Jump to content

I am a stupid fan!!


sungod661

Recommended Posts

Hi everybody!, if you are reading this and want to know who the stupid fan is, its me.

Why am i stupid you ask? well it's a long kind of boring story ,but i guess i will tell it anyway.

That being said today was a weird day for me, i woke up went to work and watched as the Atlanta Thrashers became the Winnipeg (ENTER NAME). A sort of historic day if you are a hockey fan or if you live in canada. I can still remember Thomas Steen , Temmu , Hawerchuck and the many white outs. Wow Winnipeg was a tremendous place and it was a franchise i always liked . Wether it be pokey reddick or The bandit Daniel Berthiaume the jets were always fun to watch especially for someone living in montreal where we only got to see them once a year. If we were lucky and they played on a saturday which meant a game against my habs. See back then we didnt have tsn or espn all had every saturday was hockey night in canada.

I look back on those days with fond memories ,so i was so happy to see the city of winnipeg get a team back. Until my buddy called that is, You see one of my childhood friends called me after the announcement he lives in Georgia now his a successful marketing rep for coca cola and a season ticket holder of the thrashers. He told me he was bummed that he wouldnt be able to watch nhl hockey anymore and that the nhl let the Thrashers die a slow death. You see he calls me often to talk about life , hockey ect and i would always crack a joke about the Thrashers but not today.

Today It got me thinking of a similar story, one that i lived not so long ago. You see i grew up a Montreal Expos fan i can remember going to games as a kid and even the 82 all star game. The stadium was filled and during one summer in 94 i could feel magic. That is until poor ownership and no local business support ran my beloved franchise into the ground. From the outside people questioned Montreal's commitment to baseball there love of the game and the ability of montreal to support a MLB team. No one understood that people had been turned of by the terrible ownership and the repeated kicking of sand in our collective faces. My son is 6 years old and he will never be able to share in the joy of watching his home ball team with his dad. The team i grew up watching and loving.

Today Winnipeg got a team and for this i am happy but i know there are hockey fans in Atlanta that got screwed today. I know the Nhl let them down , ownership let them down and the media is blaming the fans. I can tell you when a franchise moves it hurts ask winnipeg. So the next time some Knucklehead writes the thrashers dont deserve a team take a second and think about how little he understands. My friend is sad today and that bothers me because i know how it feels to lose something you connect with and something you love.

The Thrashers are gone and are but a memory but i guarantee you there are thousand of people from Atlanta that will miss them.

James if you read this i really am sorry buddy. I am a stupid fan that forgot what it feels like when you lose your team.

This "stupid fan" understands.

George

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't gone through what many fans have felt that have had their team relocated. I'm an Angels, Broncos, and Ducks fan so I haven't had the pain of relocation. I never wish it upon any fan. I think most of us get carried away with the excitement of a new team, jerseys, fans, and everything that comes with relocation and forget that fans are lost in the process even though new ones are gained. If any of my teams moved I would have a harm time picking another team and possibly never watch that sport again even though I love the games. I don't blame the Thrasher fans that never follow hockey again, but then again its the game of Hockey that we love and the love of the game is greater than our allegiance to our beloved teams. Stupid fan? No, we all forget and take having a team for granted. We all forget that any of our teams could disappear or the league could possibly fold given certain circumstances.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well George, you're not a stupid fan.....think of it this way....

Winnipeg has more people like your friend than Atlanta did......that's the bottom line.....more people are passionate about hockey in the 'peg than there probably will ever be in Atlanta.....

So yes the few that are passionate will be disappointed, that's a given, but that's what happens when there is not enough support to warrant keeping a franchise there

I just hope the NHL learned it's lesson in Atlanta.....to err is human, to do it twice is stupidity....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I was 13 I lost the team I loved, the Minnesota Fighting Saints. Then when I was 30 I had my NHL team ripped away from me for no other reason that greed when the North Stars were given to Dallas because of the actions of one man.

Teams are a community asset and their owners, no matter how long they have owned them or how long the team has been in the family, are temporary custodians of that team. Franchise "issues" which are always, always, always money related in the end, are temporary. Just take a look at how down Chicago and Pittsburgh once were. Those temporary problems should, in my opinion, never be an excuse to move a team or sell it to the highest bidder so they can move it. Stop looking outward to find blame for your problems, and look inward to fix what's wrong with your team, which is the product you put on the ice, field or court. It's generally pretty simple. Win and they will come. Don't say you need a new stadium to fix your income problems. Win a lot of games for an extended period of time, perhaps even a championship, and then ask to be rewarded with a new stadium. You'll catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

It's a shame the Jets ever had to move and it's a shame the Thrashers are now moving because whatever down period they may have been enduring is cyclical. It all just seems so short-sighted. Atlanta looks bad today, but who says it would always be that way? Winnipeg looks fine today with a owner willing to spend, likely without profit for the sake of community because he's filthy rich, but what happens 10 years from now when he loses interest because his toy isn't so shiny anymore, he's had to endure big losses from some future down economy that has made him worth hundreds of millions of dollars less on paper, the Canadian dollar is again worth 57¢, the team may not have been winning for some time, they play in the smallest rink in the league by far and he want's to sell? No one in their right mind is going to want to own a team in such a small city with such a tiny arena. Now what, move them to Seattle? Winnipeg is a band-aid that will last as long as the owner likes his new purchase. Once that one man is out of the picture, we've seen what can happen just this week in Atlanta, which looked like such a great idea when Ted Turner and his money was involved, didn't it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jeff in all honesty that may be the best post i have ever read.

