Thrasherville will not soon forget what Atlanta Spirit did here
On October 5, 2007, opening night of the Thrashers 2007-8 season, Atlanta Spirit co-owner Rutherford Seydel stood by as the 2006-07 Southeast Division Championship banner was raised to the rafters of Philips Arena. He took control of the microphone as it was hoisted up and made a promise, a vow, to the 18,707 fans that had packed into the arena…and everyone else in the greater Thrasherville community. He assured us that night that he and the other co-owners would do everything in their power to bring a Stanley Cup championship to Atlanta.
I remember this event very well. My wife and I were sitting in section 319 along with our two sons. Just six months prior we were in 316 for the first playoff game in team history, feeling the upper deck shake when Eric Belanger scored the first ever post season goal for the Thrashers.
Rutherford Seydel stands by as the 2006-07 Southest Championship banner is raised to the rafters of Philips Arena. That night he promised the AS, LLC would do everything in their power to bring a winning team to Atlanta. It was a promise that went unfulfilled (AJC/Pouya Dianat)
Unfortunately, Seydel’s promise was not only to go unfulfilled but as we now painfully realize, icing a competitive NHL team was in fact never the intent of the Atlanta Spirit, LLC, (Lies, Lawsuits and Contempt). His pledge that night was nothing more than hollow words uttered by one-eighth of an ownership group that never planned to put forth any effort whatsoever to back them up.
Just a few days after that opening night, I posted my first “Ice Man” blog on this site. By then we had had already seen the team drop the first two games and were on their way to six straight defeats to start the season. But before game number seven was played they fired head coach Bob Hartley…the only coach ever to take them to the playoffs and the only one ever to lead them to beyond 83 points in a single season.
I wrote a blog that day saying “good-bye and thank you” to coach Hartley…a man I had gotten to know and respect while my oldest son attended a couple of his hockey camps. In that opine, I indicated that the only true measure to gauge whether or not the move was the correct one or not would me determined by how the team fared afterwards and by who he was replaced with.
Of course, the person that finished the season behind the bench was general manager Don Waddell, whom so many felt should have been the man departing Thrasherville instead of Hartley. The team finished that campaign with a record of 34-40-8 for 76 points. They followed that up with another 76 effort during John Anderson’s first year as head coach then 83 in his second and least season. Last year they posted 80 points with coach Craig Ramsay at the helm.
I’ll leave it to you to determine whether or not the move to replace Hartley was a success or not. I think you all know where I stand on that issue.
AS, LLC: The Roots That Caused The Tree To Rot
While I understood that there were serious issues facing this Thrashers organization the day Waddell announced Hartley’s departure, what I didn’t quite yet have a firm grip on back then…something every Thrashers fan should have now…was just how deep the roots of the true problem with this organization ran. It was easy to point a finger at the only GM the franchise had ever had…really easy… but the fact of the matter was that the tips of the root system that was rotting the Thrashers tree forked in eight other directions…one to each of the partners that made up the Atlanta Spirit, LLC.
Bob Hartley will be remembered as the only head coach to lead the Thrashers to a playoff berth. Thanks to the AS, LLC's lack of commitment to success, the team never came close to that level of play after he was released (AJC file photo)
From the day they took over the Thrashers, Hawks and Philips Arena, the AS, LCC members admitted they were not hockey people. But over the course of time we began to understand that they not only had no clue what they were doing as owners of an NHL franchise, they actually had a certain disdain for the them as well as their the fans. As such, they were treated as unwanted stepchildren.
The Spirit Boys took over at a time in the Thrashers history when the team was moving up in the hockey world. In the years leading up to that banner-raising night in the fall of ‘07, they had gone from 74 to 78 to 90 then to 97 points and a playoff spot. This team had no issues putting butts in seats on a regular basis back then…even to the point where there was talk on this blog about a “sellout jinx” as they had a habit of playing below par in front of a full Philips Arena.
It was a “jinx” the Spirit Clowns made certain we would not have to worry too much about in seasons to come.
A packed Philips Arena was not much of a worry here the past four years because Levenson, Seydel and the rest of the Great Octocluster choked off funds needed to keep top-tier talent, the main cause of the organization’s Player Retention Deficit Disorder. First it was Marion Hossa departing Atlanta at the trade deadline of 2008 along with Pascal Dupuis…who also scored for the Thrashers in their first playoff game…for such superstars as Erik Christensen, Colby Armstrong, Angelo Esposito and a draft pick. The revolving talent door continued to spin leading up to the departure of Ilya Kovalchuk two winters ago.
