Helpmenow Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 You gotta like the sport. In Atlanta they have probably no interest in watching the puck go back and forth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramius Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 Pretty much. Atlanta's 2 NHL teams never once won a playoff series EVER. This latest incarnation never won a playoff game, getting swept in their only kick at the can. Don Waddell was the GM from day 1, and though he did finally give up that title (but still was club president) his poor decision making was not surmountable in a single year. The Flames never drew less than 12k/game until their last year (building only held slightly over 15k) when the writing was on the wall (and they still drew over 10k). This team had good crowds the 1st few years, but it had a cluster for ownership and Waddell overseeing personnel. There was no way for THAT to be overcome and ultimately, THIS team never had a chance. To be fair, you have to consider that losing right away in the playoffs is par for the course in Atlanta. See: 1990's Braves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanners Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 I'm just wondering how they are going to reallign the divisions. There is no way Winepeg is going to be in the East. My guess is Nashville flips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbb Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 I'm just wondering how they are going to reallign the divisions. There is no way Winepeg is going to be in the East. My guess is Nashville flips. For this year, they aren't. Lot of long road trips for the Southeast Division! BTW, the one guy I feel sorry for is a guy I met at a bar in ATL two years ago. I think I had something Buffalo on and he said thanks for Max (he had just signed there). I said does anybody care about the Thrashers here, and he showed me his huge Thrashers tattoo on his arm!........He really loved them. And, actually kind of liked that they weren't so popular because he could go to tons of games cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paintmyhouse Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 I'm just wondering how they are going to reallign the divisions. There is no way Winepeg is going to be in the East. My guess is Nashville flips. Sure hope it is Nashville. Really sad about Atlanta losing the team, I would always go to both Sabres games and about 8 others. Watch several others on TV when I wasn't watching the Sabres. Sad news. Detroit will fight hard to get into the East, they want to renew a rivalry with Toronto and would love the chance to play more games against East coast teams. They also have more pull then many other teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UConn James Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 Having this region lose the Hartford Whalers back in the late '90s really sucked. The owner was just hellbent on moving to the South, and many believe that Gary Bettman was no less a part in it. In a ticket drive, they got up to over 15K that last year in Hartford as a sign of good faith that people would come out to save the franchise. Instead, they moved to a barn in North Carolina and drew less than 5K (and many of those were complimentary tickets) the first several seasons. So, I can commiserate with Thrashers fans. But I also commiserate with Winnipeg fans who had their team ripped out from under them too. And, with Winnipeg being a town that supports hockey with a fervor Atlanta will never come close to, I have to say that I'm happy for W-Jets fans. Maybe, just maybe, (especially with a guy here who's pumping money into the Hartford AHL team and putting on an NHL-affiliated hockey-fest back in February at an outdoor stadium) there's some hope at resurrecting the Whale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 Sure hope it is Nashville. Really sad about Atlanta losing the team, I would always go to both Sabres games and about 8 others. Watch several others on TV when I wasn't watching the Sabres. Sad news. Detroit will fight hard to get into the East, they want to renew a rivalry with Toronto and would love the chance to play more games against East coast teams. They also have more pull then many other teams. Which is why it most likely will be Detroit moving over. The easiest team to move logistically is Nashville. Geographically, Columbus can make a case as well (better than Detroit's). But at the end of the day, I expect Illitch to get his way. It then becomes interesting in how they do realign the divisions. An interesting 1 would be: Canadian/Border Town Buffalo Detroit Montreal Ottawa TO NE Boston NYC LI NJ Filly "South"East Carolina FLA Pittsburgh TB DC If Columbus moved, I'd expect the divisions to be Buffalo Columbus Ottawa Pittsburgh TO Boston Moe-ray-all Rangers Isles/NJ Filly & Carolina FLA NJ/Isles TB Washington In that scenario, it makes more sense geographically to move Filly, but I don't see them having to go to the SE. My guess is they'll send Wang's boys down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrader Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 I can't see them ever breaking Montreal away from the other Canadian teams like that. Of course, Columbus moving east is probably the least likely of the scenarios. You're probably well aware of this by now Taro, but I absolutely love the look of that setup where Detroit moves east. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDawkinstein Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 Just checked their site to see if it was still up, had any news of the move, etc. Got pretty bummed out... http://thrashers.nhl.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 AWESOME! No more "mockingbirds!" Finally, a team is moving from where they don't belong (fan apathy/culture) to where they should be (a place like Winnipeg). I haven't read too much on this yet, but they must get rid of "Thrashers"... That is such a God awful name. I am not crazy about a return to "Jets" either... Maybe they can have the name revolve around "snakes" of some kind... Seeing how the Interlake Region of Manitoba has the world's highest concentration of garter (red-sided) snakes (Narcisse Snake Dens). