SBNation.com User Blog: CannonGoesBoom

When a Comment Becomes a Manifesto

CannonGoesBoom — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 22:30:27 -0000

Well, this was supposed to be three sentence or so reply to Mr. Newman's rebuttal to Mr. Waggoner's piece. Obviously, that didn't pan out. Instead, I brought my rant over to the spot where people pretend they can write as well as the actual Cannon staff.

First off, excellent piece. I've been missing the editorials from you guys, though I'm sure it's largely due to having to put together pregame, game thread, post-game blogs you guys have to crank out basically every other night. Those are all excellent as well.

While I agree with a few points Matt makes, I tend to lean towards the Newman camp but have some additions to his general take I'd like to toss out there. One seismic trade and off season isn't going to cut it. I'm of the school of thought we're not in rebuild mode. We're in f***in' demo mode and have been. Davidson's first step isn't to build up brick by brick. It's addition by subtraction. Umby, until about last night, was my favorite player. That's why it pains me to highlight him to make my point. When the "Heart and Soul" of the team comes into the season clearly out of shape, clearly out of practice, you have major, major issues.

I think and hope Davidson is going to purge us of these types of players. We've still got enough bad apples that it's addition by subtraction at this point. We need to get whatever value we can out of these players that, for whatever reason, just aren't getting it done.

If that means we lose a s*** ton of games in a half season, that's fine. If by some miracle we squeaked into the playoffs, we all know we would have zero business being there and the 08-09 Red Wings playoff series drubbing we got will look tame in comparison. As much as it sucks, the best thing for us to do is tank.

I don't mean tank in the sense of the players just stop trying. Quite the contrary. My biggest pet peeve is not seeing the wheels spinning in overdrive on the ice at all times, all 60-65 minutes. If you're not doing that, you're being outworked. I can support a loser, but one that keeps getting outworked ... now that's a really tough pill to swallow. I digress. The tanking I refer to is the sending of RyJo to the minors. Sure, he might helps us steal a win or four, but hasn't one of our biggest problems been not developing talent properly, not letting them bake in the minors?

As much as it sucks, the best way forward to build through the draft. We could easily have a pick in the early, middle and late portions of the first round from a STACKED draft class. That's a pretty phenomenal situation to be in when you consider the '03 class this upcoming one keeps getting compared to has fielded ... 12 all stars from the first round alone? We can't just throw darts at the draft board though. We need be much, much better at evaluating talent than we have been in the past. We need to make the right picks. If one or two make an immediate impact, awesome! If not, let them bake first in the minors. That is, after all, what we do to bricks before we build with them.

This isn't a reshape. It's not a rebuild. This is the demolition of 12 years of suck happening in slow motion, brick by brick.

We All Saw it Coming, But ...

CannonGoesBoom — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 01:13:27 -0000

It stings deep. I've had a lot of life experience in a relatively short life. I know just how unimportant sports are. There's a lot more going on in our lives and the world around us that merits our attention.

Still, this might be the straw that broke the cammel's back for me.

We do love sports.We love our teams and the numerous, awesome things they do for our community. We get pumped after a win. We get bummed after a loss. We get emotionally invested, maybe more than we should, but I'm a creature of passion. I can't help it. That's why this lockout stings so much.

Now add that Columbus has to wait another few years to host something that should have happened long ago just blows my mind. I was going to take two days off work (when I only get 14 vacation/sick days a year), get a room at the Hilton, go to both All-Star events and enjoy a party in a city that's never experienced a party or a spotlight quite like it. I make only 24k a year. I didn't take those few precious off days I've accumulated at my fairly new job to go to Thanksgiving with my parents and extended family on the off chance a miracle would prevail and the game would be saved.

I missed five Thanksgivings in a row because of my military service, two in Afghanistan. Maybe that was extreme of me, but All-Star games come around your home city once every 30 years or so, if you're lucky. You know what should come around only once every thirty years, at most? Lockouts. Two in eight years? A season and a half killed off, so far? I dropped my home warranty protection company because their contractor didn't keep/make one appointment.

Why should I support a league, a product, that doesn't show up 16% of the time? Why get emotionally invested in a company that so consistently spurns its clients and customers? Maybe I'll come back like a fool in a relationship who keeps returning to the same, slutty girlfriend who keeps cheating on him. I doubt it though. I think I learned my lesson. I loved my Blue Jackets, but their league doesn't love us back. I'm out. Side note: I recognize I'm far from the only one who budgeted and sacrificed for this event.

New Owner, New Jerseys?

CannonGoesBoom — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 21:50:24 -0000

Down here in Columbus, a talk show on our main sports station 97.1 FM was discussing comments made by the new ownership that they would be open to changing the jerseys and logos so long as fans were open to it as well. The hosts even discussed changing the colors. Bunch of callers hit the airwaves with their varying opinions on what should or shouldn't be changed. Thought I'd post on here to see what other Browns fans think.

