Quick Thoughts On the Sabres At Columbus

The Columbus Blue Jackets had their fan appreciation night last night. They rolled out the red carpet for "A Toast to Tinseltown with Ronald McDonald House," complete with tuxedos and formal black dresses as guests strolled past a gold Oscar statue on their way into the arena

This was the 10-year anniversary of the Jackets and although the crowd was small, kudos to the fans who showed up and showed their love for a franchise that's still in it's infancy.

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The Jackets are cool. They have a great arena--Nationwide--where there's not a bad seat in the house. Their logo is cool, their mascot is Stinger and, even though he's a yellow jacket, he's kid-friendly and they have one of the best goal celebrations in the league--"Fire the Cannon!"

Last night with the Sabres up by two very late in the game, I'd hoped that the Jackets would score one more time so i could see and hear the cannon go off again. Sure enough, they scored--cue AC/DC's "For those about to rock...BLAM!!!"--off goes the cannon.

Awesome.

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The outrageously large contingent of Sabres fans, which was said to be 9000+ and filled every nearby bar and half the arena, were having a grand time. The cool part about it was that there was very little flaunting. Sure, somebody would start with "Let's go Buffalo!!!" and the rest would join. Sure, there was plenty of hootin' and hollerin'. And, yes, there were some bone-heads flaunting the Sabres at the expense of Blue Jackets fans, but there wasn't too much of that.

After the game, as we were walking around the arena, we passed by this group of Jackets fans--three adults and a boy who looked to be about eight. Amidst all the Sabres hoopla bouncing in and around the streets, this kid says to us, "Good luck in the playoffs, Buffalo."

Bravo, kid--fellow hockey fan.

From this blogger:  GOOD LUCK YOU, BLUE JACKETS FANS.