Ilya Kovalchuk departed Thrasherville in February of 2010. He was not alone in understanding the owners of the team he played for made playing here futile. It is they who should hang their heads in shame (AJC/Curtis Compton)
Hossa, Kovalchuk and others departed Thrasherville for pretty much the same reason…the owners lacked a commitment to do what was necessary to build a successful franchise here and so they decided to take their talents elsewhere.
All the while, the Octocluster remained distracted with their years-long legal battles amongst themselves.
As if this wasn’t enough to turn Atlanta area hockey fans sour to their product, co-owner Bruce Levenson…the person the rest of the Spiriteers deemed the most qualified to represent the hockey portion of their little investment…employed such PR skills as calling a season ticket holder a “smart ass” during a town hall meeting. Later in that gathering when he was asked by another paying customer about rising ticket prices at the same time the on-ice talent level was being lowered, Levenson said we would have to just “deal with it”.
Insulting the people who they expect to shell out major coin to enjoy their product…yup, Brucie boy, that’s an excellent way to endear yourself and your team to the local sports community.
The Atlanta Spirit ‘Disposes’ Of Its Unwanted Stepchild
But today, the most dysfunctional and pathetic ownership cluster flop ever to stain the fabric of professional sports delivered their final insult…final slap to the face…to those who supported and followed the Thrashers. After running the team straight into the ground…after running the team at bargain basement levels at or just over the league minimum…after lying to the fan base for six years about their desire to “dispose” of the team…after displaying a contemptuous demeanor towards you and I…the seven remaining co-owners collected their millions and spirited the Thrashers off to Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Whether Don Waddell was coaching from the bench or performing GM duties, the team he was responsible for placing on the ice was often times simply too painful to watch...for the fans and the players (AJC/Curtis Compton)
They will say that they had no choice…that there was not enough fan support to attract buyers intending to keep the team here. They’ll once again point the same finger of blame that was wagged in our faces last winter when Michael Gearon, Jr announced their desperate attempts to unload the team. They’ll say and do all of this, that is, if and when they acquire the intestinal fortitude to publicly answer such questions.
But to the notion that the fans here are to blame for what the Atlanta Spirit did to hockey in Atlanta I have but two words:
Bravo Sierra.
The responsibility rest squarely on the shoulders of the giant steaming pile of EPIC FAIL known as the AS, LLC…and I will toss in their willing accomplice Don Waddell, who for seven years merely serviced this team at bare bone levels and met payroll.
Unfortunately, none of this does anything to heal the pain that is felt by Atlanta hockey fans…and sports fans in general. You know what happened here, although so many across the continent may not. Anger, frustration…these words do not do justice for what we feel towards the individuals who inflicted this upon us.
One day I’d like someone to ask them all if they felt any shame for the damage they inflicted here…damage that could not have been any worse if they deliberately intended to do so. But feeling shame is a quality reserved for souls that actually give a damn about anyone outside of their own personal spheres. So looking for such with this group would be a bit much to ask.
And Finally…A Vow To You, Atlanta Spirit Boys
And so on behalf of the good people of Thrasherville, I would like to address the following to those directly responsible for this disaster…Mr. Seydel, Mr. Levenson, Michael Gearon Sr., Michael Gearon Jr., Ed Peskowitz, Todd Foreman, Beau Turner and even Steve Belkin.
The beginning of the end of the Thrashers. The Atlanta Spirit, LLC take over as owners in 2004 (AJC Staff Photo)
In the spirit of that now-infamous “vow” from Rutherford Seydel to fans on October 5, 2007, I now make a solemn pledge to each and every one of you.
We will not forget you and we will not forget your names. But most importantly we will not forget what you collectively did to destroy NHL hockey in Atlanta, nor shall we forgive you for your actions.
It is a promise…a pledge…that I am quite certain will be kept far better than the one you made to us that night when the one-and-only Thrashers championship banner made it’s way up from the ice of Philips Arena.
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516 comments Add your comment
DWTOO
May 31st, 2011
1:15 pm
Snoman – I received the letter too. Don’t know if you could rely, but, I did reply that “you clowns can rot in Hell”. I’d boycott Philips, but, since I only went there for one Hawks game(tickets were from Casino Night)and no concerts I don’t know what I’d boycott. Just keep doing what I’m doing.
Although I will miss the hockey, I’ll miss the interaction amongst my hockey friends more. Remember, there’s the Gladiators for your live hockey fix. Yeah, it’s the ECHL, but, they play hard, skate end to end and it’s live.
