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.

State of the Blog Address

When I started this blog, I really didn't know how to start it. For a while, I didn't even have a title. Subject matter spewed all over the place, from favorite TV shows of mine to music that I love to traveling to sports. At that point, it didn't matter what I wrote about as long as I wrote what was true to me.

Then things got a little wild with my favorite hockey team and I jumped on that wagon. It lasted for a while. Actually, it will last forever, but seasons like this past one made the fandom and writing rather difficult. So that explains why the writing came to a halt there. Or does it?

Either way, it's amazing that people still somehow find this blog even though it's been a stagnant place for months now. It seems like there was a period of time when I couldn't tell if anyone was reading anything, but I'd receive the occasional comment. When the writing stopped a few months ago, the comments and emails were building, but about something I wrote well before I started writing about hockey (which was the main focus of this blog).

The post in question was about a friend of mine, musician A.A. Bondy. He's a brilliant guy who has this great album that was re-released just today and he just made an appearance on the Conan O'Brien show in support of it.

It's just weird how things like this work out, know you? The past few months for me have been a whirlwind of adventure, fun, and loving life. In February, I got married and last month we went on our honeymoon to Hawaii. I've been to a few hockey games and been to a few shows. As a matter of fact, a band that I've really appreciated over the past months is a band you'll hear a lot more about, and they're called Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun. But there's time to talk about them in the future.

Basically, to whoever has stumbled across this blog, thanks for reading. I'm not planning on stopping, that's for sure. I'm thankful for the kind words, really. Let's see where else this thing can go.

WE WANT... A HIATUS?

Image courtesy of inkdesigner.

Well, well, well - look what's going on here!

The past month has been pretty intense here at Camp WWD. I went to a few shows in the past month (The Smashing Pumpkins mostly), went to a hockey game here and there, and definitely kept myself in the loop of all that is Thrashers hockey. Hell, I even attended a meeting here a few weeks ago to (hopefully!) participate in the volunteer program for the NHL All-Star Game next month.

What's really consuming everything is my upcoming wedding! Yeah, you heard it right - I'm happy to say that I'm getting married in February and that's what's had most of my attention for the past few weeks. Granted, we've been engaged since June, but the reality of it is starting to kick in and it seems like every decision is life-or-death at this point.

So while I hate to be completely slack-ass with my posting and the bloggings, right now the wedding is the absolute priority. I'd really love to update more about the resurgence of Le Thrash (who are now quite close the .500 level, yay!), the (hopeful) ascension of Ilya's All-Star status, the almighty Kari Lehtonen (!), or the shows I've attended in the past couple of weeks. Sooner or later I'll get to those kind of things.

What's certain to come before the new year is a list of my 10-20 absolute favorite songs that were released in 2007. I don't normally do "Best of" sort lists with albums, so I'll just post about songs that I actually love lots and possibly make a downloadable playlist for y'all to enjoy. Keep a lookout for that if that suits your fancy... and if you're like me, an die-hard fan of hockey and the indie rock.

But in the meantime, I can't be any more pleased with how the Thrashers have performed. Sure, the recent losses have soured things a bit, but who would've thought that this team would've dug themselves out of the oh-and-six hole that they dug themselves to start the season? I had plenty of faith in the Birds, but this kind of turn around was rather impressive and inspirational, even. And how ridiculous is Ilya Kovalchuk right now? I feel bad for anyone who ever has to face his shots this season, for reals!

Posts TK, pinky swear! I thought I'd take a minute (or, well, 10) to make a quick post about what's going in here at Camp WWD. The Camp is about to grow (with the wedding!) and we couldn't be more excited about that!

And you better believe that there's gonna be a groom's cake that's Thrashers themed.

LET'S GO THRASHERS!

New Blog Alert - Thrashers Times

George, over at Talking Thrash, decided to create a spot online that automatically records updates to the Thrashers blogroll. It's called the Thrashers Times and, as of right now, this blog isn't a part of it, but will soon be as I've contacted George to include this blog over there.

Thrashers Times

Thanks for doing this, George!

Two minutes for... revamping?

