Behind the Blog: Vancouver Canucks Op Ed
This week’s Behind the Blog features the always amusing Vancouver Canucks Op Ed. When Jeff and Alanah Downie aren’t busy with their bookstore, they entertain hockey fans with their blogging. They are very opinionated and have plenty of humor, which is easy to see at Vancouver Canucks Op Ed. Their blog is one of my favorite reads because I catch up on the latest Canucks action, usually get a good laugh, and look forward to their weekly Thursday Quote Sheet.
I’m sending out some email interviews tonight for the next batch of Behind the Blog. If you’re interested in participating, drop me an email!
Q.1 - Vancouver Canucks Op Ed was started in October of 2003. What made you create this hockey blog?
Alanah: Frustration. One day in October 2003 I read this subject header on the Canucks board: “Is Todd Bertuzzi Finished?” This was in October 2003, and seemed like an idiotic question on its face. Furthermore, the consensus seemed to be that he was finished. I disagreed and responded to the poster of that topic, then got slammed with a ton of psycho responses. So I created Vancouver Canucks Op Ed so I could vent my opinions in relative peace. It just naturally evolved into a blog for both Jeff and I since we’re both pretty passionate about the team.
Q.2 - When did you realize that you had a popular hockey blog on your hands?
It started slow, but we were still surprised that somehow there were a couple dozen daily readers stumbling onto the site in November 2003. Slowly but surely it just increased from there.
But our greater awareness - of both popularity and impact - came when we learned how much we actually affected people. In March 2004, we wrote a piece about Todd Bertuzzi, the same night that he punched Steve Moore. Like many people, we were emotional and upset about the incident. That piece was linked by so many websites, and we received thousands upon thousands of visitors within days. All were affected by Bertuzzi’s actions, and, very surprising to us, many were affected by our comments as well.
One of the results was a whole lot of emails from people. Some of those writers to our site were people we knew from the hockey world, including some players and other well-known types. All were deeply upset by the events of that night, and further incited by our comments. The response was overwhelmingly positive, but some people were angry with us as well.
It was a very quick, powerful lesson about how our impressions could affect others.
Q.3 - How long have you been a Vancouver Canucks fan? What made you become one in the first place?
Jeff: Since about 1983. As a kid, my parents and I had moved to Vancouver from Toronto. I was a Leafs fan, but Stan Smyl changed that. He was a guy with a lot of heart on a team that worked very hard. They made you care about them.
Alanah: Since the mid-1990s. I was raised surrounded by Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens fans. I eventually came to my senses and abandoned those Dynasties for the nearly perpetual disappointment of being a Canucks fan.
Q.4 - Where do you see the Canucks in 5 years? NHL?
Former GM Brian Burke’s philosophy to build an exciting team game has benefitted the Canucks in recent years, and hopefully for the long run. While many have complained that the Canucks never seem ready to win the Stanley Cup, we’ve been mostly happy to see a good product on the ice, game in and game out. That being said, we’re still hopefull about that damn Cup. But Burke’s legacy might at least mean the Canucks remain an entertaining, competitive team in the coming years. We’ll have to see where Dave Nonis takes it from here.
Regarding the NHL, our guess is that the next five years will see a couple teams contract, while maybe adding one in a new city. Just a guess and we have no idea where it will all go.
Q.5 - Do you find it challenging to balance work (your bookstore) and your website?
Not at all. The website takes some time, but it’s all just fun. Hockey is a hobby, not life support. Work, on the other hand, equals “mortgage payment” and “groceries”. Since we’re fond of both food and shelter, we find it pretty easy to prioritze the book store.
On the other hand, it would be very hard to give up Vancouver Canucks Op Ed.
Q.6 - Which team has surprised you the most by their performance thus far? Disappointed you?
Biggest Surprise: Buffalo. What the heck is going on there? And how long till they screw it up?
Biggest Disappointment: Pittsburgh. Not that we were expecting them to blow everyone out, but the team made things looks so optimistic for Pens fans. Is it a chemistry problem? A coaching problem? It’s a mysterious disaster, what’s happening over there.
Q.7 - Who is your favorite all time NHL player? Why?
Jeff: Darryl Sittler. My dad had season tickets to the Leafs in the 70s, and Sittler was the best.
Alanah: Wayne Gretzky.