BG33Brown
May 31st, 2011
1:16 pm
Thanks Rawhide for all your hard work. I appreciate it. Its a sad day and I suddenly will have a lot more time on my hands.
ASadSadDay
May 31st, 2011
1:18 pm
This entire nightmare has been a fraud from the start.
Purchase of the Thrashers/hawks/Phillips……..with fraud intended.
ASG, LLC…..Fraud.
Individual owners…..frauds.
Caring about hockey….fraud.
John Kincade stringing along fans with the @Balkan crap…..fraud.
John Kincade’s self-serving interview with Gearon……continuing the fraud.
Gearon’s alligator tears/choking up on the radio…..fraud.
Gearon’s stated that he could not address the employees of ASG because he was “committed” to Kincade’s interview………Fraud….simply no balls, in fact none of the owners have any balls.
I agree with a previous poster……..boycott the Hawks first 7 home games next season (if, of course, the owners don’t lock them out)….1 game for each owner. Make it sting a little for them and give them a wake-up call….because if they did it to the Thrashers, they’ll do it to the Hawks too.
Thanks for nothing you greedy, uncaring bastards.
Blondie
May 31st, 2011
1:19 pm
I make an oath right now – I will NEVER give another penny of my money to ASG or the NHL. On the ASG front: I hate the NBA and think it’s a total joke -so that part is easy. But I promise that despite my love of music – I will never attend a single concert or event at Philips so long as ASG owns it.
On the NHL front: Wow, well I had planned on shelling out for Center Ice this next season. Fat chance now Bettman. You even had fans from across the US willing to buy shares in the team, if you’d have bought out ASG. I would have been willing to buy a share on top of season tix. But you wanted your $60mil up front. Good luck with that. I’d call yours a very interesting business strategy… relocating teams constantly, not holding poor ownership accountable, and snubbing your customers (the fans). Winnipeg will last maybe a decade at those prices… and then you’ll move them to pay off more debt.
BIG BUFF
May 31st, 2011
1:19 pm
@JC –
We may be the worst sports city to you, but we’re still a hell of a lot better off than the “Chattanooga area”. HAHA What does that mean?? Are you really from Dalton? Shut up. Holler at me when you get a team above double A baseball.
RIP THRASHERS
DWTOO
May 31st, 2011
1:21 pm
Was at the first and last Thrasher game (and many in between).
h
May 31st, 2011
1:22 pm
Bill, I reallly enjoyed your work over the last few years. It truly helped make being a Thrasher fan even more exciting. Thanks for all of your work here. It truly was fantastic. As for the ASG, I hope they rot in hell. Just horrible horrible people. a travesty what they did here for a great city. I hope the Hawks attendance gets even worse over the next season or two. I don’t even want to get started on the Commish. It is time to retire a ton of casual clothes with Thrashers emblem. I just hope the youth hockey programs in Duluth and Kennesaw quickly drop the Thrashers logo. Shameful.
Flagstaff
May 31st, 2011
1:22 pm
This isn’t the time, Sage.
TRUTH
May 31st, 2011
1:23 pm
I’m surprised no one has said this yet so here goes: the NHL is racist. yep you heard me. Atlanta’s demographic is why the NHL showed the thrashers so much contempt. Oh this statement may shock readers… that’s because in Atlanta of all US cities: I believe we are the most racially harmonious. I’m white and my four best friends growing up are black, hispanic, indian (hindu) and japanese. Of course we have a shameful PAST but at the same time a MAGNIFICENT story where justice prevailed. but back to the NHL…. this is an international sport, not an american past time. looking at other international sports its obvious how racism dominates the minds of owners and athletes and fans… look at fifa: advertising on the pitch about tolerance and not saying racist things… scandals about treatment of non white players. (even the olympics are tainted with these attitudes) Now in Canada and most of these NHL franchises have a dominantly WHITE fanbase… oh yeah watch the cup games in boston and count the non whites on one hand, it’s boston! Why else would the NHL cling to Pheonix and Florida… um because there’s lots of whites in the area… just look up facts or watch out of market games (or replays) if you don’t believe me! The NHL has concluded that blacks won’t embrace hockey in the south. In Atlanta if you’re black and an amatuer athlete… you want to succeed in basketball, football, track n field, baseball.. yeah probably not hockey… Atlanta is the sports city of the Braves, then Falcons, then GT and UGA then Hawks, then High school sports then HOCKEY…. the NHL and the THRASHERS NEVER NEVER NEVER did a THING to cultivate the sport here… just because it’s not a frozen wasteland here half the calender year doesn’t mean we can’t play hockey? (last time i checked… ALL NHL teams play indoor areans!)
