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11.23.2009

Weekend Thoughts

Actually... this would be more of a Saturday thoughts.

TBirds played for 10 minutes on Saturday and then decided to go home. I just don't get it... what additional motivation do you need. In your own building, against a hated rival, making a push to get into playoff contention, riding a recent hot streak (maybe warm streak) and the players showed up for the first ten minutes and went away.

The got the go-ahead goal with the power play marker at the end of the first period but Everett had controlled the action up until the end of the period. After that... it was all Silvertips.

A disappointing result especially considering that Kelowna, Kamloops and Spokane all also won. All teams Seattle will need to hunt down in the next 4 months and they lost ground to all of them.

If this team has turned the corner... I'm not convinced. I've watched some road games but I haven't attended them so I don't have a crystal clear picture.... but the two games I saw at home Friday looked like the same old team that doesn't want to work, gets intimidated and backs down to opposition when they start to come at them hard.

As for this "attendance debate"....

I'm going to come back tomorrow and put together some stats breaking down the situation but I don't think it will really change my opinion on the subject. We all wish that more fans were coming to the game. We all wish the new building were sold out every game like Medicine Hat... but it isn't. There are reasons all over the place why this "might" be true but nobody really knows why the team isn't gaining more traction in the community.... lack of wins? lack of reader-board? lack of marketing?? I've seen a lot of marketing attempts by the team lately so I don't really think that is the reason.

We know the situation isn't as good as it could be... but I honestly don't know how to fix it, so I'm not going to spend much time worrying about it. Quite frankly... I like being able to park easily at the arena, get a beer easily, hit the restroom easily, etc. Is is fun when the building is packed? Sure... but I would enjoy watching hockey even if 500 people were in the stands so if anyone is looking for me to be a launch pad for criticising the front office... well simply put, I just don't see the point.

6 comments :

Anonymous said...

Why even bother about the attendence. We draw more than half the teams in the league but since we have "Seattle" on the front of our jersey's fans think we should draw the same as a professional team... The only T-bird coverage is on a city of Kent newspaper, what do you expect. A minor league hockey team isnt going to steal away the bandwagon jumpers known as Seahawks, Mariner, and Sounder fans. I have seen the same 2000 or so fans every game for 15 years that come support not just the team but the fact that they like hockey, and I enjoy that. I don't need 4,000 extra casual fans that don't even care who wins the game there to make hockey enjoyable to me. But unless the T-birds start getting more press from larger outlets and more cities nothing is going to change this....Promotions are fine, the real change needs to be on the ice. How many times when we have a big crowd or new or interested fans do the T-birds come out flat show no emotion and coast through a game. When you are trying to win over new fans you need to play with some excitement. And quite frankly this team doesnt score often, nor do they play phsyical. What do we have 2 fighting majors at home? 10 years ago a Portland/Seattle game would have 10 fighting majors a game. We have the highest ticket prices in the league and the best thing hockey has to offer is the emotion of the game. And this team has no emotion, so why would casual fans come?

Just my opinion... This argument comes up every year, and it's the same people who bring it up. Disgruntled T-bird fans, and Everett fans looking for something to attack us over before Boeing lays them all off. Get over it and enjoy or try and enjoy some hockey.

Unknown said...

I completely agree, 100% nothing is going to change, its minor league hockey for crying out loud, and yeah, you can argue well other teams sell out games, but what else is in that town, look at everett, what else is there too do on a Friday night? Outlet mall? I don't think so. In a lot of those canadian towns there isn't much to do either. I guess you can say the same thing about kent but the arena is pretty much in the middle of no where, so no new fans want to come. The only advertising is done on the radio or or in news papers or magazines. But I like seeing the same people at the games, I like it the way it is. It would be ashame to have bandwagon fans like the seahawks or the mariners. If they really want to bring in new fans they should try and get a deal with fsn, and have every game, home or away on tv. I'm tired of watching husky games from 1989, or pool, or tennis, fsn isn't doing anything without the sonics? Seems to me like a perfect match.

Anonymous said...

Chris hit the nail on the head, Great comment Chris! And also the first comment!Very well done gentleman!I have been trying to get FSN to commit to the T-Brids since last year, they had a few games on last year and from what I was told it was very well received according to their program director I exchanged emails with. I was told in late September of this year that they were trying to work out a deal with the T-birds for this year, so lets hope that they get something done, my last email I sent for a update on the issue has not been returned.
I am also tired of watching the same old crap on FSN, ACC basketball on Sunday nights???Who cares?? Give us a T-Bird home or away game, especailly the away games!!Airplane racing in San Diego???I really don't get that one. FSN has been hurting since the Sonics departure, so let's hope they wake up and get something done with the Birds and the WHL for that matter. It would not hurt either if KJR stepped up to the plate more, I have been disapointed in their coverage of hockey in general, they are sister stations with the Monkey, the birds and KJR need to get together on something, remote shows at the Sho, coaches show ect.In general, hockey coverage in Seattle in my lifetime has been a joke with radio, print media ect.

Unknown said...

Is anyone else annoyed seeing all the trades going on in the whl lately, I think 7 in the last few days???? And not one from the birds. Not saying the birds need to make deals, but there have been a few players traded lately that could help out a lot. It sucks always sitting back and watching other teams build for now and the future. I hate to say it, cause I think they are cheap little bitches, but looks like kamloops is blowing up there team, there's a few guys that we could for sure go for and use.... god I hate to say this, cause of how cheap he was Friday night, but jimmy bubnick??? I would love to go after him. Anyone else have an opinion?

Anonymous said...

To do a live broadcast of a T-birds game on FSN would cost them vastly more than it does to take a feed or run a taped program of airplane racing from San Diego. They could guarentee making a profit with advertisers on Sonics games. I doubt the could do the same for a T-birds broadcast. They wouldn't be able to charge as much for the commercials and the T-birds would be a harder sell. Still, you'd think the T-birds, Winterhawks, Silvertips, Ams and Cheifs would put there heads together and figure some way to get it done.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure cost was why FSN just took a feed from Shaw on the games televised from the Sho last season, rather than doing the broadcast themselves.

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