MakeOttawaGreatAgain
Illest guy in town!
- Feb 28, 2007
- 4,054
- 268
I do want to understand why we couldn't sell out every playoff game last year. Why didn't I go? Why didn't I want to go? I wasn't a victim of Phoenix. I went the previous time we made the playoffs.
What I do know is that the playoff run felt like a fluke (it's a feeling, don't yell at me!), each win felt like a nice surprise, but I never thought it was going to go all the way. I was mistaken for two rounds! I never thought we had a chance during game 7 against Pittsburgh, and yet we made it so close. When we lost that game, I wasn't gutted like I was in previous playoff eliminations, it just felt normal and expected.
There was (for me) none of the enthusiasm of the Hamburglar run, or the Pesky Sens, or the heartbreak playoff losses against the Leafs. What changed? Was I jaded? Lack of specific players to root for (but why? we had the MacArthur story, the Anderson story)? Something about the style of play? Was it the way we backed into the playoffs? Was it disenchantment with the GM moves that year (certainly the Ziba and the Burrows deals really pissed me off)? But Muckler made plenty of bad deals and I rooted for the team all the same.
I'm still watching pretty much every game on TV, but something's missing.
I like this post, because I had the exact same experience. I don't think I even changed my avatar. That said, I did get really excited by the time we got to round 3. I was even thinking of buying tickets and flying to Ottawa maybe for game 6, but for sure if it goes to the Finals. I'm not saying this to go against the grain. I agree everything felt like a fluke, but I just thought this team was too flukey to be just a fluke. And I like Karlsson, and Hoffman, and Stone, and Turris (and now Duchene). I love Pageau, even though he usually is pretty average at best.
To me, it is my dream to see Ottawa win the Stanley Cup, and I dreamed as a little boy that the Sens would hoist the cup. There is no way I don't want to be in Ottawa for a potential finals birth. I even remember almost crying when I first thought up the idea in the shower. I went to go look up flights, I had the money (barely, but I could make it work if I pinched my pockets for a while, something I am not unused to)... but then, I just didn't go. There was no reason not to. I thought to myself, "or, I could just stay at home and save some money. Maybe finally buy a new car." And yet, here I am talking down to people who pass up the same opportunity.
Maybe it's like Benny says. There's just such an overabundance of moderately entertaining and significantly more affordable alternatives, and the cost/benefit of doing something highly entertaining and moderately to very expensive just isn't worth it.
That said, if I was in town, there's just no way I don't go to game 6
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