This wasn’t just about our stupid ownership group or ‘lack of fans’ or mediocre rosters… it’s about the NHL not wanting hockey in ATLANTA…. when we dominated and made the playoffs and had the best scorer in the world in Kovy- we made the original 6 teams look like crap and the canadian teams were struggling back then- we pissed off the hockey elites and they’ve held it against us ever since… they don’t want lord stanley to go south of the mason- dixon… unless you’re tampa (they are yankees). THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE THE NHL WANTED IT TO HAPPEN. PERIOD.
Thrashers27
May 31st, 2011
1:24 pm
Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication, BIll.
Best wishes to you and your family in the post Thrashers era.
Moose
May 31st, 2011
1:25 pm
Bill it has been a pleasure reading your blog all these years. Take care.
Hockey Biltong
May 31st, 2011
1:28 pm
ASG=MoFo’s.
To the awesome bloggers and fans who went to the games. I salute you.
Bill, it has been a tremendous pleasure.
Winnipeg, you got a great team on the rise..look after them and be vigilant towards the owners.
Taps playing now…….
sisu
May 31st, 2011
1:30 pm
Rawhide, great pleasure to read you blogs, hoep to see you around. This is a sad day in the ATL, not much motivation left for the rest of the day.
here is the “letter” full of lies…
May 31, 2011
Earlier today, we, along with our partners, signed an asset purchase agreement to sell the Atlanta Thrashers to True North Sports and Entertainment. If ratified by the NHL, Commissioner Bettman and the league’s Board of Governors, this will result in the relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg, Canada beginning with the 2011-2012 season.
It’s extremely disappointing to all of us that it became necessary after all other options were exhausted. We want to express my gratitude to you, the fans, for the years of dedication you have offered to the Atlanta Thrashers.
As many of you know, for some time we have been seeking a buyer for the team or a partner willing to join with us in continuing to fund the team. We hired an investment banking firm to seek out potential investors with the express goal of finding someone who would keep the team here in Atlanta. In recent months, we openly indicated a growing urgency to secure assistance in off-setting our operating losses in hopes that our public plea would produce investors which, to that point, had eluded us.
After extensive effort, nobody has come forward. As a result, we had no choice but to explore the investment option presented to us by the NHL in the form of True North Sports and Entertainment.
Relocation of the Thrashers is not the outcome that any of us ultimately wanted. We knew when we purchased the club in 2004, that professional sports teams are seldom, if ever, money-making investments but rather vital community assets. We believed in the overall impact that the team had on the sports landscape of Atlanta, and over the past seven years, invested a significant amount of money into what we felt was an integral piece of the greater metropolitan Atlanta area. We are truly grateful to have been a part of this city’s professional hockey history, to have made an indelible impact on the community through our players’ outreach, our organization’s activities and our foundation’s donations, and most of all, to have been a part of paying tribute to you, our fans, each and every time our team stepped on the ice.
Thank you for the opportunity to be entertained, thrilled and inspired alongside you by Atlanta Thrashers hockey. None of this would have been possible without your support.
Sincerely,
Bruce Levenson and Michael Gearon
EA
May 31st, 2011
1:30 pm
Sage, you look as patethic as the ownership coming on here to gloat. Give it a rest.
da' boomer
May 31st, 2011
1:30 pm
Well said Brother Rawhide! I really appreciate the time and passion you put into your work. I am a little numb as it is the second time I have gone through this mess. I hope there is a special room in hell for these clowns along with Tom Cousins.
jk suxs
May 31st, 2011
1:31 pm
I wish Kincaid would get shown the door as well, he is not Atlanta and is a POS!
jwizzle
May 31st, 2011
1:34 pm
Did everyone else just get that load of BS email? They make me sick to my stomach with the deception….years of deception!
I will miss the games, the fans and especially the Kiss Cam Couple that always made me smile!
Bill, you’re fantastic and I will miss my daily does of sarcasm blogging if this blog goes away.
Sad day today, so sad and annoyed. I too will be honoring an ASG boycott and when they call me to purchase anything I’ll be sure to tell them why I’m hanging up on them.
