So, I Guess We Have A Band Now

I was sitting almost as far away from the band as possible, but everyone I talked to, myself included, thought that the band was pretty kick-ass. I imagine paying $100 for a ticket and having a pep band sitting right behind you for a couple of hours could get a little annoying, though. But I say bring ‘em back again. And did anybody else notice how hard that tuba guy was gettin’ down?

I like it. Wasn’t at the game, but you could hear it on the radio and on the TV broadcast and it sounded good.

And I liked how they played When the Blues Go Marching In after they scored a goal. Nice change of pace. Almost better than the organ.

In a personal aside, there is a local lunatic who LOVES to hear the organ. I’m sure he hated the band. And while I know he would also LOVE to post his thoughts here, there’s no way he’s getting through the door. So we got that going for us.

Gravy likes, AM likes. I didn’t hear, see or smell the band but anytime we can get base drums mixed with horns and tri-toms I’m all over it.

i got to say, maybe a better song selection. when one trumpet player started playing a nasty salsa solo(say that fast three times), i liked it. but i think they’ve got to be loud and thunderous and NEVER EVER EVER EVER INTERUPT THE FANS CHEERS!!! there’s been a lot of talk here there and around about how all the crap we’re thrown at hockey games fizzles out the natural element of a crowd building up and taking over a game. i miss that. i was hoping the band would be something like that but alas my dreams remain better than real life.

if somehow the band was completely tuned into the game and knew when to pick it up and when to add on to the crowd rather than, uh oh, tv timeout we’re in the spotlight bitches. look at me, i’m in a band in an arena. if they could be as bad ass as that french canadian stolen during the playoffs from the nordiques(as they failed yr after yr to make it), that played a bad ass trumpet then i am down. the tuba player was rocking.

really what we need is a guy doing the music that plays hard music, you know music that just makes you turn into a very fat man playing drums and having his cheeks whipping away like he’s in a wind tunnel. there are enough songs out there but sometimes you just wonder what the hell the guy’s thinking.

but the main thing is there needs to be more real fans in my section. i am so sick and tired of getting dirty looks like i was standing up pulling my dick out and jerking off while throwing an invisible lasso just because i’m cheering and into the game. WE NEED TO BE LOUD! the loudest cheer sunday was ref you suck, which i was down with though confused by simple fact i thought everyone knew that there are two officials every game for some time now.

in the end i shouldn’t be looked at as some maniac for yelling out boo you suck ref, or booo-rewer you suck(i try to remember to just boo everytime he touches the puck in an effort to maybe cause management to lose this bum), or giving the ol’ redneck holler when it says scream if your a blues fan(though sometimes i do show up in a ragged beard and maybe that makes people in this city think i’m beneath them).

i’d love it if we fans came up with our own fight song a la english soccer hooligans and cheered throughout and waved an enormous flag cutting off three rows behind us’s view off. and had a hooligan group that made fans of certain teams feel unwelcome for showing up in our areana. then we wouldn’t need some pep(why did they have to call it pep and make me feel like the beave was sitting next to me), band to get us going.

THE CHALLENGE: WRITE A FIGHT SONG ABOUT THE BLUES THAT SOUNDS GOOD SUNG OUTLOUD IN A CHORUS OF DRUNKEN YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE CAPABLE OF HITTING ANY NOTE IN THE WESTERN MUSIC SCALE.

ANY TAKERS???? something that brings history and makes you want to smash a detriot fan right in the mouth with a bottle you just broke over your head.

the band was behind me, but not right behind me. 50% off game so the tickets were not 100 lol, but i actually liked it, not sure i’d want it every game. not sure i wouldn’t obviously, as i posted on the other thread, the seats they gave them are unlikely to be permenant as they were lower bowl. and i was in 115, so they were probably in something like 112 last 5 rows of lower bowl.

they were also at the entrance by the bar before the game for a bit.

the issue i did have was some of their 70, 80 and 90’s songs were just… songs i guess. not specifically suited to pep bands or hockey. the kind of song they typically play for no reason over the pa system.

the saints, the bud song, they could certianly add the st louis blues march, then add a few good band specific or hockey specific songs and just a few random rock songs

i was just reading something that has to do with the point i was making and also something i wish i would have put into words. from buccigross’s tuesday hockey rant on espn.com,

"A benefit for Flyers and Islanders fans is being able to buy a Richards or DiPietro jersey with no fear of your $200 investment departing via free agency. It also allows fans to have a more loyal and heartfelt relationship with players and teams.