So... should I penalized for the new color scheme or should be it celebrated? I'm unsure about it, really. Considering throughout most of the year, this is a hockey blog, I decided to bite the bullet and commit myself to one subject. Mind you, this does not mean the end of non-hockey posts. I just figured this would help out the audience. You come here expecting hockey and you see a post about some random indie band.

"Well, I *thought* it was a hockey blog, but I don't see any evidence of that...?"

Hopefully the restyling answers that question.

Like it, hate it, apathetic?

The only thing that gets to me is that I wish I could shade the edges of the title image so that they match the background color completely instead of having some lighter edges to the left and some more defined edges to the right. Any insight on this, photoshoppers?

Regardless, let's start getting ready for the hockey season!

Post Withdrawal

A little time away from blogging can't be that bad, can it? A bunch has gone on in the past month to cause me to neglect this ol' blog, but the main reason for the lack of posts or even attention to updating is due to procrastination. Other excuses also include:

- the hockey season officially ended earlier this month with the Anaheim Ducks winning the Stanley Cup (congrats to them!), so there's been reason for minimal coverage of the hometown Thrashers. Blueland is still getting over the nasty taste in the mouth from our inaugural playoff appearance, myself included. The upcoming draft and free agent sell-a-thon will bring open my eyes a bit, so I plan on getting excited for the upcoming season.

- my job basically puts me into seclusion for four days of the week. That means extremely small amounts of television and zero internet access. While the job is worthwhile, this aspect of it kills and causes me to make up my social life in three days' time, thusly pushing blogging and other internets stuff aside.

Also, I never said this was a blog to bring you news. It's all based on my experiences. In all honesty, I haven't been getting out much to see things. When I'm not working, I'm spending the time trying to catch up on what I've missed in the past three/four days and then trying to catch up with friends who I cannot talk to for the same time period. It's also hard to make an attempt at going to shows when it seems like most of the shows that interested me in the past three months occurred on weekends... when I'm busy working. The lack of hockey right now makes WE WANT DUNHAM dead because I love to report on games that I've attended and other happenings with my favorite sports team.

While I eagerly await (and I really mean anxiously, albeit in silence) for the '07-'08 NHL season and all of the details that surround it, this site will remain a little stagnant. I do not plan on tossing it aside. So just be aware of that, and as time progresses, I plan on being more on top of what you see here.

Upcoming items of interest:

* the NHL Entry Draft this weekend
* unrestricted free agents hit the market on July 1... and just who will the Thrashers pick up???
* Thrashers prospect camp opens for about ten days in the first half of July
* the long-awaited "comeback" album from the Smashing Pumpkins, Zeitgeist, hits shelves nationwide on the 10th of July
* my sweetie Kathleen Madigan makes a stop at Atlanta's Punchline Comedy Club in July
* and there's always Braves baseball at the Ted

Hope everyone is having a great summer and sneaking in some relaxation!

New Blog Alert - Welcome to BLUELAND

Just came across this this morning and it looks pretty good. From a college student in Columbus, GA comes a new voice for the Thrashers:

Welcome to BLUELAND

Welcome aboard!

UPDATE: New Thrashers Blogs!

I figured I'd do this since it helps out everyone in the end - both blogger and reader.

Thoughts from the Postman
Jason is entirely new to the blogging scene, so be delicate with him as he blossoms to be the blogger that he will be one day soon! He's picking up on the Thrashers' winning ways this season and really taking a knack at learning the way the team works, who the team is, etc. So his developing insight will definitely be an interesting read, for sure! I look forward to watching this space grow in the next few weeks/months.

Thrashers Thrashings
Erby was also in attendence for the Thrashers Blog Night a few weeks ago. He provides a great mix of links to Thrashers-related stories online as well as personal anecdotes from games. You can tell he's pretty passionate about the team when he lists his favorite music as Lil' John screaming "LETS GO THRASH-ERS!" There's no way you can deny that.

Talking Thrash
I just stumbled upon this blog today actually, so I have yet to really go through it and provide any kind of summary on it. Seems like there's a good thing going on over there. The more Thrashers bloggers online, the better! I just love reading other people's perspectives on what I also witness.