I believe you pretty much summed up how i feel and how every educated fan feels.

Thelonious Monk thats a very short sighted post like i said in my above post i am happy for Winnipeg but Thrashers fans got screwed the exact same way the Jets did 16 years ago.

theres no need to rub it in their faces.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Thrashers got hosed worse than anyone I can possibly think of, and I'm inclined to already put ASG at the top of the list of "worst owner(s) in NHL history". Yes, that's over Ballard, over Wirtz, over all of them.

TNSE's primary backer (Thomson) has already said that he has no intention of running Winnipeg as a charity or some source of civic pride; if he's not making money on it, he's bailing. It's also one thing to get huge attendance for a new team, but when happens when years of mediocrity take over? The Minnesota North Stars had the worst attendance of the last 25 years, and I'd have a heck of a time saying that Minnesota is a bad market. Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, NY Islanders, Boston...all have had attendance issues, but no one would say that they're not NHL markets.

Atlanta got screwed big time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nathan i agree 100% but can you name me a franchise that got relocated n the last 25 years that didn't get screwed? Jeff said it best rough patches in franchises are cyclical and these owners don't understand that they are not the owners of a toy. They are custodians of a civic entity. The bottom line is money it is never about fan support the leagues spin doctors like to use attendance as a way of hiding the real reason teams move and that's money. I am 100% convinced if Atanta spirit had been even half decent ownership group the Thrashers would have never moved. That holds true for Supersonics, Expos, Jets and Nordiques.

The poor coyotes are hammered everyday on tsn by the Canadian media and by Canadian fans who don't understand that the only people punished are fans. Fans who have invested in many cases their pocket books, hearts and souls in a franchise, As a Canadian and a Quebecer i can understand how some fans just want teams in canada but i think to keep saying ATLANTA, PHOENIX and so on to not deserve a team is completely of base and shows a real lack of understanding of sports BUSINESS.

The city of Winnipeg lost their team 16 years ago and they didn't deserve it fast forward 16 years later and the city of Atlanta has lost their team in the exact same manner.

Am i happy for Winnipeg? yup but guess what 2 wrongs do not make a right even if the NHL has you believing it does!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am 100% convinced if Atanta spirit had been even half decent ownership group the Thrashers would have never moved.

Not at all. The Thrashers were doomed before they even played a game on day 1. Even before Atlanta Spirit the team was on lifesupport, the franchise never had any culture, and hockey just doesn't work in Atlanta. It is quite possibly the worst sports town in America if you ask me. If its not college football no one gives a s***.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not at all. The Thrashers were doomed before they even played a game on day 1. Even before Atlanta Spirit the team was on lifesupport, the franchise never had any culture, and hockey just doesn't work in Atlanta. It is quite possibly the worst sports town in America if you ask me. If its not college football no one gives a s***.

I disagree completely, although Atlanta is definitely a strange sports town. The falcons proved if you put a winner on the field the people will come out. Although the braves have had difficulties drawing massive crowds despite their success they still do relatively well and have a great deal of corporate support especially the television deal with tbs. The thing that hurt the Braves and i know this cause i lived in florida from 92-94 was the 2 franchises awarded to florida ( Rays and Marlins). The Braves had a huge following in florida and when MLB decided to give expansion franchises it definitely hurt the Braves.

The Hawks have done well when they win. As For Hockey Atlanta is not a "Hockey Town" but neither is L.A or Anaheim but they still can have a franchise. Bad ownership destroyed the Thrashers from allowing Don waddel to make a giant mess and then promoting him to president the Thrashers have been a nightmare on and off the ice. The Heatley incident also rocked that franchise and forced them to trade there most popular young player. The trade that sent Kovalchuck to New jersey was also a p.r nightmare. The basically in the span of 5 years lost 3 franchise players KOVALCHUCK, HEATLEY AND HOSSA. Not many franchises can recover from that on or off the ice.

College football is king in Florida as well go to Gainsville or go take a ride to Tallahase but yet Tampa is doing ok.

I think you believe the TSN regurgitation put out that Bettman is ANTI CANADA and that the sun belt cannot support franchises that if you want success you have to put teams in Hamilton and Quebec. Being Canadien theres nothing i would want more then to have franchises in those markets but selling the game in places like Phoenix and Atlanta is crucial to the growth of the game those are major revenue markets but also untapped markets for the Nhl. The unfortunate thing is that the common fan doesn't understand a thing about growing the game and making hockey more popular. If you haven't noticed hockey is way back in 4th among the 4 major sports in terms of revenue and in terms of t.v audience and actually is behind nascar, tennis , golf etc....

You may not care about that because you want a team in winnipeg but people who own teams and people who want to see the game grow want the nhl to do succeed in big so called "UNTRADITIONAL" markets.

Let me blunt by saying if you think the fans in Atlanta didn't get hosed you are a dummy and are part of the sheep that swallow whatever the general media tells them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Sunbelt or not bad ownership destroys any team. The end of the first Jets owner group, HOWARD BALDWIN, or the first crook to try to peddle the Preds to Balsillie (name eludes me, but I remember him being sentenced recently). If the ownership group is not heart and soul in it the team is doomed unless it's the Habs or Leafs. Some markets are destined for success regardless of other factors. Montreal and Toronto's religious devotion to their franchises is a shining example for all of sports. Good or bad the fans are there. Sure they may be pissed, but still there nonetheless. Winnipeg got hosed the first time, Atlanta after that. Soon to be Phoenix and Nashville. Couldn't imagine what it feels like to jump in an back a team and have it ripped away....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...