Professional sports has exponentially grown partially because of the strong economies of Canada and the United States, growing populations, arena presentation and the evolution of marketing (television coverage, Internet, monstrous media companies with lots of cash, corporations who buy suites and seats). This has brought in the casual fan looking for something to do, like trying to get on the JumboTron, as opposed to studying, talking and being involved in the game.

[+] EnlargeLen Redkoles/Getty Images

Mike Richards signed a 12-year, $69-million extension with the Flyers last week.

This peripheral noise has been the biggest enemy for the fan’s ability to have an interpersonal relationship with the rink, players and team. The introduction of naming rights to arenas just adds another distraction. The soul of the game is lost a bit with all of the noise in a house that constantly changes soulless names. (The Honda Center? Am I going to buy an Accord, or watch Chris Pronger slash Ryan Kesler?)

Having players like Richards around for so long frees up Flyers fan to connect with these players in a more heartfelt way, to feel as if they are really a part of the effort, aiding the players with their love, passion and commitment.

Fans and players used to be more physically and emotionally affectionate toward one another when the glass was lower, the seats were closer, the players stayed around longer and the arenas kept the same names.

Red Sox and Cubs fans give themselves entirely to their teams because the parks, logos and uniforms are dependable, like a loving mom and dad. They’ve always been there and they seemingly always will. Going to a game at Fenway Park or Wrigley Field is like heading home for the holidays for a warm dinner from Mom in the house you grew up in.

Hockey needs to get this dynamic back. It was cooler when it was more intimate. The first step is having more familiar friends like Richards stabilize a neighborhood and hang around for a while. Hopefully, the NHL can work on some other things to make attending NHL games less like eating at a chain restaurant like the Hard Rock Cafe and more like that favorite Italian restaurant that might be cramped, but feels like home.

For Richards, home is where the heart is. For fans, heart is where the home is."

interesting points.

NO PROMISES. think what would have happened if a lifetime contract was given to dan blackman. how many no trade clause people have been traded. blues and only blues icon federko gets red wingized.

that is not to say a commitment to players isnt handy. again, my blues jersey still has hecht on the back. oops.

but backman was one of the potential up and comers and is on the money year of his three year deal. you be loving him more if he had 5 years left?

if lee was given 15 years, you be happy little clam now?

i’d say, this should work, when it does work, in the COMPLETE OPPOSTIE WAY. the fans embrace a player THEN management recognizes it and does something.

and on this team who is there? boyes, salvadore, perron, johnson.

the old guys to old to add to the list. johnson and perron so young that any number of things could happen before they become an all-star if they ever do. salvadore was buried for years and isn’t young naymore either.

jackman is on a one year deal, has his moments, but his minus and no offense is disturbing.

tell me chris, what player on this team will you love through an off year?

when we get someone like that, and the blues ignore that love, then we have issues.

i think the last two players like that, our last two to make the rafters, one was hung out and released when earlier in the season fans were yelling “sign hull” and pleau claimed he liked it when that happened, the other had a career shortened by injury and is part of management.

50/50

oh the one we let go became a lifelong star and took his team from the trash heap to a batle for the top spot just by smiling at them.

you missed the reason for the post. i was quoting for the loss of fans’ voices during games and the loss of not having people like hull or federko to stand by longer. i don’t neceassirly like the richards deal, a little too long in my book. but with the current situation it might an ingenious method of escaping the salary cap. you front load the contract but the cap hit is only total divided by years so a medium cap hit there. but again i’m not a proponent of all that.

i often wonder about boyes. but in reality this will be his second of three seasons scoring twenty plus goals. vanek was far overpaid and the bottom line is one other young kids get their deals this sets the value for boyes. he might have a low production season last year but the kid has got the talent. so what will happen? is a six or more year deal a bad thing? depends on the character but as i mentioned on another blog you can’t really know who’s gonna be like what five years from now just on a personal basis then you add into that competition and skill? wow i don’t know.

but again i’m not sure. there would have been at least two other guys getting closer to having their banners raised on the blues and could have been signed instead of traded and that’s brindamour and shanny. i still don’t think shanny for pronger was that good of a trade. of course at the time there were some questions that also were a concern.

salvador is only 31 and this is a time a lot of defensemen have started to come into their own in their ow to mid-thrities appears to be the trend. i’d sign salvador to four year contract at the right price. last year even though brewer at the time was showing us more i would have never signed him for that amount of money especially when i had depth at that position and was being offered a number one draft pick. i’d want maybe more than just a number one but either way i wouldn’t pay more than three million a year for brewer and i certainly wouldn’t give him a ntc.
what i have seen from perron in three years i think depending on the market and what other assests i have i’d say he’s got that special something. but these next few years will tell the true story. he might love the hell out of hockey now but will he ever get burnt out on it? he’s only ninteen and i think i’d want to see him as near as twenty-two as i could. if he still has the same passion and produces yeah i’d be tempted to lay down something long.

