In a world where we hear about what is going on almost before it happens, we have become a society of whiners when we don't get things when we want them. The phrase "in a minute" is WAY to slow! Facebook and Twitter have spoiled us in the world of sports where we hear about contracts and firings almost the instant they happen. Sometimes this is a bad thing.
When new ownership takes over a franchise or a new franchise all together starts in a new town, things take time people. We cant have all the contracts signed on the first day, the web site up before we have anything to put on the site, and mascot and logos with out a name.
Well we have a logo, a great design by the way, negotiations with players are underway as I type, mascot is being selected by you the fans at the Blazes team booth at the McLean County Fair.......i like the name smoke, because as you know "where there's smoke there's fire!" But that's not why I'm writing tonite. I wanted to let all the fans know the front office and the staff at Bloomington Blaze HQ is totally psyched about the upcoming season and all 3 (yes that's right just 3 staffers) of them are working hard and as long as needed to bring you a quality product come October.
How do I know this? Magic of course. No really I recently spoke with someone about the state of the team in terms of how things are shaping up for the fans. Things sound like they are picking up each and every day. What does that mean for fans or future fans of the Blaze? Well, for one they want to build a "positive tradition" with this franchise starting with how business is conducted. Building on momentum from the past season is great when the same team returns. Building from scratch when a new franchise starts up is difficult. Season ticket lists are property of the previous team so contacting past STH (season ticket holders) is very difficult. Some get called and some don't. Not because they don't want your business but they don't have the resources to make contact. If you happen to read this blog and are a STH from last year and have not been contacted, please feel free to call Patrick Kelley at the Blaze home offices, find him on facebook and he Will make it his business to get you taken care of immediately. I know this because he emailed me at almost midnight a couple of nights ago to give me ticket info. Pretty impressive. If you would like to become a new STH call and the same importance will be given to you as well.
Ticket sales, off seasons events, in season events with players, civic pride and working with all the area communities are part of what it's gong to take to build this "positive tradition". Along with all that the team did in it's last carnation there are many new things taking place with in game activities and the like.
When you get to the arena and the game starts things will feel different and sound different. How you ask? Well maybe a song you hear is really familiar...well maybe you submitted it to the facebook profile of the Blaze and it got accepted. The Blaze PR dept is trying something a little different this year. They want fans included on the game atmosphere that they are attending. Letting the fans "feel some ownership" is one way to make the game experience more enjoyable. More giveaways, more fan prizes are just a couple of things being worked out now. Better executed theme nights are also in the works. Theme nights last season were thrown together and not really followed thru to the best they could be. This season will be different. The PR dept wants to "pay attention to detail" in a way that will provide a "new and better hockey experience". Better intermission games, better music all this adds up to a great night for all. Players and fans.
When the Blaze are doing what they do when they don't play, the Blaze staff will be working hard to make sure the fan base grows and stays strong. They are working in all the communities to build the fan base. Working with communities to set up booths at county fairs, local businesses for sponsorships. All good things, but my favorite community they are working in is the internet community. Social networks facebook and twitter are proving to be a great way for teams to get a feel for what fans want. Most of our social lives revolve around these two networks. If you read this blog you prove my point. The team used facebook to deliver the news and photos of the new logo and jersey design. Fans were excited to hear the news that way. The local paper followed up almost 3 hours later. (They need to work harder to make hockey more important in their sports section) A youtube site is coming where player profiles, fun interviews and game highlights can be viewed at any time. Hockey in the 21st century is now a 24hr sport.
So fans, Call Patrick Kelley and get your tickets, prizes, entertainment, and great hockey are coming your way if you do. This small core team of three believe in this team and this sport. They are working hard to provide you a great team, and great experience at U.S. Cellular Coliseum. Lets give them our support this off season! GO BLAZE!!!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
A new day....new things I learned
Well, its 10pm and i and sitting here with my 2 liter of mt. dew, a bag of bbq chips, and I just popped in The Mighty Ducks on dvd....and then I remember...
I was not so patiently waiting for the arrival of the news of the day from the Bloomington Blaze, which came at a little after 5pm tonite. The Jerseys are great looking by the way, but I digress. I had some time today to catch up on some of the Blazes facebook questions and posts and it occurred to me, we need to educate some of the hockey ignorant.
i use the term ignorant well because that's what they are. We are a new hockey town and some of the people aren't current on what hockey is about in terms of what is done at games and how teams are represented. Hockey is not like any other sport when it comes to the so called traditions, we are passionate about everything about the sport, not just our team. Music, uniforms (sweaters not "jerseys") and overall excitement about what the "club" is doing. Normal fans of the "big 3" (football, baseball, and Basketball) just usually follow their team. Well not true hockey fans. We follow the sport and all that goes with it.
THE EDUCATION
Hockey likes to be traditional at all levels. We try to stay away from the gaudy and flashy when it come to what our club looks like on the ice. Something that gets the message of what our team is named or represents is all that is needed on the crest. Flaming sticks or flaming pucks is not necessary! So please stop suggesting it. With our new logo, perfect! Thank you for making it simple and something good to look at. A few local suggestions turned into the actual design, with some help from an east coast design firm. Congrats to all who had the input.
I heard a comment online today that stated "what kind of mascot can we get from a flaming B?" Seriously?!?! the mascot has to be determined by what is on the front of the sweater? No not really. Just because the previous team, (which did business so well, they are no longer around) did it doesn't make it gospel. Like our fantastic PR reps at the Blaze are doing, they are leaving it up to what the fans want to see as the mascot by having fans bring ideas to the Mclean County Fair all this week at their booth. Great Idea! Keep up the good work PR dept.
