’t left yet and until they do the public probably won’t be hearing anything about possible uses for the Arena. But if push comes to shove they can always schedule more concerts and monster truck rallies and things like that and keep the district alive. Even if they don’t it is downtown so plenty of downtown workers can go to the bars and restaurants for a late afternoon and early evening meal.
Thank god I read the comments before I posted. I was going to say I don’t like baseball so did not read your post but could not just leave without commenting…
my favourite hockey team is toronto maple leafs. I used to watched hockey game once in awhile while i was in canada.