Sport

Cannot criticize the fans in Columbus at all, they've been really bad for the whole of the existence (no offence), and there stuck in a College sport hotbed.

What really could have appealed to the NHL about Columbus back in 2000, that made them say 'hey it really could work here'.

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.

The Untouchables and Ordinary People have to be up there, the former being about one of the city's most famous personages and the latter so deftly capturing the distinct repression and insularity of the North Shore that it's practically a fourth principal character. Also, show me where Rookie of the Year won Best 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.

Oof. Dixie Square West. Maybe Dan Aykroyd will make another horrendous Blues Brothers sequel and trash the joint.

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.

Oof. Dixie Square West. Maybe Dan Aykroyd will make another horrendous Blues Brothers sequel and trash the joint.

Blues Brothers 2000 wasn't that bad.

All of these are just wrong-especially the Argos one.

The ones pre-Stamps--I'll let slide...

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.

I didn't realize they were still playing the Little World Series.

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:

Isn't the Milwaukee market even smaller than Pittsburgh, and losing jobs rapidly? Is Milwaukee even really a good 3-sport town anymore let alone 4-sports?

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

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

Legality is no concern for the big swangin' dick of THE Ohio State.

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

The Blue Jackets tried. Gordon Gee and OSU were the uncooperative ones. Like we said, OSU. Not everyone in this city is gaga for the Buckeyes. Some of us are actually quite sick of that massive agricultural institution.

Yeah, but we're talking about, like, one of the most monolithic forces in townie goober sports fandom. For every one of you, there are ten of them. It was a stupid, stupid idea for the league to go toe-to-toe with, of all the state schools anywhere, the one that so thoroughly owns its city and state. I'm sure the Arena District or whatever (next to the Hammock District, on 3rd) is nice and all, but the whole thing is ultimately doomed if Ohio State has a virtually identical arena down the street.

A. Quality Simpsons reference. Hank Scorpio would be proud. I do know a place down near the North Market not far from the arena where you can probably get a hammock. It'd probably have a picture of Bob Marley or a cannibis leaf or something, but it'd still be a hammock.

B. the Arena District used to be a dump prison yard and is now a thriving area with a SWEET new ballpark. City officials would lose it (and downtown) if they lost the team. There would be a fight (by fight I mean something greater than what Atlanta did) if the team was in danger of leaving.

C. Value City Arena is only a couple years older and already looks dated whereas Nationwide is still one of the best arenas in North America. Again, worth fighting for. If the Blue Jackets leave, it wouldn't be ideal for OSU to move in and start playing basketball games there. The whole point of building two separate arenas was because OSU wanted their oh so important on-campus facility.

D. It is so townie goober sports fandom I lose my mind on almost a daily basis and it's only gotten worse since the Tressell thing. I've dealt with one yokel saying "we need to distance ourselves from scumbags like Pryor". Replace "scumbags" with the N-word. Note how he said "we" and "ourselves" when it's likely that he never set foot in a college classroom. If the Blue Jackets leave I'm probably gone with them, if I don't beat them out of town.

That said, there's a large white collar population and the city has a history of getting behind winning hockey teams. I still believe in the people of Columbus if you give them a chance.

I've heard some noise about 3 ten team conferences. I don't know how the playoffs would work, but the idea of that is interesting to think about.

Columbus is going to the East so that we don't need to do another conference flip when they're sold to Quebec City interests, unless I missed something and Columbus and/or Ohio has the money to bail Nationwide Insurance out of its failing arena.

Ohio State. That is all.

For real, though the Blue Jackets may be one beneficiary of OSU imploding itself. I still think the City can turn it around. There's hockey fans here and city officials understand the damage that would happen if the team left. They'll figure something out, I hope.

What Columbus did was very similar to what Phoenix did as well in terms of stupidity. Give an arena deal to expansion team in an untested market and make them the only tenants.

Why they didn't build an arena for Ohio State and the Blue Jackets, I'll never know, because like the Coyotes if the Blue Jackets bolt Nattionwide Arena is going to very quickly turn into a white elephant. Atlanta was smart enough to at least make sure that the Hawks and Thrashers played in the same building, so that now they don't have a 18,000 seat arena sitting empty.

The Blue Jackets tried. Gordon Gee and OSU were the uncooperative ones. Like we said, OSU. Not everyone in this city is gaga for the Buckeyes. Some of us are actually quite sick of that massive agricultural institution.

Columbus is going to the East so that we don't need to do another conference flip when they're sold to Quebec City interests, unless I missed something and Columbus and/or Ohio has the money to bail Nationwide Insurance out of its failing arena.

Ohio State. That is all.

For real, though the Blue Jackets may be one beneficiary of OSU imploding itself. I still think the City can turn it around. There's hockey fans here and city officials understand the damage that would happen if the team left. They'll figure something out, I hope.

The NHL doesn't need divisions when it is conference standings that determine who makes the playoffs.

Add 4 more regular season games, play everyone in your conference 4 times and everyone in the other conference twice.

Western Conference

Anaheim, Calgary, Chicago, Colorado, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Nashville, Phoenix, San Jose, St. Louis, Vancouver.

Eastern Conference

Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Carolina, Florida, Montreal, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Washington.

This brings up an issue regarding NBA (and NHL, I think) divisions that I think about every once in a while... Why do they even exist? Is it just to create a feeling of regional rivalries? It seems kind of pointless when it is a team's position in the conference, not division, that really matters.

The reason for divisions is because they get the teams to play the closer by teams more often than the teams further away, which reduces travel time and costs. They also want to promote rivalries. (which has been already stated)

But really how much more travel is it? Using Dallas as an example, my system means they make one fewer trip to California, and one more trip to the northeast. It's not that much more travel, it's different travel. Plus, the benefits of a perfectly balanced schedule would offset the problems created by new travel.

He was also fortunate enough to win a Super Bowl ring with the Giants. That probably resulted in some celebratory eating.

We're starting to approach rec league soccer in terms of everyone gets a prize here. Rings for making a conference championship game? No wonder we're constantly hearing about players selling their rings.

I don't think I would wear my ring everyday. Not because I wouldn't want to, but because they've gotten so large and obnoxious they're not really practical for everyday wear.

The NHL doesn't need divisions when it is conference standings that determine who makes the playoffs.

Add 4 more regular season games, play everyone in your conference 4 times and everyone in the other conference twice.

Western Conference

Anaheim, Calgary, Chicago, Colorado, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Nashville, Phoenix, San Jose, St. Louis, Vancouver.

Eastern Conference

Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Carolina, Florida, Montreal, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Washington.

UMass considering a FBS move and joining the MAC

The MAC? Big East would be the better option.

The Big East probably isn't an option, that's why they would join the MAC.

I remember hearing that the Florida marlins gave away plastic replica rings back in 04. I thought that was a really good idea and I'm surprised more teams haven't done the same thing.

Mburmy:

Pretty good, I agree with Portland and Charlotte if there have to be two more teams, but why the insistence on eight divisions of four? It's not nice. I'd rather have four clunky divisions of eight than eight divisions of four.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Expansion Circuit

Los Angeles, Portland, Oakland, Seattle, Texas, Toronto, Charlotte, Tampa Bay

Charter Circuit

Baltimore, Boston, New York, , Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Minnesota, Kansas City

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Expansion Circuit

Colorado, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Houston, Arizona, Washington, Miami

Charter Circuit

Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh

this was my suggestion before, but it got lost on the last page. TI would honestly prefer this to the current system. This way the postseason could be made up of the top two teams in each division. It would be the same number of playoff teams, but the teams would have balanced schedules. I chose to align geographically though.