Another comment posted yesterday is the actual reason I decided to write this ahead of my actual story tomorrow, "and can we have something other than the Peoria Rivermen fog horn". Well hate to break it to you, the fog horn isn't exclusive to the rivermen. Hockey clubs use it everywhere, it's kinda become a tradition, so educate yourself before speaking on a public forum....i don't like to be mean, but I will if you ask for it. The horn stays!
Music at hockey games is loud. With the boards people sometimes feel like the players are separate from the fans. so the music is used to convey an atmosphere of whats going on. You don't like loud music, two words for ya, ear plugs. Music invokes excitement and energy, something we definitely need in an almost 7,000 seat arena that hosts roughly 2,300 fans a game. Not that that is a bad thing, a starting off point for growing the game for sure. Hard rock is what drives fans. Most are fast and angry, which is what most hockey players and fans are like. You don't think the players hear and enjoy the music either, next season, look down at the bench or watch an NHL bench and watch the players bob their heads to the music.....it matters. So does everything have to be about "fire"? certainly not. A good entrance song doing with burning or flames is very appropriate and a good song during a fight or when a player is going to the box, would be great, and the Blaze asking what the fans want to hear is a great idea. A certain NHL team I follow did the same thing on twitter through the owners daughters and the official team account did to great success. Their music sucked and now is getting better.
The Goal Song......
Are we the Blackhawks? No, not even close, so why do we feel like we need to use their goal song? Here's and idea.....lets get our own. Lets find a song that we can call our own....doesn't have to be a popular song, Chelsea Dagger wasn't until the Heineken commercials and the Blackhawks owned it. Something the fans can chant along with and it easy to follow would be great to bring some "ownership" to the fans in cheering the team on. Enough on that for now.....
Tomorrow I will be bringing to you an in depth look at what the team is doing to bring these new fans to the Coliseum in October, along with my thoughts on the sweaters, lack of players and overall state of the franchise as august begins.
I was not so patiently waiting for the arrival of the news of the day from the Bloomington Blaze, which came at a little after 5pm tonite. The Jerseys are great looking by the way, but I digress. I had some time today to catch up on some of the Blazes facebook questions and posts and it occurred to me, we need to educate some of the hockey ignorant.
i use the term ignorant well because that's what they are. We are a new hockey town and some of the people aren't current on what hockey is about in terms of what is done at games and how teams are represented. Hockey is not like any other sport when it comes to the so called traditions, we are passionate about everything about the sport, not just our team. Music, uniforms (sweaters not "jerseys") and overall excitement about what the "club" is doing. Normal fans of the "big 3" (football, baseball, and Basketball) just usually follow their team. Well not true hockey fans. We follow the sport and all that goes with it.
THE EDUCATION
Hockey likes to be traditional at all levels. We try to stay away from the gaudy and flashy when it come to what our club looks like on the ice. Something that gets the message of what our team is named or represents is all that is needed on the crest. Flaming sticks or flaming pucks is not necessary! So please stop suggesting it. With our new logo, perfect! Thank you for making it simple and something good to look at. A few local suggestions turned into the actual design, with some help from an east coast design firm. Congrats to all who had the input.
I heard a comment online today that stated "what kind of mascot can we get from a flaming B?" Seriously?!?! the mascot has to be determined by what is on the front of the sweater? No not really. Just because the previous team, (which did business so well, they are no longer around) did it doesn't make it gospel. Like our fantastic PR reps at the Blaze are doing, they are leaving it up to what the fans want to see as the mascot by having fans bring ideas to the Mclean County Fair all this week at their booth. Great Idea! Keep up the good work PR dept.
Another comment posted yesterday is the actual reason I decided to write this ahead of my actual story tomorrow, "and can we have something other than the Peoria Rivermen fog horn". Well hate to break it to you, the fog horn isn't exclusive to the rivermen. Hockey clubs use it everywhere, it's kinda become a tradition, so educate yourself before speaking on a public forum....i don't like to be mean, but I will if you ask for it. The horn stays!
Music at hockey games is loud. With the boards people sometimes feel like the players are separate from the fans. so the music is used to convey an atmosphere of whats going on. You don't like loud music, two words for ya, ear plugs. Music invokes excitement and energy, something we definitely need in an almost 7,000 seat arena that hosts roughly 2,300 fans a game. Not that that is a bad thing, a starting off point for growing the game for sure. Hard rock is what drives fans. Most are fast and angry, which is what most hockey players and fans are like. You don't think the players hear and enjoy the music either, next season, look down at the bench or watch an NHL bench and watch the players bob their heads to the music.....it matters. So does everything have to be about "fire"? certainly not. A good entrance song doing with burning or flames is very appropriate and a good song during a fight or when a player is going to the box, would be great, and the Blaze asking what the fans want to hear is a great idea. A certain NHL team I follow did the same thing on twitter through the owners daughters and the official team account did to great success. Their music sucked and now is getting better.
The Goal Song......
Are we the Blackhawks? No, not even close, so why do we feel like we need to use their goal song? Here's and idea.....lets get our own. Lets find a song that we can call our own....doesn't have to be a popular song, Chelsea Dagger wasn't until the Heineken commercials and the Blackhawks owned it. Something the fans can chant along with and it easy to follow would be great to bring some "ownership" to the fans in cheering the team on. Enough on that for now.....
Tomorrow I will be bringing to you an in depth look at what the team is doing to bring these new fans to the Coliseum in October, along with my thoughts on the sweaters, lack of players and overall state of the franchise as august begins.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Quick Update.....
Life has taken me on a pretty wild ride as of lately, I will be adding a new blog on friday this week. I'll have some new info and insights into what the Blaze will be doing differently to bring the "fringe" fans into the hockey family. Also some opinions on the retirement of Holmberg and the new jerseys and color scheme......stay tuned for the weekend!
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