Not a happy birthday in Columbus

Column by J. Justin Boggs:

Over the last couple years, all anyone heard about the Columbus Blue Jackets’ woes were they needed a top-line center and puck a moving defender to make them a winning squad.


Over the summer, the Blue Jackets went out and did both. James Wisniewski and Jeff Carter were both added to the roster to give the Blue Jackets the spark they have been looking for over the last 11 years.

The Blue Jackets had their biggest offseason in team history.

In addition to the roster acquisitions, the Blue Jackets made arrangements with Nationwide Insurance, the city of Columbus, and Franklin County to fix Nationwide Arena’s lease agreement with the Blue Jackets. The fix is allowing Columbus and Nationwide Arena to host the 2013 NHL All-Star Game and practically guarantees the Blue Jackets’ existence in Columbus through 2039.

The Blue Jackets are on pace for their worst season in franchise history.

As the two biggest needs were met on the ice, the returning members of last year’s team have faltered and gotten us to this point. With less than two weeks before the NHL trade deadline, GM Scott Howson seems to have his finger on the eject button. It appears on the 200th birthday of the city of Columbus, the city is mere days away from losing the biggest pro athlete in Columbus’ 200 years of existence. Not the way that anyone on West Nationwide Boulevard wanted to spend the city’s bicentennial.

Reports circulated throughout the day Tuesday that Nash has given Howson a list of teams he would be willing to waive his no-movement clause in contract for. Some rumors by the self-proclaimed hockey insiders say that Nash might be headed to Los Angeles or New York.

The Blue Jackets are in a huge slump and are on pace to have the worst record in the NHL since the shootout was instituted in 2005.

With an arena deal in place, the emphasis is back on winning and winning now. The Blue Jackets owe not just their fans but now the city of Columbus wins given that every one of us are part-owners of Nationwide Arena.

For the first time in nearly a decade in Columbus, there is pressure on Nash to perform. Nash largely did not share in the blame of previous coaching regimes’ failures. When legendary coach Ken Hitchcock was relieved of his duties in 2010, Nash simply said, “That is the way sports work.”

With the most recent coaching dismissal in January, the realization might have finally hit the Jackets’ and Howson that the problem is not coaching.

The only two connections that remain from the Dave King era are losing hockey and Nash.

Besides Nash, the Blue Jackets need to take a look at goaltending. No team has had worse goaltending over the last three years than the Blue Jackets. Over the offseason, the Blue Jackets paid dearly for not going for a No. 1 goalie and relying on Steve Mason. Mason’s lack of success after his amazing rookie season has set the Blue Jackets back.

But the question remains, if the Blue Jackets simply fix their goaltending, will this be a winning team? Columbus has won 28 percent of its games. Seems like a lot more has to be done than fixing goaltending. This is why Nash’s time in Columbus might be coming to a close.



For Blue Jackets news, visit ColumbusWired.Net

Episode 105: The Final Chapter

CLICK HERE TO HEAR EPISODE 105!!!!!!!!!!

Well folks, this is it.  Scooterb and JJ On Sports has run its course. This will be the last regular episode you will hear on this feed.  BUT PLEASE, stay subscribed to the feed, and keep coming back to the blog, because we will effort to keep the blog updated with new content, and occasionally we will fire up the recorder and do special episodes.

For this week's show, we do talk at great length about the exciting news that Columbus, Ohio is getting the 2013 NHL All-Star Game.  We also discuss whether we thing Columbus will have a winning team to go along with the game next year.

We talk Tiger.  He had a great week in Abu Dhabi, and we go into whether we finally think Tiger is back to his winning ways.

We then, get this, talk TENNIS!  More specifically, the amazing Rafa Nadal / Novak Djokovic final to wrap up the Australian Open this past weekend..

Our last major topic of the show is the Super Bowl, and all the festivities in Indianapolis, and how we thing Indy may become a regular rotation city for the Super Bowl after this week.

We round out the show with a good solid minute of OSU Basketball talk.

105 Episodes, 8000+ downloads...it's been a fun ride.  Thanks for taking it with us.

- Scooterb

Episode 104: A Fun, Frozen Show

Listen to Episode 104 HERE!

Welcome back everybody, we have another fun filled show for you this week.

First of all, I don't think we ever mention in the episode, but it is our 2 year anniversary!

We start off the show by breaking down Justin's experience at the Frozen Diamond Faceoff in Cleveland over the weekend.

We then talk a little Indiana and Ohio State basketball.

We wrap up the show with a quick look at the NFL playoffs.

Thanks everybody for listening, Justin and Casey will be with you next week.

Episode 103: Time for a Change, Finally

Click here to listen to Episode 103

This episode starts off with the breaking news that the Bluejackets have fired head coach Scott Arniel, we look at where the team may be headed in the future (and how we would push them to make even more changes).

We then take a look at the most boring game in the history of college football.  No, that's not fair.  The first time LSU and Alabama met was the most boring.

We discuss the weekend of NFL playoffs...sort of, we really just talk more Tim Tebow.

We round out the show by talking about the Baseball Hall of Fame's newest inductee: Barry Larkin, and all of the other issues surrounding the hall at this time.

Thanks for listening

-Scooterb

Episode 102: At least the weather was nice

Listen to Episode 102 here!

Welcome back everyone!

This week's episode finds Justin in Jacksonville, Florida... covering the Gator Bowl!  We get a first hand report from the game, as we tie a bow on this year's Ohio State season.

We then talk about the bad day the Big Ten had overall in today's bowl games.

We continue the show with Bengals and Broncos playoff (playoff?) talk.

We end the show by piling on some more on poor Scott Arniel.  We also come up with an idea that might save the Bluejackets season.  What is it?  Listen, and find out.

- Scott