Rusty
May 31st, 2011
1:35 pm
FIRE SALE – Thrashers memorabilia — really, really, really cheap! 11 team signed jerseys, 6 signed sticks, included as 2 season tickerholder of the game, dozens of pucks, two bottles of Ilya Kovalchuk signed wine (Caymus and Dom Perignon), a team signed banner from year one, $80,000 in tickets…and a Caps/Thrashers game ticket signed by Gary Bettman – NHL Commissioner and LIAR OF THE YEAR winner.
glovesave29
May 31st, 2011
1:36 pm
The NHL is gone. Not hockey. We still have the Gladiators. We still have Div 1 college hockey in Hunstville. There is HS hockey here too. I too will never spend another $$$ on the NHL. This silliness about a “local” buyer – puh-lease…how many teams are owned by a local? Bettman could have send Hulsizer our way. What about Reinsdorf? He could not make a deal to trade the Thrashers to Coke or Delta and make them the official “whatever” of the NHL as a consideration. Do not tell me for a MOMENT that there was no way to keep the team here.
I hope the AJC realizes the numbers we have poured into this blog. Perhaps they will let it stay as a place for fans just to talk hockey. There are many of us here that are friends on facebook. Those regulars not here – please join us over there.
Anyone interested in filling Gwinnett on opening night? Go Glads!
shannon
May 31st, 2011
1:36 pm
They better sell the HAWKS as well cause otherwise I will boycott them.. Im not a hockey fan but attended a few games..People want to blame Atlanta but if the ownership shows that they dont care about a franchise Why should the fans? But to lie to a city about their hockey team and think you can stick around and own the basketball team too.. Please ATlanta show these crooks the door by not attending Hawks games next season!!!
charlie brown
May 31st, 2011
1:36 pm
Ever feel that you have had the rug pulled out from under you? It is a truly empty feeling that genertates feelings of humiliation and distrust. How anyone can trust this group of low lifes that embarrassed this city and its Hockey fans is beyond me! Atlanta is and has always been a supporter of Hockey but to hear some of the players too (et tu Brute) say that they are looking forward to going to a true Hockey city makes me sick. Atlanta if anything is a city that does not blindly waste their hard earned dollars on an inferior product. I never blamed the fans. It was as we all know now the owners that blew this franchise up. It all stared in my mind when they failed to resign Marc Savard. His last year as a thrasher he had 97 points and was a top ten player and the idiots let him go…for what? for money…they did not want to pay for talent. They continued the trend when they bailed out of Dany Heatley. The trust may never be known but they used his wreck as a reason to not keep him but beleive me they must have been thrhilled to have a “reason” to have him leave along with his fat paycheck. Whe I witness those depatures the writing was on the wall for me in big letters that they ownership was going the least expensive route instead of the route that would have led them to a Cup. Imagine if we today had Savard, Heatley, Kovy, Hossa WOW! But they willingly let them all go over the short tem greed vs long term suceess and the fans suffer today.
This is a feeling of being stabbed in the back and I for one will not ever forget nor reward those idiots who did the fatal stabbing today. I will NEVER go to a Hawks game again as long as these stooges are at the helm. We know it was not the fans but the owners who destroyed our franchse and for anyone to support them and the Hawks in any way regardless of their personal interest in the Thrashers is tantamount to treason. They will not get one more dollar from me ever!!
Hotrod
May 31st, 2011
1:37 pm
Good article Rawhide.
Oh well – “Lets go GLADIATORS !”
Bart
May 31st, 2011
1:37 pm
Attention to future corporate sponsors: If you advertise/support the Hawks/Philips Arena, I buy from your competitor from here-on out (starting with you Philips: Shouldn’t have reworked that naming rights contract…)
Tony C.
May 31st, 2011
1:39 pm
What annoys me, is that We/I are being painted as crappy fans but national media-I wish we could have sent DW and the ASG to Winnipeg as well and let them have 5 years of that craptacular mess. Oh well.
Let’s just send all (ASG) involved a nice big bag of dog poop.
Joe McGrath
May 31st, 2011
1:41 pm
Year after year, it was a roller coaster ride.
My full time hockey focus is now on the Nashville Predators, the Huntsville Havoc and the University of Alabama-Huntsville Chargers.
See ya Thrasher’s fans.
da' boomer
May 31st, 2011
1:42 pm
JC – Go f–k yourself
Blondie
May 31st, 2011
1:43 pm
@Truth um, Florida (especially Miami) is full of my fellow Hispanics. The number of black NHL players is growing. And last I checked New York is the bigger cultural melting pot. They have 2 teams, last I checked.
Throwing the race card into a financially driven argument is ridiculous. The NHL is hemorrhaging money in Phoenix – they had to pay off their owners to shut them up about having to subsidize a team. At the same time, Bettman doesn’t want the proverbial egg on his face from moving a team into the desert – with an owner that declared bankruptcy – only to lose the league money. This is all about money and ego. And yes, we’re the sacrifice for their stupidity.
