Growing Up Jackets

A professional franchise’s maturation is interconnected with the maturation of their fans. The city is irrelevant. For any metropolis, their new team’s sport is something they’ve watched on television. It’s something they might have seen once in person. It’s something they analyze or discuss. But, they have never experienced an entire season. They have never endured with a squad as they struggle. They have never cheered and cringed, soared and survived, as their team, commences their first significant march toward the postseason.

Following consecutive impressive victories over the Detroit Red Wings (8-2 on Saturday) and the Boston Bruins (2-0), the Blue Jackets opposed the Pittsburgh Penguins with a supreme confidence, that has resonated into their followers… Throughout the city on Tuesday, the discussion was not on Ohio State’s professional football day, which is Friday… They discussion was not the Buckeyes hoops, which is Friday… The discussion was the Blue Jackets vs. the Penguins…

As I walked the bricks, over the bridge, down the stairs, and toward Frog Bear, two observations were inescapable… How are the patios this active? It’s freezing cold out… (Alright, maybe not freezing, but it was seventy like three days ago)… And the other observation… Did the entire population of Pittsburgh relocate for this contest? Seriously… there were Penguins jerseys inside, Penguins jerseys outside, Penguins jerseys buying our tickets and drinking our beer… (They are three hours away… What does the state have no cable)…

Within five minutes of my arrival at the Frog Bear and Wild Boar, one could sense the same crackle of electricity I discussed earlier… The venue was crammed… The entire bar was taken, every table was taken, and even their patio was crushed… The scene was both glorious and ridiculous… It was as if the people of Columbus (and apparently Pittsburgh), discovered the Blue Jackets have a playoff worthy franchise and they discovered it all at once…

The Blue Jackets seized upon this energy as they ultimately garnered a 1-0, first period advantage… Obviously, as the contest commenced, the crowd thinned and within minutes of the face-off, there were only two dozen people at the venue… Still, the excitement was palpable… A steady buzz of conversation wafted through the air and onto the bricks as the Blue Jackets concluded the initial period ahead and I headed for R Bar…

Now, if you have read previously, you will note people who have commented, billing R Bar as the ultimate hockey bar… If this were the case (and as I said on Saturday, I disagree), is it really necessary to keep the place as cold as the arena itself… I stood, watching the second period, speaking with Frog Bear and Wild Boar’s Jeff (who apparently followed me) and shivered virtually the entire time… Seriously, I have expected to see ice crystals on their plasma screens…

On those plasma screens, the Blue Jackets’ brilliance continued… Pittsburgh racked a few scoring chances… However, the Jackets capitalized on theirs, ascending to a 2-0 lead at the end of the second period… You would have assumed that R Bar would have been as deserted as the Frog Bear and Wild Boar… Yet, it was not… The collection of fans, numbering about a hundred, in intriguingly enough, business casual, cheered and remained attentive throughout… Obviously, R Bar is the official “If you cant get tickets like those at Frog Bear and Wild Boar, you may as well show up here” destination…

Four minutes into the third period, with myself returned to the Frog Bear and Wild Boar, the Blue Jackets secured a 3-0 lead (for those of you assuming game over, we will return to you in a moment)… The Blue Jackets were sixteen minutes from another victory, a second consecutive shutout, and super supreme confidence ahead of Sunday’s showdown with the Red Wings… Then, something happened…

If you asked a hundred fans, they wouldn’t be able to pinpoint the proximate cause… It could have been arrogance… It could have been something simpler… Perhaps, as Stephanie (who we mentioned previously and we’ll mention again momentarily), cupped both hands to her mouth and chanted “Lets Go Jackets” to three jersey wearing Penguins fans, the hockey gods scoffed at the overconfidence and would have no more… The Penguins scored… One minute and twenty seconds later, they scored again… Just like that… 3-0 to 3-2…

Now, save your e-mails… I am by no means blaming Stephanie for the Blue Jackets stumble (which would get worse)… Stephanie is delightful… It’s not like Frog Bear and Wild Boar doesn’t have a collection of bunnies for bartenders (I’m thinking of one in particular), but Stephanie is unique… The physique and voice of Shawn Johnson, with a precocious personality… Stephanie, at different times, patted two male customers on the butt, messed up Dave Allsbrooks hair, danced with Abbi, danced alone, and threw ice… The Marchioness (it’s a step below duchess, but still in the royal family) is a treat…

Not such a treat when I returned to R Bar for the final ten minutes was the Blue Jackets play… They completed their collapse, allowing a third goal in four minutes, squandering their advantage, and placing themselves in danger of the type of epic collapse that one revisits if and when one doesn’t make the playoffs… Thankfully, the Blue Jackets and their fans, who were at this moment nauseous with the thought they could lose, held it together and the third period concluded, knotted 3-3.

As overtime evaporated, the contest still tied, something stirred inside the fans of R Bar… They realized victory, two points, and solid playoff position we still possible… The shootout commenced and the cheers were louder, the chanters were louder… The Blue Jackets and Penguins swapped a pair of missed chances… Then, the Blue Jackets scored, the venue erupted in “Pittsburgh Sucks” chants… The Penguins did not score and victory, two points, and solid playoff position were reclaimed…

In the immediate aftermath of the contest, the conversation remained hockey… This was a great game, Pittsburgh deserved credit, bring on Detroit… R Bar was crammed, with a line out the door, as I returned to Frog Bear and Wild Boar, to discover that they were similarly crunched with fans, talking about what they had just witnessed… As I relocated to my position, on the back wall, I marveled at what I was witnessing…

In ten years, this will be remembered as just another, regular season, shootout scare, with the Blue Jackets defeating the Penguins 4-3. But, if you were there, as I was there, and this playoff pursuit concludes with a playoff position… You will forever remember this evening, as the night this franchise’s fans came of age.