Q.8 - Which NHL player annoys you the most and why?
Neither of us are annoyed much by hockey players. Different personalities, even ones you don’t like, are found everywhere, so whatever. We just try to find amusement in their antics. But one non-player that we don’t like much would be Colorado Avalanche GM Pierre Lacroix. Admittedly, he’s got a great eye for talent and team building, but a capacity for sleeze, too. Maybe he’s the nicest guy in person, how would we know? But we’re not fans, and we’ll leave it at that.
Q.9 - When did you first start doing the Thursday Quote Sheet and what made you do so?
We started the Quote Sheet in 2003. It arose from our interest in some of the intelligent, foolish, contradictory and often entertaining things that hockey players say. Since no one else had created a weekly list for us to go to and read, we figured we might as well do it ourselves.
An interesting side note is that the Thursday Quote Sheet started its life under a different header - it was called “From the Horses’ Mouths”. What an idiotic name. Who wants to call NHL players “horses” every week? Finally, due to an astounding lack of originality, we renamed it the “Thursday Quote Sheet”.
Q.10 - What do you hope to accomplish over the next couple of years with Vancouver Canucks Op Ed?
Financial freedom. (Hah!) Seriously, a site re-design is in the works, and we hope that makes it more functional and attractive. Perhaps other changes too, but who knows where we’ll end up. What won’t change is our vision, which is just to provide a light-hearted and informative site for NHL and Canucks fans. If it ever stops being fun, we’ll stop writing it.
Q.11 - What are your thoughts on the US Olympic roster picks? Team Canada’s roster picks?
Team USA: Mostly good, but leaving off Jeremy Roenick seemed like a knee jerk response to his personality, and maybe not smart. It’s not his stats that matter most with a guy like this, it’s his “intangibles” that are worth bringing. He’s a player who loves to show everyone else up in the big games. Wouldn’t you want that kind of player on your team in the biggest hockey ego match there is, the Olympics? No Brett Hull, no Jeremy Roenick… a boring day for US hockey.
Team Canada: We like the picks, and even the omissions. Sidney Crosby may have been great on the team, but it’s hard to imagine his experience would have been better than any of the other forwards that did get named. His time will come. Basically, there are a lot of good players both on and off Canada’s roster, and we can accept Hockey Canada’s vision pretty easily. Tough choices.
Q.12 - What advice would you give to fellow hockey bloggers, especially new ones?
New hockey bloggers should follow their own path and completely ignore (and even contradict) what everyone else is doing. If you behave professionally and you’re doing something different and interesting, plenty of people will find your site over time.
Whatever you do, don’t try and conform to other people’s ideas of a ‘good’ hockey blog. You can’t please everyone, and most readers and other bloggers will be very supportive and helpful.
Q.13 - What did you do to pass the time during the lockout?
Jeff: Golf
Alanah: Alcohol
Just check our blog archives - we were AWOL for nearly the entire year in emotional self-defense. To this day, the acronym C.B.A. can cause us to break out in hives.
Q.14 - If you could change one thing about the NHL, what would it be?
Sorry, it’s two things. Penalty calls (please, NHL, figure this crap out!) and scheduling. The schedule was meant to create regional rivalries, which wasn’t a horrible idea, but not every team needed the help. New teams in newer markets have possibly benefitted, but established teams didn’t need the nurturing of this kind of schedule.
For example, we once hated the Colorado Avs. Now they’re just boring us to death.
Q.15 - Is there a hockey blog or website that you look up to for inspiration?
Our all time favourite blog belongs to Tom Benjamin. His comments are always astute and interesting, and we learn something from every post. He’s never mean-spirited, but he’s always critical of what he sees. Joe Tasca, now at Off Wing, is also a superb commentator of all things NHL. Ourselves, we have neither the interest (nor the skills) to be anything like these guys. Our blog is more frivolous by far. But we appreciate how much work they do, and we really enjoy reading their respective sites.
Regarding other blogs, we should say that we would never have found readers two years ago if it wasn’t for blogs like Tom Benjamin’s, Eric McErlain’s Off Wing, PJ at Sharkspage, and Chuqui at Teal Sunglasses. They all played a big part in linking their readers to us. We’re very grateful.
Any additional comments?
Thanks for the memories, Christy. That was fun!
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