Oh yeah, here's a quickie...

And I can't believe I let this one slide for as long as I did, but I'm actually on the Thrashers website, all because of blog night! Check out the linkage here.

Of all the bloggers that partcipated and the entries that were made about the evening, a selection from your's truly was the leading quote for the rest of the blogs. Pretty neat, I say!

Recap: Blog Night @ Philips

Maybe it was fate... destiny... or really just poor goaltending from D.P. Who knows - but on the Thrashers' inaugural bloggers night, the Thrashers set the tone early (like, "six minutes" early, too), made Rick DiPietro believe he was swiss cheese, and led to a few glares directed towards me from other bloggers in the press box. I don't really think I need to clarify that.

I could do an entire narrative-style post about how the night progressed, but I won't do that. Seems more personal and, eh, livejournal than what I think should be represented. I mean, what I was a part of on Friday night was pretty amazing.

Aiming to be more progressive with their audience (primarily their internet audience), the Atlanta Thrashers opened their press box to anyone with an Atlanta-area blog - to see what it's like to be a member of the press, to tell the story of the experience, to just spread the word that there's a pretty damned good hockey team in town and to look at how some of their most important fans are treated. I'm sure that there are teams around the league that open their doors to bloggers/outsiders as much as the Thrashers did the other evening (the Capitals instantly come to mind). But to have this kind of respect and responsibility bestowed upon a few faceless bloggers is pretty damned trustworthy and forward-thinking. We were handed personalized press passes (with access to nearly everywhere, at any time, although I didn't take advantage of the latter), massive amounts of literature about the game/players/stats from around the league, and given a seat on the ninth floor of Philips Arena to watch the game.

I don't have a laptop, so I initially felt awkward being a blogger, but unable to immediately represent myself at the game. So I sweet-talked the ladyfriend and used her's for the evening. Turns out that I actually felt more awkward WITH it because I couldn't pay attention to the game. To actually devote a few minutes of typing during a fast-paced hockey game was a little more difficult that I thought and, in the end, it wasn't the way I wanted to go about the evening. It was pretty neat to be at the game, have any kind of information at your side (by way of all of the papers that were dished out), and check out instant updates online of what was happening. For example, when Hossa went down in the second in anticipation of an injury, minutes later it was brought to my attention that news of it made it to the NHL wires that Hossa was out indefinitely. This was probably no more than five minutes later after the incident. That's something I would've missed if I were watching the game on TV or anywhere else. With the internet, it's pretty ridiculous how fast things develop... and unravel. I mean, the same article that was very quick to report that Hossa was out is now reporting that he did go down, but came back to score the fourth Thrashers goal of the night (link).

It was also great to have the chance of being a member of the press. I really felt like wearing a press hat, but I'm assuming that wouldn't have gone over too well. It was weird enough wearing a jersey or trying to NOT cheer/yell/etc. or be "just a fan" in the press area. Other than those aspects of it, it's basically a dream job for me. To have that kind of positioning during the game, the kind of freedom around the arena, and just write... especially about something I'm fairly passionate about (ha!)... I couldn't think of anything there that's negative. So to say that my experience on Friday was anything short of amazing would be a complete lie. I had a ton of fun doing something that maybe I'll do again, maybe not (only of that opportunity never arises).

I wish that the bloggers could've either talked some more or that there was an opportunity made to talk about what they represent online and how they feel about the position they were in on Friday (i.e. bloggers with press credentials?). That would've been nice, but then again, we're not talking college classes here... we're only talking about hockey games.

But as a whole, it was pretty awesome Friday and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I took a few pics of stuff that happened that evening, and the album is found on my flickr site. Take a look and see what I saw!

"So, yeah, I'm this blogger..."