In my opinion, the jersey and the helmets worn by the players are classic and timeless. They should keep what they've got and only change if they introduce a third, alternate jersey that catches on big with the fans. But please, for the love of God, let's never have an alternate jersey as terrible as what the Seahawks introduced a few years ago. Players looked like giant glow in the dark, florescent, neon-green highlighters running around out there. Terrible.

The logo though ... I'm all for changing that. It's just a picture of a helmet. That's it. The helmets look good and timeless on the players, but not on a sports coat or any other gear. I'm really a fan of this guy here: http://idigitalcitizen.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/cleveland_browns-dog-1024x768.jpg?w=1024 It looks cool/badass while simultaneously being cartoony enough to draw in kids, gives love to the Dawg Pound and incorporates our team colors pretty well. Plus, there are no other team in the league that have a dog theme going. Who doesn't think dogs are cool and badass? They're man's best friend too for goodness sake.

As for changing the team colors, I can sum up how I feel about that in one word: blasphemy.

Your thoughts on this irrelevant, but fun, debate?

As for changing the team colors, I can sum up how I feel about that in one word: blasphemy.

Your thoughts on this irrelevant, but fun, debate?

Not Gonna See it Live! (Event)

CannonGoesBoom — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:14:14 -0000

In lieu of the proposed Jan. 28 protest, I thought I'd share my vision for how to best grab the ownership's attention.

I think the best place to protest is right from our couches. While I'm considering joining the "protest" this Saturday because I'm fully behind the general principle, I think there's a far more effective way of going about things. What I propose is Blue Jacket bloggers and Jacket fans together to put the word out for a month or so to anyone who will listen to simply not attend a designated Jackets game sometime in late Feb/early March.

Imagine a PR build up gaining steam over the course of an entire month instead of just a few days. Think of 30 days of putting the word out via CBJ blogs, Jacket Backers, Facebook, Twitter, E-mail and hopefully getting the attention of the Dispatch and the Other Paper. I'd even go so far as to say we might even generate a little national buzz via Puck Daddy and maybe even a footnote mention from the likes of ESPN if we played our cards right.

If we hit enough of the right notes, I suspect we could get attendance to be as low as 5-6k, if not lower. A massive, empty cave with empty, blue chairs silently watching the game would grab the brass' attention. Imagine the place sounding more like a routine practice than an actual NHL regular season game. That, coupled with equally quiet beer stands and cash registers, would be a statement. Emphatically showing them what will inevitably lay ahead attendance wise in the coming years if things keep going at this rate would be a statement.

As much as it pains me to suggest this, I'd encourage people to not even go near the Arena District that night. While it would hurt profits in that area for one day, if these losing ways continue under the current and failed leadership, business will be a lot worse over long periods of time in the coming years. I would suspect business owners themselves might become a little more vocal in support of change if their wallets get a little lighter on what would have been a relatively busy night.

Every purchase or transaction we make is essentially a vote that people and businesses watch more closely than we think or realize. In the spirit of an election year, we should vote "No" to the current team president, general manager and general state of affairs.

Obviously not everyone is going to agree with this. Some might be of the mind that, "Just because their jobs are safe for now doesn't mean the dramatic change we feel we need is in order isn't on the horizon. We just need to wait." The sad truth is, we've been told to wait and have obliged many a time. Ten years from the team president and five years from the GM and the results they've accrued is more than enough of a sample size to insist upon their removal.

It's drastic, yes. Maybe it's even a little too far reaching, but decisions that have been made over the course of time and this season by the organization have forced our hand. If the head shed isn't going to hold this team and its leaders to a high standard, its incumbent upon the fans to do so in whatever ways they can. We've patiently played the wait and hope card for over a decade, but we've lost out the vast majority of the time.

Ideally, if something like this were to gain enough steam, there might be dramatic, but clearly necessary, change with the current leadership before whatever game we try to essentially boycott.

If the current leadership were yielding the same kind of results for Worthington Industries and the like, they would have been gone a long time ago. While our team isn't anything resembling a Fortune 500 company, we need to hold the powers that be to some kind of a standard if we want and ever expect to see a consistent winner and a worthy product on the ice. I love this team and this city too much to let it be content with mediocrity at best.

If enough of you out there are behind this, I'll lend whatever efforts I can to putting the word out about "You Don't Gotta See it Live!" night.

In lieu of the proposed Jan. 28 protest, I thought I'd share my vision for how to best grab the ownership's attention.

Ideally, if something like this were to gain enough steam, there might be dramatic, but clearly necessary, change with the current leadership before whatever game we try to essentially boycott.

If enough of you out there are behind this, I'll lend whatever efforts I can to putting the word out about "You Don't Gotta See it Live!" night.