Trying To Care About The Columbus Blue Jackets & Hockey In General
Growing up in Northeast Ohio, hockey was as important as the weather in Antarctica. Everyone with good parents was raised on baseball, football and basketball. Notice the absence of hockey. It gets freaking cold in the winter on the shores of Lake Erie. The last thing we wanted was to go to an ice rink!
Due to how I was raised (properly), hockey was always an afterthought. Sure, it was above commie-round-ball (soccer), but just barely. One hesitation I always had with hockey was the whole skating thing. Humans and our ape brethren were always meant to run around and hit each other – the latter of which hockey has down – not skate! On top of that, Cleveland didn’t have an NHL team, so what was the point? Sure, Cleveland’s has had its fair share of AHL teams, but they always come and go along with the year’s strain of flu.
But as I said… I’m a Cleveland fan. When’s the last time Cleveland won anything? 1964. That’s 45 years and I’ve only been alive for 23 of those suck-tastic years. Needless to say, I could use some winning in my life. That’s when I first turned to the NHL, which was sorta a sport, because ESPN at least showed highlights.
My foray into hockey began my freshman year of college. Luckily the Columbus Blue Jackets were in Ohio by this point, so I could pick an in state team. Unfortunately, the few hockey fans in Cleveland are Pittsburgh Penguin fans. I know it’s a nearby city, but how can we hate them during football season only to love them a few months later (some of the months even overlap)? We can’t, so that’s why I started to kinda become a Columbus Blue Jackets fan.
Along with becoming a fan, I became a player. I signed up for an intramural hockey team my freshman year at Miami University. Long story short, I retired after two games. For some reason I thought I’d be okay, since I’ve played sports throughout my life. But none of my sports required skating, let alone skating backwards (nothing more frustrating than trying to back pedal on defense, only to realize you’re on skates). So I found something better to occupy my time other than falling on my ass for an hour.
Unfortunately, my Blue Jackets fandom went the way of my hockey career. The team went back to simply being that hockey team I cursed at for being on Fox Sports Ohio when I wanted to watch the Cavs. But then… the resurrection!
FLASH FORWARD TO SPRING 2008!
The Blue Jackets are in the playoffs for the first time in their brief franchise history! An Ohio team in the playoffs that matters (hint, not Cincinnati), I could get behind that. So just like that, I hopped on the bandwagon faster than a Boston Red Sox fan (gross, I just compared myself to a Red Sox fan) just in time to watch the Blue Jackets get swept in the first round by the Detroit Red Wings. Oh well! How could I be mad? I’m a Cleveland fan… at least they made the playoffs.
Now with the 2009-2010 season underway, I can proudly claim that I’m officially on board with the Blue Jackets. I’m the guy at the Chicago bars asking if they can turn on the Cavs AND Blue Jackets game. Sure the waitresses look at me thinking, What or who are the Blue Jackets? but i don’t care! I’m really getting into it. Hell, I’ve even started learning some hockey names beyond Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr (thanks, NHL 96!). The foreign ones (i.e. most) are addmitedly hard to wrap my mind around, but I’m getting there! Player positions, however, are an entirely separate beast that I haven’t even bothered with it, but I think I’ll get there.
In the meantime, look for me in the stands on December 1st at the United Center as the Columbus Blue Jackets take on the Chicago Blackhawks. I’ll be the goofy looking guy you can see below…
The Blue Jackets really do have an awesome logo. And yes, I’m wearing my Browns hoodie and holding up my Cleveland mug, because I’m a tool-bag like that.
[...] I noted in last week’s post regarding my foray into professional hockey fandom, I grew up with the notion that soccer was commie-round-ball, so it should come as no surprise that [...]