As I've mentioned in the past, Friday night the Thrashers are hosting their first blog night. Basically, anyone who has a blog in the Atlanta area (and actually applied for it) will be given press credentials for the game against the New York Islanders Friday and will be allowed to tour the arena, live it up in the press box, and attend the post-game press conference. Needless to say, I'm in for the ride and while I'm unsure if you can expect an actual posting session from the event, definitely expect a follow up on the events that transpired that evening this weekend. I'll have my camera, so I can at least take some pics of things that the typical "commoner" (which is what I thought I was...?) would not be exposed to.

Speaking of this, though, definitely brings on a pretty good topic of debate. I've never given it a second guess because the blogs I read are pretty credible in terms of who they are and what they represent. While this appears to be a one-night-only deal (and that's fine with me!), AJC Thrashers beat writer Craig Custance, uh, blogged about the validity of bloggers and, moreso, wondered if giving press credentials for sporting events to bloggers was acceptable.

Where do I stand on this? Obviously, I'm quite biased, but I still don't feel that "bloggers" need official representation in the press box for events like this. Now, as we've read on Hockey Buzz, Eklund is over at the All-Star Game in Dallas and is writing about it. Now clearly, he is not a member of the press. His main claim to fame is that he somehow has connections in the hockey world and is able to throw out rumors about anyone in the league and provide his readers with a pretty good insight on things that might go unnoticed. But what gives him the right to attend such a high-profile game with such limited credentials, since he also prides himself on being so anonymous in the hockey world?

One can debate that there need to be guidelines established for what determines who can apply for press access to games. That could be quite lengthy, and, as with the internet, those such guidelines will have to change each and every year in order to be on top of changing cultural climates and technology. As a psychology major, I often dealt with trying to be up-to-date when it came to citing sources that originated from the internet, only because it was a constant battle to stay on top of everything and maintain some sort of credibility of what's cited. The same would apply with press guidelines for bloggers.

But in cities like Atlanta - that isn't among the most hockey-friendly places in the country - that already include minimal RECOGNIZED press coverage as it is, you'd be hard pressed to find any other stories about your favorite team locally. Any outsider who reads the paper and maybe watches the 11 o'clock news (on a game day) is exposed to hockey only through those means... maybe spotting a billboard around town, too. That is it! So if someone could get more information about the Thrashers from outside sources - like bloggers - that's definitely a plus for the organization.

So do we reject this and stick with the bare minimum or actually take a gamble and see what the army of bloggers can unleash? The way I see it, it will be a constant battle for upkeep of proper media guidelines for internet-based writers who are not recognized professionally for what they do. Of course, there are the stereotypical "lustful bloggers" who seem to focus all of their energy onto one player, obsess about them, and want to get closer to the action (which this viewpoint seems to be the most popularly held, and that's sad). Do I actually think this represents the majority? Absolutely not. Looking at the blogs that I link, I'd have no problem with them attending a game and writing about it, with press access allowed. But for a full-time thing, I don't think that bloggers should really have thing kind of pull. Yeah, we do collectively have large voices in the community and can provide some great opinions on matters that, whether they are important or not, affect how we feel about our team, and even possibly how the team performs. But with no real boundaries for bloggers to stand by, it would be difficult to control what they say. To allow that kind of liberty into such a highly regarded place as a press box with PROFESSIONALS in the field just doesn't mix to me.

The blog night on Friday is a great event for independent writers in the area. I'm standing with the viewpoint that it's more of an opportunity for me to see what that kind of lifestyle is like and weigh the options on whether I'd like to pursue something in that field. It definitely doesn't hurt that I'm also given all-access (well, close to it) to my favorite team and that I'll probably drool over that alone. If I found MYSELF seeking credentials for every home game (or even half), I think I'd be out of line for doing such. It's just not my place. Could it be in time? Sure. But as someone who's as informal about this (i.e. blogging) as I am, the last thing the Thrashers organization needs is someone who represents that kind of mindset in the mix with reporters from the AJC, or even from other places across the country/continent. People are paid to do the job that I would do, and they deserve the spot when the time arises, not myself. Besides, I'm sure that they'd do a better job with writing about the game/whatever than I would... because they are qualified to do so!

But for moments like Friday night, I'm all about it. It's definitely something new and I'm super excited. More to come on this for sure.