Sport

Tickets for the Islanders-Devils exhibition game went on sale today - here's the seating map on the ticket page: I still can't believe they built an arena in New York City metro too small to accommodate every type of event that utilizes arenas. I don't just mean hockey either. Now you have fewer seats for concerts, you don't have room for motocross or monster trucks or the circus. Not that monster trucks are a big draw in New York, but why not leave open the possibility? It seems so stupidly shortsighted. Three words: Madison. Square. Garden. Between the Knicks, Rangers, and the other events held at MSG, there would be no open dates for another team to play. Also, I doubt the Isles would want to play on Rangers logo'd ice, and the Rangers certainly wouldn't change it. But it doesn't matter anyway, because of the first thing. Also, would the Islanders crowd (what's left of it) go into Manhattan for games? *facepalm* I was attempting to explain why the Barclays Center was built the way it was, not advocating for the Islanders to move to MSG. I think we all know that would never happen as long as the Dolans still run things over there. MSG's existence doesn't mean you have to build a tennis stadium with a roof. Hell, Columbus Ohio has two full-size arenas. There's no reason not to open yourself to the possibility that maybe one day down the road you'd like to host something other than basketball.

Tickets for the Islanders-Devils exhibition game went on sale today - here's the seating map on the ticket page: I still can't believe they built an arena in New York City metro too small to accommodate every type of event that utilizes arenas. I don't just mean hockey either. Now you have fewer seats for concerts, you don't have room for motocross or monster trucks or the circus. Not that monster trucks are a big draw in New York, but why not leave open the possibility? It seems so stupidly shortsighted.

Awesome ring! But why are the logo and letters inverted? The ring is upside down. Hard to tell but with intricate detail, but the OSU is facing outward. Thanks for noticing that. I see the O and U correctly now. Never in the last 11 years of that logo did I notice it looks the same upside down at a distance. almost like the old Phoenix Suns wordmark.

I remember when I first saw these however many years ago I freaking loved them. Now I look at them and feel like we really dodged a bullet. These things are soaked in 90's and don't fit in with the regal feel of Quebec City. A stylized FDL as the main crest logo, ala the New Orleans Hornets, and their lighter blue with red would look great. Hockey needs brighter colors.

How about Manny Legace with the Springfield Falcons? notice the blue pants or stint #1 with the falcons

Most probably won't know who this is, but this looks really goofy to me Rusty Klesla, the original Blue Jacket who was traded at the deadline last year in a Coyotes uniform.

I liked these Flyers uniforms.

Looks worse than Boston's record in the finals... Curious, do the refs of the SCF get one too? Last year their record in the finals was 4-3, which is good enough for a ring. Did the officials hold the Canucks to 8 goals in 7 games?

The bobblehead is John McCain wearing a suit with a coyotes jersey over it. It's like they were at one point Matt Hulsizer bobbleheads and he dropped out so they said, "What are we gonna do with all these Matt Hulsizer bobbleheads? Uhhh.........John McCain night! Just paint the hair gray."

I dunno, "creative financing" has become kind of a euphemism for "bullsh-t," and not wrongly so. I mean, this isn't exactly the found money it's being made out to be, either. You can say that this isn't directly taking away from money earmarked for public services, but operating under the premise that government pretty much always runs a deficit, what happens if actual public services require additional funding while tax dollars have already been committed to buying a playplace for a sports team? What happens if the casino doesn't bring in the projected tax revenue? There are hidden costs and unintended consequences with everything once you start getting the government involved in sports facilities; none of this can ever be as cut and dried as "we took out a loan and paid it off" like Palace of Auburn Hills/United Center/TD Garden/etc. Maybe this is just the simple cheapass midwesterner in me that can't comprehend what them there fancy number men in tall towers do. Maybe, but you just kept calling it a tax-payer bailout and it's not. So, that's that.

Just to be clear, the proposal in Columbus is not a "tax-payer bailout". They're using a small portion of the will-be tax revenue from the new casino to purchase the arena. Nobody will have to pay more taxes to buy the arena from Nationwide Insurance (so that the Blue Jackets aren't handcuffed by a lease twice as much as other teams pay). Nationwide is also investing 52 million of its own dollars into the team to become a 30% owner. Noone is going to pay an extra cent in taxes to "save the Blue Jackets". They're decreasing the burden of the financial problems onset by the arena expenses towards the team and they're doing it without increasing taxes and without taking away the money previously earmarked for schools, fire, police etc. They'll all get theirs too. It's actually a pretty creative solution if you ask me and nobody is really hurt by it.

