Columbus Blue Jackets

• thavoice

  On an amazing streak right now!
  
  Usually dont pay a whole lot of attention until january, which is near, but man are they just playing some great hockey.
  
  
  This the year they make some noise in the playoffs?
  
  
  As a pens fan, was easy to pull for them when they were in the west, but now they are in direct competition and that rivalry is getting pretty good.
• Azubuike24

  

  Powerplay in unreal. I've been to the last 3 and they actually were sellouts (Pittsburgh isn't a shocker). Before that, people gave them zero attention. Having such a streak early really buys you some leeway to make sure you get in the playoffs. As for making noise, all depends on who is playing well. It's a long way away.
• Classyposter58

  

  Looks like I'll be rooting for CBJ this season in the playoffs as I'm pretty sure my Wings are going to be drafting high
  
  Also I hope if Columbus gets on a big run they get enough attention to get the 2018 Winter Classic at Ohio Stadium versus the Red Wings
• GOONx19

  

  Classyposter58;1830204 wrote:Looks like I'll be rooting for CBJ this season in the playoffs as I'm pretty sure my Wings are going to be drafting high
  
  Also I hope if Columbus gets on a big run they get enough attention to get the 2018 Winter Classic at Ohio Stadium versus the Red Wings

  Find yourself.
• Fly4Fun

  

  Hopefully Columbus buys back in for a second time. As this really is looking like a good team. Columbus, was waiting for any kind of success for so long but it just wasn't happening that a lot of people started to give up.
• Azubuike24

  

  Agree. But that's what happens with pro franchises. Unless you have cornerstone players like LeBron, Crosby, etc...you're never going to be consistently good, especially when a lot of fans are used to Ohio State football.
  
  It's cool to see the streaks on the line tomorrow. It's the longest combined winning streak in history on the line as Columbus has won 14 in a row and Minnesota has won 12 in a row.
• Fly4Fun

  

  Azubuike24;1830359 wrote:Agree. But that's what happens with pro franchises. Unless you have cornerstone players like LeBron, Crosby, etc...you're never going to be consistently good, especially when a lot of fans are used to Ohio State football.
  
  It's cool to see the streaks on the line tomorrow. It's the longest combined winning streak in history on the line as Columbus has won 14 in a row and Minnesota has won 12 in a row.

  It's not that they weren't consistently good. The problem was they were so consistently bad to start their tenure in Columbus.
• Azubuike24

  

  It was an expansion team that started from one of the worst spots of any expansion franchise in major sports history. Compare what Columbus did to what Las Vegas will do this summer and it's staggering.
  
  The year after they made the playoffs the most recent time? Within half a season the arena was empty. Season ticket renewals dropped down to embarrassing levels, like 2-3%. Columbus isn't a hockey town, it's a fairweather town.
• Fly4Fun

  

  Azubuike24;1830426 wrote:It was an expansion team that started from one of the worst spots of any expansion franchise in major sports history. Compare what Columbus did to what Las Vegas will do this summer and it's staggering.
  
  The year after they made the playoffs the most recent time? Within half a season the arena was empty. Season ticket renewals dropped down to embarrassing levels, like 2-3%. Columbus isn't a hockey town, it's a fairweather town.

  Ya, they made the playoffs and did nothing in it. After how many season in the league? I hate the concept of "fairweather" fans. Sports is part of the entertainment industry. the CBJ put out a bad product for so long that people kept "buying" and eventually got tired of the shoddy quality and stopped buying. That's not being a bad fan, that's being a smart consumer. It's one thing if fans completely abandon a team for one bad season even though they're competitive the rest. But you can't fault a fan base for giving up on a team when the team consistently sucks.
• queencitybuckeye

  Columbus has been a very good hockey city for as long as I remember.
  
  Personally, I don't find continuing to show up to watch year after year of shit to be the sign of great fans. Low expectations help to yield low results.
• Azubuike24

  

  It's not a very good hockey city compared to like 25 others in the NHL. So, sure, if you're taking solace on being better than Arizona, Carolina, Florida and sometimes the teams in California, cool.
• wildcats20

  

  Who cares?
  