Denny
May 31st, 2011
1:44 pm
I like so many others are very sorry to see the Thrashers leave Atlanta. As a weekend season ticket holder, and long time business consultant, I am disappointed but not surprised. The Thrasher owners lacked the most important element of any successful business owner, PASSION. Without passion for the endeavor, it is almost impossible to achieve long term success.
BUT, I want to THANK RAWHIDE for his passion and creating the BEST BLOG on the internet. I never missed a Rawhide posting because the candor, wit, and hockey knowledge coupled with superb writing style of Rawhide followed by insightful commentary from many other bloggers made Thrasher hockey appealing even in its darker days. AND today, in its darkest day; I can still enjoy the postings on the Rawhide Blog.
GOOD LUCK to you, Rawhide and your family. I hope I can continue to enjoy your talented writing style on some future hockey blog.
Denny
Dedicated Reader – Seldom Blogger
R. Stroz
May 31st, 2011
1:44 pm
FIRE WADDELL
This will finally happen, eleven years too late.
Dave
May 31st, 2011
1:49 pm
Sad, sad day on so many levels.
I’m buying Gladiator season tickets.
stephen
May 31st, 2011
1:53 pm
as the thrashers leave I only hope for one thing:
that “Teflon” Don Waddell has spend his time wisely digging up dirt on TNSE so he can keep his job and move to Winnipeg. Winnipeg is about one of the further places away from Atlanta.
PS. Don, can you give us whatever “leverage” you had over ASG so we can blackmail them the same way you did?
CFC
May 31st, 2011
1:57 pm
Here in Winnipeg we know what it truly feels like to lose an NHL team. Sincere apologies are in order. We will make it our own yet respect the integrity you had for it.
GO JETS GO !!!
Vickie
May 31st, 2011
1:58 pm
Amen Bill!
I hope the Atlanta Spirit Boys choke on their own greed!! This is a sad , sad day!!
Long live the Thrashers!!!!
willdawg
May 31st, 2011
2:01 pm
JK sux has it right. I hope that carpetbag POS goes to winnipeg with the whole ASG and they freeze to death in 6 months. What a complete load of horse $@#^. This whole deal stinks to high heaven. I’ve been to a Glads game and it is much more fun than thrashers b/c you can actually afford to sit close. I hope Jets get contracted in two years that’d be justice.
Mrs. Zoomo
May 31st, 2011
2:01 pm
Well said Rawhide.
Prior to the Thrashers, my hockey experience consisted of going to a few Rangers-Devils games when I was living in NJ. Thanks to the Thrashers I have grown to love hockey. I’m heartbroken.
stu
May 31st, 2011
2:01 pm
Thrasher Fans Unite! Refuse to spend a single penny on Hawks tickets or merchandise until those piece of crap owners sell the team. And I hope they lose millions more on that one too.
And Gary Bettman. A pox on you and your family.
BluMonkey
May 31st, 2011
2:02 pm
I guess Teflon Don is drafting up a five year plan for winnipeg in order to keep his job!
I am with the other folk that I will not support the Hawks or Phillips arena or anything affiliated with ASG ownership.
The reason why I am a hockey is because of the Thrashers and I am threw with the NHL!!
Go Tharshers!!!!!!!!!
SomaAtl95
May 31st, 2011
2:03 pm
Bill – I can’t thank you enough for the chance you have given me and all of us Thrashers fans to come here and respectfully talk about the game and OUR team. Meeting you at the Rangers game was truly the highlight of this past season, Thank you for everything, kind sir and since I am sure AJC will kill this blog I hope that you continue on at least in some form and hope to see what you do next.
Fellow Posters – 95% of you have been some of the nicest and most knowledgeable folks and I am glad that you let me in on your conversations and musings. Thanks for letting me follow you guys on Twitter and thanks to a few of you for following me as well.
Sage – Go fcuk yourself you miserable miserable person! The only thing worse than a winnipegger coming here to pour extra salt in out wounds is someone who enjoys that extra “I told you so” and still calling us sheep. Since this is my final post here I just want you to know that there is a special place full of brimstone and fire waiting for you for all the joy you have taken in mocking us all. Whenever it is your turn to take the eternal dirt nap I hope that you spend eternity with D-Wad. I actually take joy in the fact that I NEVER HAVE TO READ YOUR COMMENTS EVER AGAIN!
