LET'S GO... TRASHERS?

My first viewing of the Atlanta Thrashers this season featured a tough loss, but a good one (?) to swallow, against one of the league's top teams, the Boston Bruins. It was a 2-1 loss, but you figure if you keep the Bruins to two goals in a game, you did a good job. Unfortunately, the Thrashers couldn't get much going that evening and that resulted in the L. Not bad, but not exactly the preferred result.

And that was fine. I mean, kinda. You always want your team to make an appearance and do it to the fullest extent. That didn't quite happen on the 28th of December, but I was somewhat satisfied that we weren't blown off the rink against one of the league's elite. I think that I was more excited that it was my first game of the season and I couldn't have really cared about the end result - I was finally at a hockey game this season and that's all that mattered at that point. And it was free. And we had great seats. But that's beside the point!

My second appearance at the Bulb was this past Sunday, against the Lightning. We all know how that went. Needless to say, it was terrible. There was zero effort in the game from the Thrashers and even my parents noted Kovalchuk's absence.

Keep in mind that Kovy logged almost 24 minutes in the game.

Defensemen just stood there with cinder blocks attached to their skates. Scoring chances were blown constantly because no one could touch the puck when it came to them in the slot. And Kari was just a goalie. Also, several players not named Jim Slater fell during critical plays. Usually that is Slater's specialty (or speed), but that behavior was constant that evening.

For the first time in five years of truly supporting the team, my family and I were able to sit in a suite. It was completely overshadowed by the Thrashers life-sucking performance... and the lack of a lock on the restroom door in said suite. That's neither here nor there though.

After watching last nite's game against the Pens, this team couldn't get more lifeless. I mean, I guess that they could if only John Anderson was behind the bench... AND THAT'S IT. It sure seemed like that for the past two games, only with pylons on the ice providing obstacles for the opposition. And the question everyone's asking is WHY IS THIS TEAM SO LIFELESS?

It was games like Sunday's affair versus the Lightning that seriously made me question the future of the franchise. It's deteriorating rapidly. With casual fans (such as my parents) wondering where Kovalchuk was on Sunday, that said it all. The face of the franchise logged the most ice time, yet remained unnoticed. Fans come to the game to see the wonder that is Kovy and he has been a non-factor this season. Don Waddell (originally typed as DOWN Waddell, but whatevs) brings in non-factor players year in and year out and none of them do anything memorable. The team was a non-factor last year and is even worse this season and it's not getting noticed... or it is, but for the wrong reasons.

In terms of hockey, the people of Atlanta have nothing to cheer for, nothing to support. This organization is running itself into the ground and it appears that no one wants to save it. Yet, simultaneously, no one has any other ideas. People blame the ownership debacle that is the Atlanta Spirit, but who else would provide better ownership? Everyone that's an Atlanta Thrashers fan wants FIRE WADDELL tattooed on their forehead for recognition, but no one has any other ideas. Sure, it's so much fun to toss around names like Mark Cuban and Pat Quinn for replacements, but who's to say that they'd have more of an effect than the current squad of higher-ups? Maybe the naysayers are right and any other figurehead would be better than what's currently in place. But who's to say?

There's just too much disarray going around for my liking and I absolutely hate the current state of things. It's leading to nowhere positive. Ok, if we tank enough, we can luck out and draft phenom Tavares in June. Personally, I don't care. I want the team to win. I want the team to have energy and radiate it to the masses that also want it. I don't want Tavares because then he, too, will be poisoned by the hockey product in Atlanta. I don't want anyone. I just want a team that competes night in and night out. We can lose the same amount of games that we've lost all season - but if we actually gave a damn in each and every one of them and they were ALL competitive ALL THE TIME, I'd be ok with that and that would provide plenty room for promise. I see zero evidence of that and I haven't seen much effort all season. It's just dying and I'm becoming more and more crushed as the season progresses.

I apologize for the lack of blogging throughout the season. I'm not big on writing about negativity and I am rather silent about the Thrashers because it's too hard to justify or rationalize it to other fans or especially to outsiders. With that said, it's even harder to focus on the positivity or the light at the end of the tunnel. Normally, I'd be eager to write about my experiences at the games I attended. That is one of my favorite parts about blogging about the team. But when it's overshadowed by a franchise that just doesn't give a damn, why bother nitpicking about Mathieu Schneider's costly penalties or Bryan Little's skate blade breaking or another one of John Anderson's listless post-game press conferences when it's for naught? Everyone shares the same opinion at this point. It doesn't seem beneficial, to me, at this juncture to type about my unique and interesting experiences with the team. It used to give me a rush to run to a computer and type all things Thrashers and see how my sentiment compared with those in the internets and blogosphere. I loved the similarities, but I soaked up the differences and things that went unnoticed by my eyes. I learned new things that led to appreciating other elements of the team or the game that I was passionate about.

This isn't a letter of resignation or me disowning the Thrashers. After Sunday's (lack of) effort and the game last nite, I only posted what was right. If Don Waddell somehow finds his way back with the organization after this season (in ANY capacity), I seriously think about how this team affects me. If the big shots in the front office are apathetic towards his management of THEIR franchise, it makes me wonder how much they care about the fans and the city of Atlanta.

Eh, that's all I got for now.