See I take offenSe to that because you're wrong. Pre-lockout the fans were there for some really bad teams and after the lockout we still had decent crowds for some really bad teams. We've sold out entire seasons before, we've been in the top 10 before. We also sold out major hockey events like the frozen four and the 2007 draft. We haven't been "really bad for the whole of the existence". We've been understandably unsupportive of a really bad team, which is not fair to put on the fans who literally don't know what a playoff win is like. If, like Phoenix, the team gets good and people still don't show up, then you're right, but that won't happen. To answer your second question, it was a large untapped market underserved by NHL hockey or major professional sports within a short drive from two large markets also underserved by NHL hockey. And again, for the first 5, 6, 7 years it did really work here before people became tired of just being in the NHL and began to demand a winning team. Have Cincinnati and Cleveland delivered? Not really, but Columbus wasn't serving Cleveland in the 90's when the Cavs sucked. When the Cavs became good, people from Columbus started making the trip north to see Cavs games. Was Columbus serving Cincinnati when the Bengals sucked? No, but in 2005 when the Bengals became good people from Columbus started making the trip south to go to Bengals games. It's the same thing, but in reverse order. If the Blue Jackets become relevant people in those markets will start to support them. We haven't failed as fans, the team's many missteps in hockey operations have failed the fans. As I've said countless times before, give the CBJ track record to any city and there's probably 3 markets in the NHL who wouldn't experience some kind of attendance problems. It's not fair yet to call us a bad market based on what we've been given to support. If San Jose had been forced to deal with this same history, they might not have Sharks right now. thank you. Yeah I didn't mean the fans are bad, I am sympathising with you, in the sense that why would you want to see a losing team. Not being from Ohio I don't understand, so I apologise. Is hockey really that popular in Ohio, that if you had a consecutively good team like the Sharks, you would be filling out your arena? Another question is how many of the 9,000 or so you get a night are corporate tickets? My mistake, I misread your first sentence and shot off. You mean the team has been bad. So we're saying the same thing. To answer your first question, hockey is more popular in Ohio than it is in Tennessee or North Carolina and the Predators and Hurricanes seem to do pretty well with a consistently decent team. So yes, I firmly believe if they iced a competitive team year in and year out, we would be filling the arena. To answer your second question, I'm not sure. I do know that the Blue Jackets report the exact attendance that's in the building. They're one of the few struggling teams who don't exaggerate their attendance numbers ala Phoenix. Though, maybe they should start doing that.

See I take offenSe to that because you're wrong. Pre-lockout the fans were there for some really bad teams and after the lockout we still had decent crowds for some really bad teams. We've sold out entire seasons before, we've been in the top 10 before. We also sold out major hockey events like the frozen four and the 2007 draft. We haven't been "really bad for the whole of the existence". We've been understandably unsupportive of a really bad team, which is not fair to put on the fans who literally don't know what a playoff win is like. If, like Phoenix, the team gets good and people still don't show up, then you're right, but that won't happen. To answer your second question, it was a large untapped market underserved by NHL hockey or major professional sports within a short drive from two large markets also underserved by NHL hockey. And again, for the first 5, 6, 7 years it did really work here before people became tired of just being in the NHL and began to demand a winning team. Have Cincinnati and Cleveland delivered? Not really, but Columbus wasn't serving Cleveland in the 90's when the Cavs sucked. When the Cavs became good, people from Columbus started making the trip north to see Cavs games. Was Columbus serving Cincinnati when the Bengals sucked? No, but in 2005 when the Bengals became good people from Columbus started making the trip south to go to Bengals games. It's the same thing, but in reverse order. If the Blue Jackets become relevant people in those markets will start to support them. We haven't failed as fans, the team's many missteps in hockey operations have failed the fans. As I've said countless times before, give the CBJ track record to any city and there's probably 3 markets in the NHL who wouldn't experience some kind of attendance problems. It's not fair yet to call us a bad market based on what we've been given to support. If San Jose had been forced to deal with this same history, they might not have Sharks right now. thank you.

Looking at the Blue Jackets schedule and with all their injuries, they could easily start 0-10-1, and if that's true things are going to get ugly. There was so much hype about this team in the offseason that the backlash from losing will be felt even worse. People are straight up sick of it and you can't blame them. I'm sick of it. This was the absolute worst time to have the worst start in franchise history. A 14-6 first quarter like the last two seasons would've been ideal.

Reinsdorf back in the picture?

My criteria was not about which movie based in Chicago was the best. It was just the first four off the top of my head.

Blues Brothers 2000 wasn't that bad. It was a sequel to arguably the most iconic Chicago film, shot in Toronto to save on the budget. It was a PG sequel to an R film. It rankles the locals. It wasn't good by any means. The original is a classic and I know they used the entire Chicago police force and all that, but when I think of Chicago movies, the first four off the top of my head are in order: Ferris Bueller, The Fugitive, Rookie of the Year, and Home Alone. That might be my age and that I'm not from there though.

Blues Brothers 2000 wasn't that bad.

In AMERICA, pretty sure Flutie will always be associated with the Bills. Couldn't tell you what team(s) he played for in Canada. I agree in the US he will be forever known as a Buffalo Bill. How about the wrong facemask Did he ever wear that in a game?

Mike Commodore did the same with the Reds before he threw out the first pitch a few years ago.

Hey it's better than something like, "World Champions of AAA". But you're right, "AAA Champions" would've been better.

For three innings yesterday I sat next to the GM of the Columbus Clippers. He was wearing this ring:

The Brewers have been getting really good support lately. I know that much.

Kinda ripped Ron Tuggnutt's splatter motif there, eh?

As part of the sanctions on the football team they have to drop the "Thee" from their name.