I'm about to fire up the DVR to watch the Jackets/Blues game from Sunday as I was out of town. Before I do that I wanted to share an email from Shane that I found interesting and hope you do as well:
LTL,
Shane again. I came across two quotes I thought you would find interesting. They have the following in common: attitude. One quote disgusts me. The other I find empowering. Should the Jackets choose to abandon the attitude surrounding "quote number one", and subsequently adopt the attitude surrounding "quote number two", imagine where this team (and this organization) could be today. I feel attitude is something the Jackets could work on; hell even a lot of fans need to change their attitude.
The first quote comes from, Mike, an employee at Nationwide Arena. He overheard the Jackets' equipment staff talking about the team and the upcoming game (tonight) against St. Louis. The conversation was decidedly negative as Mike heard one of the staffers say this trip to St. Louis is "a waste of time". I understand people need jobs, but attitudes such as this have no place on this team. Stop working for the team if it's all a "waste of time". I get that same feeling from our boys on the ice this season: a feeling of, "we're probably going to lose, so this game is 'a waste of time'". Granted, they have picked things up recently (even though they're not winning a lot), but overall I get a feeling of "what's the point?". The attitude and culture in the locker room and elsewhere simply have to change.
The second quote comes from Peter Loviolette, the Flyers head coach. Its simplicity, and profoundness blew me away. This is from the "24/7: Flyers/Rangers" special about the road to the Winter Classic airing on HBO. Maybe you saw this, maybe not, but it's a hell of a good special. I digress. Peter had this to say about attitude and expectations, "I think that when you enter a season, if your expectation isn't to win a Stanley Cup you've already sold your team short; you've already sold your expectations short." Pretty heavy, right? I would argue that every single person in the Flyers organization from the top to the fans in the nosebleeds expect greatness of their team year in, and year out. I believe this attitude, this outright belief that their team can and should win, drives them to be a perennial contender.
Imagine if this attitude could be adopted by the Jackets. We're too used to losing; we're too used to no accountability for screw-ups. It seems most fans' expectations are to make the playoffs, and maybe that is okay (or at least realistic for the next few years), but imagine if the whole culture could change. Look at the Florida Panthers for Pete's sake! Imagine if we (the fan base as a whole) loved our team so much that we packed the Arena every night and made it truly terrifying for opposing teams (and opposing fans) to show their soon-to-be-pummeled faces and egos in our building. Imagine if we just changed the culture. *Steps off soap box*
Hope you're well, LTL. Go Jackets.
-Shane-
I think the fans have tried to do their part. Heck, with crowds of 16108, 16090, 15808, 18175 and 13852 over the past 5 game home stand, the fans somehow continue to come out. As one of my buddies put it, not even Canadian markets would contiue to show up with this much losing. Heck, look at Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Chicago and now Dallas this year -- all were or are currently ghost towns after a couple years in the basement.
It truly is astonishing the attitude and expectations from one franchise to another though. There is NO WAY a franchise like Philly would put up with any of this garbage that CBJ fans have put up with for a decade.
That is why all this talk about firing Arniel doesn't do a thing for me. IMO we are way past the point of a coaching change having any kind of significant or lasting impact.
It all starts when ownership raises their expectations, changes their attitude and holds everyone accountable. We will know when that happens when Priest, Howson and then Arniel will have to pack their bags. Look, I don't want folks to lose jobs but what else can be done? This thing has got to be blown up.
...and if any significant changes do occur, I don't expect them until the offseason.
Regardless, it all starts at the very top and perhaps I'm being naive here, but there absolutely has to be wheels churning in the background. As I've stated numbers times before, nobody likes pissing away 62 million dollars.
How's this for a wake up call -- thus far the Jackets have only grabbed 33% of the total points available through 33 games played.
At that clip, the Jackets are on pace to grab a total of 54 points this season. That would make this season the WORST of their 11 year on ice history.
Yes, even worse than the 2001-2002 season when they went 22-47-8-5 for a total of 57 points.
That is what 62 million is buying this ownership group. Most, including myself, never saw this coming but here we are and there has got to be consequences.
Thanks for the email Shane!
-LTL
