A Cannonfest Primer - by Greg May

What is Cannonfest? Now in it's sixth year, Cannonfest is a grass roots event organized by fans of the Columbus Blue Jackets for fans of the Columbus Blue Jackets. What began as a cookout for CBJ bloggers to gather, meet each other, drink beer and  talk hockey in anticipation of the coming season has grown each year and morphed into the ultimate fan-fueled hockey event of the year. More than 500 fans are expected to attend this year's edition of Cannonfest to kick off the 2015-16 CBJ season.   

When and where is it?  Sunday, August 23, from 1-4PM.  Cannonfest has moved to the spacious digs of the brand new Dick's Last Resort, located a mere 45 steps from the east entrance to Nationwide Arena, as well as the surrounding plaza outside of Dick's. 

Are there cannons at Cannonfest? No. That would be dangerous. And to be honest, most of the people that attend the event only care about one cannon, the one that goes BOOM every time the Jackets score. Speaking of which, have you ever wondered how many people who come to Nationwide for the first time (and even the second, third and fourth) have crapped themselves when that bad boy goes off? I'd bet it's in the thousands by now. 

What is there to do at Cannonfest? What do you normally do at festivals? You hang out, you eat, you drink some beers, you check out the booths and exhibits that the various fans and fan groups have set up and you meet a lot of really fun CBJ fans. Plus, there are fan-produced videos to watch, like this one from 2013 by Cannonfest legend Tom Larrow.  There will be a CBJ-themed game show and usually a surprise guest or two to be interviewed by emcees Dave Maetzold (Fox Sports Ohio Game Host) and Mike Todd (in-arena personality). Here's a great recap of what went down at last year's event held at Strongwater. 

You had me at beer.  The beer will be flowing both inside Dick's Last Resort and outside on the patio. This year, for the first time, a locally crafted beer has been brewed for the event. Pencil Storm favorite Four String Brewing Company will tap a special firkin of its Solo Series Troika Tripel conditioned with blueberries.  At 10% ABV, it'll hit you like a puck to the noggin. On top of that, a variety of Four String beers will be served in draft and in cans. 

So who benefits from this Blue Jackets love-in? Cannonfest has always been about raising money for various charities near and dear to the hearts of Blue Jackets fans. Each year the Jacket Backers conduct a raffle of some very cool CBJ swag, the proceeds of which go to The Columbus Blue Jackets Foundation. This year, money will also be raised for Hartnell Down and Force Network Fund. For more info about the fundraising efforts of Cannonfest, click here. 

Will Dancing Kevin be there? You betcha. And if you ask him nicely he'll probably take his shirt off and pose for a selfie with you. 

BOOM! See you at #Cannonfest!

The Blue Jackets Are Back, Are You?

As the Blue Jackets took the ice for the final time last season, the atmosphere inside Nationwide was fully loaded and ready to fire, just like the cannon that sits perched above the lower bowl at Nationwide Arena. While the team put the finishing touches on a near-miraculous 19-5-5 run to a playoff spot, the fans aimed years of frustration and disappointment toward the rafters and fired away. Sadly, they just missed the target as the Jackets lost out on making the playoffs by virtue of a dreaded tie-breaker rule.

According to team President John Davidson, Jackets fans lifted the the team onto their collective shoulders and carried them to victory that night. The Blue Jackets would like you to remember that.

This video, chock full of footage from that epic final game against Nashville at Nationwide on April 27th, was played for the home crowd prior to preseason games over the past couple of weeks. And it works. If watching this video doesn't rekindle flames of passion deep inside your CBJ soul and make you yearn to hear the cannon go boom, check to make sure the volume is on and your speakers are turned up. 

The battle resumes tonight at Nationwide as the Blue Jackets embark on the 2013-14 campaign. For those about to rock .... !

The Blue Jackets Are Getting Ready to Not Suck

​It's been over thirty years since the Miracle on Ice. Upon each anniversary, an increasingly smaller segment of the population can be heard to say: "I remember watching that game." Meanwhile in Columbus last year, the Blue Jackets had become so bad that an increasingly larger segment of a pissed-off fan base wistfully uttered that same statement whenever somebody would recall a regular season win over a division rival. But the times, they are a changin'.

​Hardcore Blue Jackets fans already know this: John Davidson is a badass. Davidson, a former NHL player and hockey broadcaster (but not the same guy that hosted "That's Incredible"), took a bottom-feeding Blues organization and overhauled it into a top contender in the Western Conference during his six-year tenure as President of Hockey Operations. During that time, he leaned heavily on a young Finnish scout named Jarmo (pronounced "Yar-mo") Kekalainen (prounounced "Keh-ka-line-in") to help him rebuild the Blues by refocusing the team's effort to acquire two important resources that were dangerously in short supply  . . . . talent and character.  ​

CBJ fans see newly appointed GM Jarmo Kekalainen as the answer. The question: how do we stop sucking?

As it turns out, teams that do well in the NHL, and most any other sport except Olympic Badminton, have at least two things in common — talent and character — and not just on the ice. Winning organizations value talent and character at every level, from the people who find the players, to the person who signs the players, to the players themselves, all the way to the person who does the laundry. Like St. Louis in 2006, Columbus in 2012 found itself lacking in these two important resources. And then John P. McConnell hired Davidson to run the hockey operations for the Blue Jackets. 

Davidson likes to say that his success in St. Louis came from taking no shortcuts, by building "brick by brick." The Blue Jackets' sad history includes a pathetic misuse of high draft picks. With three first-round picks in the 2013 NHL entry draft, the time to bring in the wrecking ball and begin reconstruction was now for Davidson. When he hired Kekalainen last week to replace Scott Howson as GM, Davidson (or "JD" as he is lovingly referred to by CBJ fans) didn't just blow the place up. He already has the entire first floor rebuilt and ready for occupancy. 

Not everybody is willing to forgive and forget. There are still pissed-off ex-Blue Jackets fans in Columbus. But surprisingly there are a lot more fans who see a light at the end of the tunnel and are extremely confident that it is not a train (or a bum lighting a cigarette butt).  ​For a team that has pretty much sucked as bad as any professional sports team in America for the last two years, it's a strange sight to behold: a fan base as energized, hopeful and radiant as it ever has been. They have wallowed in the depths of suck. They know suck. And they know the Blue Jackets are getting ready to not suck.