  They are winning now and are getting the support.
• queencitybuckeye

  Azubuike24;1830741 wrote:It's not a very good hockey city compared to like 25 others in the NHL. So, sure, if you're taking solace on being better than Arizona, Carolina, Florida and sometimes the teams in California, cool.

  Fans who show up win or lose are shit fans. Fans are supposed to help as best they can. Giving the franchise no reason to improve doesn't help. Determining good sports towns from bad solely on attendance is pretty damn silly.
• Azubuike24

  

  wildcats20;1830743 wrote:Who cares?
  
  They are winning now and are getting the support.

  Yeah, because of the streak. I was at 2 games in the early stages of the streak...literally 5,000 empty seats. The Arizona game, maybe 60% full.
  
  I'm not bashing the team, our family has had season tickets from the beginning. I'm calling a spade a spade. The fans in Columbus suck...and I understand why. The organization has sucked lately as well.
• Classyposter58

  

  Azubuike24;1830890 wrote:Yeah, because of the streak. I was at 2 games in the early stages of the streak...literally 5,000 empty seats. The Arizona game, maybe 60% full.
  
  I'm not bashing the team, our family has had season tickets from the beginning. I'm calling a spade a spade. The fans in Columbus suck...and I understand why. The organization has sucked lately as well.

  Eh it's different down there too because hockey is not really a way of life in Central Ohio compared to a place like Detroit which is one of the best prospect hotbeds in North America for the sport.
  
  The Canadian teams have all for the most part sucked recently yet every game those teams have is a sellout. The Red Wings are probably one of the ten worst teams in the league this season yet have sold out every game
  
  That's the thing about hockey though, fan bases are built differently because it's such a time and travel consuming sport that you basically have to live the game. That's kind of the struggle with non traditional cities is team performance is solely what's going to drive attendance
• Azubuike24

  

  ...and that was my point. Columbus is not a hockey city. Maybe they will become one after 50 years, but they aren't now. Canadian teams can almost be excluded from the conversation, but it's more than fair to compare Columbus to Pittsburgh, Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minnesota, Buffalo, New York, Boston, Washington, etc...that's what they strive to be, but aren't there yet.
• Heretic

  

  So...the whole point of this was to "prove" a city that's had hockey for 20 years with no "success" beyond two playoff appearances in a league where over half the teams make the playoffs every year currently isn't as good of a hockey city as others which have had hockey a lot longer and experienced actual, real, notable success?
• Classyposter58

  

  I'll tell ya what this team can absolutely snipe the puck. Makes their PP almost unguardable
• Azubuike24

  

  Heretic;1831080 wrote:So...the whole point of this was to "prove" a city that's had hockey for 20 years with no "success" beyond two playoff appearances in a league where over half the teams make the playoffs every year currently isn't as good of a hockey city as others which have had hockey a lot longer and experienced actual, real, notable success?

  There was no point to prove. I mentioned that Columbus fans don't give a fuck until there is a winner and the crowds sucked until about 2 weeks ago. Everyone else started arguing.
• queencitybuckeye

  Azubuike24;1831230 wrote:There was no point to prove. I mentioned that Columbus fans don't give a fuck until there is a winner and the crowds sucked until about 2 weeks ago. Everyone else started arguing.

  Poor attendance != not giving a fuck. You keep getting that wrong.
• wildcats20

  

  Streak will end tonight in DC. 5-0 still in the 3rd.
  
  Nationwide better be jammed packed and loud as hell for this team come Saturday night.
• Sonofanump

  We have tixs we were going to sell for 5x the price and go drinking.
  We will now be going to the game for the start of the new win streak.
• GOONx19

  

  Is anybody watching this USA/Canada game in OT?
• thavoice

  Hope I am wrong, but I could see them going on a slide skid in the next 5 or so games.
  
  -
• Azubuike24

  

  queencitybuckeye;1831235 wrote:Poor attendance != not giving a fuck. You keep getting that wrong.

  Is there any other way to gauge it? Other than pure subjectivity? I suppose we could use TV ratings as well, but I don't have those figures.