but as i have said in other posts and blogs around the web, i personally am weary of giving huge contracts to kids without a track record to prove to me that value. i.e. vanek. does he have the talent, absolutely. does he have a track record for that kind of money and time? hell no. if i were the sabres i’d have taken the picks b/c buffalo has depth at that postion and tons of skill versus the risk of hading that type of money to a kid unless you see the passion there and the right kind of character. my thing is look at federov. federov was the beginning of the end in my mind of throwing tons of long term money at highly skilled europeans without knowing if they had a fire to comepte and a passion for the game. like jagr has those attributes but he was around that time as well. i’d feel more comfortable with a kid like overcheckin b/c he has a tremendous passion for the game. you never can question does he want to be here right now on the ice playing hockey in the nhl. and obviously his skill set. so if i were lucky enough to find a kid like him i’d have more of the temptation to lock him up long term. perron so far seems like that type of player. we have barely seen this kid scratch the surface of showing his talent. i can’t wait to see him play everyday. and in the next few years the talent level should be awesome. then i’ll know what the red wings have felt like the last ten years plus. i know what it feels like to have a lineup chalk full of hall of famers in their twilight years but in the past we have notoriously been fans of a team that has traded away homegorwn talent for quick fixes. and that includes the five picks lost to nj for shanny.
i hated both the weight and walt trades when we orginally picked those guys up. i’m still not convinced of them. at least we have got back a lot of the potential we gave up for walt, and i literally mean potential not handzus nor nagy. both at the time young and talented and two thirds of a line.

every attempt the blues have made to get fans involved has been met with moderate to heavy criticism, mascout, ice girls, pep band, free tacos.

and no one on this team is worth a 15 year deal.

I’m not entirely sure what the BLUES are supposed to be doing.

I’ve been to games the last 4 years. not as much as some of you, but i sit low were the yuppies, preppies and disinterested (and for 2 years, the just plain desert of emptiness) sit. it isn’t like that this year. so i’d have to say success!

it was interesting to see, across the ice, louie try to interact with the crowd. still too new and peoria an idea at this point, but again, having seen mascots play the crowd in minor hockey and in major baseball, i’d have to say that eventually it will work wonders for the kinds and the adults will be well able to ignore it 99% of the time

if it is a lament about the general leadership of the nhl. who here has ever said anything different about its comish or board of governors?!?
it was fub

I say yay for added pep! Velma went to the game with a bunch of her friends and told me about it, and it sounded awesome.

I’m all for adding pomp and energy. I would draw the line at shriner cars, though.

hey trauma are you semi-literate or what? i agreed with you about fifteen yr contracts. i only responded to your mentioning of such things. what i quoted from buccigross had more to do with with periphal noise. ah forget it, when i have to write this much to discuss something simple, then something’s broken.

i just not sure you understand what

“you missed the reason for the post. i was quoting for the loss of fans’ voices during games and the loss of not having people like hull or federko to stand by longer”

means.

i mean you dont want me to challange you on long time blues to stand by OR having the new owners having free tacos (based directly on fan particpation), mascots(based on other local sports teams) and pep bands (based, perhaps, on the fact we rather have a freakin organist than a disc jockey)

so basically, im thinking your typing just to hear you keys click,

so, now in, chris d speak

click clickty clack clack click click click

go ahead, make some comment how that doesn’t directly respond to something you either directly said, or YOU offered to us that someone else said, i DARE ya!

double DOGG dare ya!

i was typing to respond to you and someof what you mentioned in your first response to a quote i had suggested i felt that the blues needed to sign a guy for fifteen years. what i was talking about is how at the old barn it was louder and the organist hell yeah accompanied the fans more than anything. but i do not care about the music as much as the fans breaking out cheers themselves. i don’t know if you have ever been to a soccer game in another country or if you have spied a game from time to time but that’s passion, that’s brilliant. that’s what i wish i experienced more at blues games.
the first chicago game this year was like that. the red wings game was pretty racous.

but hey clickty-clack clickty—-would you like me to change your name to adulthoodtrauma? ;-) clickty-hope you know how to take a joke.

insert also i do not think btw the blues need to sign a player to so many years as i have explained above. though it may have sounded like that and god knows sound bite kings with short attention spans might rope onto anything that might sound different.