I'll Take a Repeat of This Year's Groundhog Day

I think that you have to either be an optimist or a masochist to be a supporter of a professional sports team from Ohio; that’s why I only follow one, the Columbus Blue Jackets. My grievances with particular aspects of sport culture will have to wait for another day; I’ve already used up 53 words. I grew up the son of a Browns fan, so I learned the masochistic devotion  mantra of ‘next year’ early on. I even had this post half written about how it’s better to follow a team that rarely wins because the surprise, or at least the less expected outcome, is a victory, and when your team is expected to win at all times, the loss is shocking. The underdog ends with an up-note rather than down.

But tonight (February 2), the Columbus Blue Jackets won their second game in a week 4 to 2, and it was against the Red Wings. For the die hard Ohio fan, beating ANY team from Michigan counts for at least double. The hits were hard and Nationwide Arena was full and loud. Every guy on the roster was doing their part. Alternate Captain and defense-man, James Wisniewski scored the first goal with 1:43 left in the first period but left the game soon after. A spinning fall after colliding with another player resulted in Wisniewski slamming his head into the boards behind the goal before falling still to the ice, causing him to get a concussion. After a span of hushed silence that was probably a lot shorter than I would say if I had guessed, his feet started to move and then it was again a time of waiting before he sat up and was helped off by two teammates. That could have been a strong jolt to the team — losing one of the leaders that stepped forward in Rick Nash’s absence — but the Blue Jackets went the other way and scored again less than three minutes later. Half the CBJ fans that I know threw up their hands when Rick Nash left for New York.

The Columbus Blue Jackets had to start over, hopefully for the last time in a few seasons. Nash can do great things on the ice, as he shone bright in the All Star Games, Olympics, and some YouTube favorites while in his CBJ uniform. But his exit and the scattering spotlight  lets the casual follower or media finally notice the hard skating workers that were always there, along with the new ones that have just arrived.  Nash’s time in Columbus was amazing to watch and his franchise records of 289 goals and 258 assists will probably stand for a long time because he is a high caliber player. This is also because the Blue Jackets are trying to create a more even burden of success.