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paintmyhouse Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 AWESOME! No more "mockingbirds!" Finally, a team is moving from where they don't belong (fan apathy/culture) to where they should be (a place like Winnipeg). I haven't read too much on this yet, but they must get rid of "Thrashers"... That is such a God awful name. I am not crazy about a return to "Jets" either... Maybe they can have the name revolve around "snakes" of some kind... Seeing how the Interlake Region of Manitoba has the world's highest concentration of garter (red-sided) snakes (Narcisse Snake Dens). They still average 13,500. There was a good fan base, I am sick of people saying otherwise. They knew they would never got tons of people on a Tuesday night. This was not fan apathy at all, this was a poor ownership group who did not care about the fans and did not make a good enough effort to make the changes necessary. Your idea of using a snake must be stupid, afterall, the Thrashers nickname came from the state bird, the brown Thrasher. I lose because I will miss NHL in Atlanta but your post is just full of crap and a bunch of lose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 They still average 13,500. There was a good fan base, I am sick of people saying otherwise. They knew they would never got tons of people on a Tuesday night. This was not fan apathy at all, this was a poor ownership group who did not care about the fans and did not make a good enough effort to make the changes necessary. Your idea of using a snake must be stupid, afterall, the Thrashers nickname came from the state bird, the brown Thrasher. I lose because I will miss NHL in Atlanta but your post is just full of crap and a bunch of lose. No. When they move to Winnipeg... They should go with a snake theme! A thrasher is nothing more than a mockingbird... That is a stupid name. Even NYS' bluebird is more dignified! Anyway.. They averaged 13.5 k... Mostly other team's fans! The nice thing about ATL is that is was a cheap ticket for all the hardcore, northern hockey markets... Heck, even know they are in the Western Conference... I know Blackhawk fans that would fly to ATL for whatever few games those teams played each other in ATL... And this last year, the Mockingbirds... Err state bird of GA... Were baiscally "'Hawks Lite." Rejoice purists... Down with corporate crap many say the leagues "need." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 No. When they move to Winnipeg... They should go with a snake theme! A thrasher is nothing more than a mockingbird... That is a stupid name. Even NYS' bluebird is more dignified! Anyway.. They averaged 13.5 k... Mostly other team's fans! The nice thing about ATL is that is was a cheap ticket for all the hardcore, northern hockey markets... Heck, even know they are in the Western Conference... I know Blackhawk fans that would fly to ATL for whatever few games those teams played each other in ATL... And this last year, the Mockingbirds... Err state bird of GA... Were baiscally "'Hawks Lite." Rejoice purists... Down with corporate crap many say the leagues "need." When you go over a full decade w/out winning a playoff game it is tough to build a fanbase from scratch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paintmyhouse Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 No. When they move to Winnipeg... They should go with a snake theme! A thrasher is nothing more than a mockingbird... That is a stupid name. Even NYS' bluebird is more dignified! Anyway.. They averaged 13.5 k... Mostly other team's fans! The nice thing about ATL is that is was a cheap ticket for all the hardcore, northern hockey markets... Heck, even know they are in the Western Conference... I know Blackhawk fans that would fly to ATL for whatever few games those teams played each other in ATL... And this last year, the Mockingbirds... Err state bird of GA... Were baiscally "'Hawks Lite." Rejoice purists... Down with corporate crap many say the leagues "need." Those snakes go hide in dens all winter and get run over by cars all the time. People voted for it and it won, maybe people will vote for cold blooded animals that hide all winter in a very cold place. I am a Sabres fan so I will miss seeing them in Atlanta. There is a nice arena that will go unused and some bars and restaurants that will likely close now, sad for the city I live in. That is one thing fun about Atlanta, people from every where live here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 Those snakes go hide in dens all winter and get run over by cars all the time. People voted for it and it won, maybe people will vote for cold blooded animals that hide all winter in a very cold place. I am a Sabres fan so I will miss seeing them in Atlanta. There is a nice arena that will go unused and some bars and restaurants that will likely close now, sad for the city I live in. That is one thing fun about Atlanta, people from every where live here. Only a few snakes get run over by cars in a season now... They have tubes under the roadways so they can head to and from the marshes... Go Manitoba enviro! We need to start bringing more teams back from the American deep south to Canada! ATL survived Sherman... They will survive this. Winnipeg is more deserving! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynical Posted June 1, 2011 Author Share Posted June 1, 2011 Atlanta is just not a hockey town. Exactly. Atlanta Sports Market Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paintmyhouse Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 I am surprised not a bigger effort was done to keep the Thrashers in Atlanta. It is after all the largest airport by volume in the world and pretty easy to get to on a direct flight from most every NHL city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 I am surprised not a bigger effort was done to keep the Thrashers in Atlanta. It is after all the largest airport by volume in the world and pretty easy to get to on a direct flight from most every NHL city. What are you saying? That being "geographically blessed" should have something to do with the situation? ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbb Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 I am surprised not a bigger effort was done to keep the Thrashers in Atlanta. It is after all the largest airport by volume in the world and pretty easy to get to on a direct flight from most every NHL city. The thing that I'm surprised about is that I didn't really hear about this coming. All the talk was about the Coyotes bolting back to Winnipeg. That link Cynical posted says it all, though. I can't even imagine this: Atlanta's Sports Market, Explained In 50 Words Or Fewer by Jason Kirk • May 30, 2011 3:47 PM EDT Three of the five sports-related terms trending on Atlanta Twitter Monday afternoon referred to a Florida college football coach maybe becoming an Ohio college football coach. One term not trending: Thrashers, the name of Atlanta's departing NHL team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chandler#81 Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 It used to be that way for the Buc's, Rays and Lightning. Winning changed that. Not the way I see it, E. Rays were the best team no one saw last year. Lightning season ticket holders don't even go to home games w/ northern city opponents (too unruley for them...). Only games the Bucs, Jags & Fish come close to selling out are vs. northern teams w/ strong transplants in Fla. Atlanta -like most southern cities it "jewels" over- is souless. No specific culture, music, food. Nothing. It's huge! -but boring. Most of their sports teams came via other cities and they slip out the same way. I also benefited by seeing a couple Sabres games in Hot-lanta but it was a non-humorous joke to have a hockey team there. Good riddance Flames/Thrashers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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