Other “Not as annoying as Sage” Trolls – Get your laughs in. Say things like “Who cares?” and “Good riddance!” Older Winnipeggers actually understand the pain we feel and would not take joy in this. The rest if you get your digs in while you can – when bad things happen to you then Karma will be visiting.
For people (like myself) who only cared about Hockey in Atlanta – I am sure you share the following sentiment -I don’t really care what happens with the Falcons or Braves and I HOPE THAT THE HAWKS BECOME THE CLIPPERS OF THE EAST. I’m done with pro sports in Atlanta.
Today my heart is broken. Not as bad as losing my Father in Law or the 2 miscarriages my wife suffered in the past couple of years, but I still hurt for something that will never be – a future with our Beloved Thrashers – taking my future kids to games – feeling the joy of going to a NHL Game in my hometown… all thoughts of “What could have been”…
In closing I want to share my final thought to Gary Bettman – Its funny how in their press release the Thrashers said that the NHL directed them towards selling to TNSE. What a wonderful covenant you have with fans who have been cursing you for 15 years – it was so wonderful that you screwed Atlanta – How about giving out copies of “Moby Dick” to all people who attend Yotes games next season? You have broken our hearts by chasing your whale in Phoenix. Robbing Peter to pay Paul was not the smartest of ideas but then again Mr Bettman, you aren’t really full of any original or thoughtful ideas in that seashell of a head you have anyways, correct?
I’m out. Was great knowing you all. Hope to still see you on Twitter or Facebook and at Glads games.
stewie
May 31st, 2011
2:04 pm
Hey Gearon/Levenson,
Where in your lovely little afterthought pissoff letter did you mention about REFUNDS????
ODBAlpha
May 31st, 2011
2:06 pm
Why all the whining? Hockey can’t be considered a major sport, especially given that the NHL can’t even garner a major television contract. Good riddance to a second rate product…better suited for second rate Canadians!
Stan Drulia
May 31st, 2011
2:11 pm
Rawhide – thanks so much for the last few years of truly great blogging. I was really upset when Craig Custance left but you stepped in big time and filled the gap. You have kept a great blog with thoughtfull topics, great responses, and great humor. I am hoping an AHL team swoops into Atlanta now to take advantage of all the hockey fans desperate for a team – and I can only hope that you will blog about them with the same enthusiasm that you have shown for the Thrash.
Thanks man, gonna miss you.
Sage – pack your things and head home big guy. Years and years of posting the same boring statements have finally paid off for you – the team is gone. Congrats. Just imagine if all of your time and effort was put toward something constructive… but anyways. Looking forward to never hearing from you again. Same goes for LAC. You two lovebirds just go fly away into the sunset…
R Rodebaugh
May 31st, 2011
2:15 pm
As both a Baseball and Hockey fan I cannot express how this makes me feel. No doubt that Hockey is by far the fastest, toughest and purest professional sport to watch. I have been there from beginning and took each loss personally over the years. If we have learned nothing else, we as fans and consumers must be real careful about supporting a team that has incompetent and uncaring owners. This being said I will never support any event that ASG is involved with and maybe the Mayor can keep his “couln’t care less” attitiude when Philips is emptied out and the only professional sport is in Gwinnett or Cobb county. Atlanta gets a bad wrap because the ownership of OUR teams get a free ride. Even as a die hard Braves fan I have to reconsider supporting a team that has the same type of ownership group that will not support the team, but can offer a billion dollars for other companies. Why Mr. Bettman do we decide that Atlanta cannot be carried for a year by the NHL as Phoenix was? If the real intention was to keep the team here, then the NHL and the city could have pulled this off. Somehow the NHL must feel that the future of expanding hockey is with the Canadiens and the consumers in the US are never going to get it.
Robert
May 31st, 2011
2:18 pm
I dare say, as franchises go, 3 strikes are not necessary to sound the death knell on ice hockey in Atlanta. The shame in all of this is watching a city being held hostage by bad owners. Rankin Smith Sr. and the rest of the Clampetts threatened to move the Falcons for years, somehow reasoning that a new location would make them better businessmen. Tom Cousins did the same thing with the Flames. My understanding was, that both the Smiths and Mr. Cousins had signed atrocious, long-term contracts with the Atlanta Stadium Authority and the Omni, respectively, seriously undermining their ability to make money. Now a new group of clowns ride into to town and expect the city to get behind some really bad hockey teams without ever showing (Ala the Smiths) that they actually had the ability to run a hockey club. I hope for the sake of the fans in Winnipeg, that the new owners have enough sense to hire the right people and let them do their jobs!
