Red Wings Own Lame, Bland Jackets

Walk Lane Avenue on any fall Saturday and the activity is amazing. Thousands of people patronize the businesses, occupy the sidewalks, and populate the parking lots. It doesn’t matter that the vast majority may not have tickets. This is their city, their event, and their team and in the thousand’s minds, the moment isn’t as sweet without them.

Sixty minutes prior to faceoff, the bricks were a sight to see… The importance of the contest, both for this season and the franchise overall, was reflected in the swarm which awaited their entrance into Nationwide Arena and inhabited every seat either obvious or invented. As I walked the bricks, interspersed with evenly split collage of Detroit Red Wings and Blue Jackets jerseys, the playoff atmosphere perfectly articulated the afternoon’s motivation… The Red Wings wanted revenge… The blue Jackets wanted validation…

The crush inside the Frog Bear and Wild Boar mirrored the mass assembled outside… The patio was crushed, the tables were occupied, and while a noticeable collection of eyes were affixed on the Ohio State-Purdue Big Ten Championship contest, the crowd’s energy was palpable.

Said energy expanded as I arrived at R Bar… From the patio to the popcorn pouch (which was refilled every five minutes during pre-game), the Blue Jackets jerseys and shirts were omnipresent and the crowd’s energy was stellar… The Frog Bear and Wild Boar’s population may have, in heart, been a split contingent… However, R Bar’s allegiance was unquestionable… With thirty minutes remaining until face-off, every R Bar television was affixed on the Blue Jackets pre-skate…

My eyes, meanwhile, were darting between the pre-skate and the random collection of fans which assumed residence within feet of R Bar’s door… The congregating ran the gambit from those sporting random attire to those sporting random Blue Jackets attire… However, the random who required the most attention, stood within five steps of the entrance… His ensemble included a mask and sign which read “Hey, Detroit, I’ve got my mask back… Jason lives at Mason-wide Arena.” Are Blue Jackets fans that uncreative that they have to parody horrid eighties movies for their goaltender’s nickname?

I cannot answer that question until all examples are exhausted… I can restate my answer as to why Ohio State afternoons supersede any Blue Jackets contest, not withstanding that contest’s historical significance… As I entered Gordon Biersch for my final moments prior to faceoff, the inside and outside crowd resembled what you would observe at this venue on a typical late spring afternoon…

This was not a typical late spring afternoon…. This was a chance to score a season series from a team that has owned you for seven seasons… The main dining area and the bar were busy, the patio was slightly less busy, and the Red Wings-Blue Jackets contest was relegated to a side monitor, barely visible around an Ohio State banner… The Ohio State-Purdue contest remained on four of the five bar screens (and in case you are wondering, the other screen featured golf)…

As reprehensible as you may feel that treatment of a potential playoff squad was, that insult pails in comparison to the cluster of Ohio State fans, who were four of only ten fans remaining in the venue when faceoff occurred… (we will return to the insult in a moment)… From the outset, you could sense the Red Wings attitude… While a goal was disallowed thirty seconds into the contest, the scored twice more to assume, what would ultimately conclude, as a 2-0 first period advantage…

With the Red Wings ahead 2-0 and the Big Ten title tilt concluded with Purdue as victors, the previously mentioned cluster of Buckeyes fans approached the exit… They were asked if they were leaving (reasonable question right?)… They informed their questioner that they possessed tickets to the contest and would be walking the bricks to the Arena… These four possessed tickets and they blew off the start to watch what amounted to a meaningless contest for both team’s tournament aspirations… I can’t imagine why I have stated my opposition to Columbus as a professional sports city…

That reinforcement of my opposition was not tempered during the second period, as the Frog Bear and Wild Boar sat equally vacant… One table occupied… Four bored bartenders starting toward the unwatched televisions as the brackets were revealed… It’s not as if the masses not inside Nationwide Arena were missing a grand exhibition… the Red Wings concluded the second with a 3-0 edge… Still, this was a historical opportunity (wasn’t it?)…

The energy was slightly elevated at R Bar, but it could not approach the spectacle of pregame. Moments after the Red Wings scored their final goal (4-0), I glanced toward the glass, which faces onto the bricks and the scene was mystifying… Streaming across the bridge, first in pairs, then in collections, and finally en masse, were Blue Jackets fans, wearing the green hats they were afforded as a St. Patrick’s Day promotion… I cannot state this with certainty… However, I believe every one of the 19,000 hats that were handed out walked the bridge as I watched…

As I transitioned from watching the bricks walked to walking them myself, first into our three postgame locations and eventually toward Front Street, I carried one obvious thought… The bricks and the venues they surround are the Blue Jackets Lane Avenue… Can anyone imagine a fall Saturday, in-game or post game with only twenty people on Lane Avenue?