Wayne stuck in AL
May 31st, 2011
2:19 pm
Dear ODBAlpha:
Since you weren’t paying attention, NBC-Comcast just agreed to a TEN YEAR deal with the NHL a few weeks back.
Bagoodheart
May 31st, 2011
2:20 pm
From a guy that spent 10 years with the team, went to every charity event and invested over $50K over the years in support of the Atlanta Thrashers Foundation.
I gave you everything I had for this team – my families time and support, dedication, loylaty, money, sweat and tears and all I have ever recieved in return is deciet and unfullfilled promises.
My wife, 6 year old daughter and 3 year old son all wept during this afternoon’s Press Conference and we will never have the opportunity for any sense of closure with our boys in blue as they are now ripped from our grasp without a single good bye. Had I known that when I stood on the ice after the last game of the year recieving my Pavlec Jersey “off his back” that they would be leaving – I would have personally made my feelings known to those responsibile – ASG.
timthebrave
May 31st, 2011
2:21 pm
This really really stinks…I’m so frustrated. I will now be boycotting the Spirit group. I will no longer be attending any hawks games or even concerts at phillips arena. I hate liars and therefore I hate the Spirit Group. Good bye Thrashers
AuburnZ
May 31st, 2011
2:22 pm
First, thank you Rawhide for writing these articles and giving everyone a place to voice their opinions. You have a knack for writing and I hope you find another outlet for it. I don’t post much, but I read your blog. Will also miss seeing you at the games.
Second, I am so disappointed today. I knew it was coming yet am still not prepared. After 8 years of season ticket holder, I just do not have it in me to support anything from the NHL nor the ASG going forward. No Nashville games, no Center Ice, no playoff watching (well, I will collect my winnings in this year’s pool but no more after that!), no Philips events. I already couldn’t stand basketball games and I just can’t do the Glads games.
Guess it is time to get past the talking stage and actually put some sweaters up for sale.
Oh, and already sent a message requesting my refund for this year’s tickets (and parking) to my rep and thanked him for the last couple of years.
Jameson
May 31st, 2011
2:22 pm
Over the course of approximately the past 9 years, I have had one hobby, one major support pillar, one constant love in the Atlanta Thrashers. I have seen many friends and lovers come and go. This team was the reason for several of the friendships I have seen throughout the years. I was a fan through good times, and bad, and no matter how bad things got in the rest of my life, there was always the team. It was something bigger than me that I could believe in, and be a part of; something that I had hoped was to big to be taken away. All summer long, I would wait for my favourite season, hockey season, and to me that was Thrashers Season.
The Atlanta Spirit, LLC has sold this team, and they sold my heart. NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman, who seems intent on destroying the true spirit of this game, is providing almost no push-back compared to what he offered to other towns that were on the verge of losing their teams. The fickle fans of Atlanta didn’t seem interested in showing up for a team that wasn’t winning. I think most of them were transplants who were still sticking by their home-town team until this one gave them something to believe in. However, some of them, like that idiot, sageofbluesland, were even foolish enough to believe that they could have some positive change inacted by boycotting the team.
There were many times where it seemed that the team didn’t have the heart that the fans did. If you blamed that on the players, coaches, or even the front office, though, your blame would be misplaced. The ownership group, who have made a mockery of their namesake were never truly interested in owning a NHL team, or seeing one succeed in Atlanta, and so, once again, we see a NHL team walk away from this city. As before, it wasn’t the city of Atlanta, the fans, or the team that failed in this town. It was the ownership.
P.S. I hate you all. F#$% this now empty town.
Cornbread
May 31st, 2011
2:22 pm
The city of Atlanta has faced many injustices, this is the latest and it goes right up to the top.
Zoomo
May 31st, 2011
2:22 pm
I have a lot to say, but no energy to say it today. I’m sad for the youth of Atlanta and for the Atlanta’s youth hockey programs. I’m sad for all of the people who worked for the Thrashers or at the arena. I’m sad for my family, because we spent a lot of great nights together at Thrashers’ games and that will be no more.
I’m disgusted at Bettman and Co. Covenant with the fans? Hardly. And, I’m thoroughly disgusted with the ASG. All that legal in-fighting is what caused this. Plain and simple. Who would do business with these clowns? No one.
To Bill and all of the regulars on this site, I tip my hat to you all for all of the conversation, debate, and fun. A big void will be left in my sports world by the team’s departure and by losing this blog place which I’ve so enjoyed over the years.
Not a nickel to the ASG – Hawks, Concerts, nothing until they are gone from Atlanta.