Behind the Blog: Army of Ohio
This is the second BtB after a long summer hiatus so I’m pleased to introduce you to Michael Turner, the blogger of Army of Ohio. He’s one of the few solid outlets for all Columbus Blue Jackets fans and I’ll try to not hold it against him that he’s transfering to OSU (Go Blue!).
Q.1 – According to your archives, you started Army of Ohio in May 2006. Why did you start a hockey blog?
I actually started blogging a little before that around mid-February, just as the Winter Olympics were about to start up. Back then I started blogging on the FoxSports Blog community, and was under the name The Aspiring Intern’s Impressions.
But I left about three months later because the whole site was just a total wreck. They really didn’t have their act together there, and there was just so little focus on hockey blogs, except for Spector’s blog. Last I checked you still couldn’t link out to non-FoxSports Blogs, either … so you had to rely on what you had in the community, which left a lot to be desired, and left you out of the blogosphere-at-large loop.
So I started Army of the Ohio! I’d wanted to focus more specifically on hockey and not feel like I was just being ignored by a community totally obsessed with the other sports. I love to write, and I want to use this as a stepping stool in to being more involved in sports, since I’m majoring in Sports & Leisure when I transfer to Ohio State University in January.
Q.2 – Due to the Columbus Blue Jackets being a newer team and not having the success as other franchises, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of coverage for the team. Would you agree with that statement? What areas do you believe need improvement to garner more attention and fans for the team?
I think that with a team that is only now starting to climb the top of the mountain, so to speak, you can only ask for so much. Even though the Blue Jackets have no professional sports team competition in Columbus (unless you want to count the MLS Crew or the AFL Destroyers), the OSU Buckeyes are always going to be the kings around here, in large part because they actually win regularly and have such high expectations attached to them.
But things are moving in the right direction! There’s a good few positive signs both locally and nationally that the Blue Jackets are starting to get recognition. For example, 5-6 of Columbus’ games weren’t aired by any television networks last season, and I believe they only had one stint on OLN. This season, though, all but one game is going to get television coverage, with three on NBC and three on Versus (the rest on FSN Ohio).
There’s still a ways to go, though. But I think you get what you give when it comes to coverage. If the Jackets can secure a playoff berth this year, it’ll put them on a faster track towards coverage on all levels.
Q.3 – What made you become an Blue Jackets fan?
If I say it’s because I love the color blue, will you laugh?
Haha, but really … a key part of it was that I was moving to Columbus last year in the first place. After the lock-out, and after being stranded in the middle of nowhere, Missouri (a failed stint at college at Mizzou), I just felt really disattached from hockey. I’d been a Devils’ fan for my whole life up until I went to Missouri for a few years, and I just sort of drifted away from the sport.
But then I came to Columbus, and it was like I was hit with this total drive to dive right back into hockey! And for some reason, I just found myself being drawn to the Blue Jackets. I didn’t really care that they didn’t have a storied history, Stanley Cups, or even a single playoff berth in their short history. Maybe it was because they were the proverbial doormats of the NHL at the time? Something about the team, though, excited me. It was different, having followed a winning and notable team in New Jersey for so long. But different in a fresh start of way.
So many of the Blue Jackets are just great guys, from what I’ve seen. I can’t get enough of the guys like Jason Chimera and Duvie Westcott when they’re being spoken with on FSN Ohio, and I’ve been very interested in Pascal Leclaire ever since he first got called up from Syracuse last season. Then you got energy guys like Jody Shelley, and the prerequisite stars like Rick Nash, and hopefully Sergei Fedorov can get back up to par this coming season. And don’t forget great stories such as Bryan Berard and his fight against an eye injury to become a respectable defensemen, and Adam Foote all but winning the team over as a Captain when he scored that OT goal early in the season that snapped Nashville’s winning streak.
Q.4 – What do you hope to achieve with your blog over the next few years?
Hell, I’ll be happy if I just make it to year one!
In all honesty, though, I’d like to continue making this blog better and better, in terms of the quality of the entries, the quality of the blog itself, and also draw more Blue Jackets fans to it as a way to keep up with the team from a fan’s perspective. I know there are plenty of Blue Jackets fans out there in pockets around the ‘net, such as message boards or LiveJournal communities. I’d like to do my best to be someone who can give to fellow fans of the team from a more personal perspective.
And like I mentioned in another answer, I also want to use this as a way for me to get my foot in the door as someone who is actually making the news in sports, and not just following it from the outside looking in. I hope to use this blog as a way to sharpen my skills as someone who covers hockey, and use this along with my future major to do something in the sport I love.
I mean … I don’t think I’ll be the next Theo Epstein, but you never know, right?
Q.5 – Who is your favorite hockey player (either current or retired player)? Why?
Claude Lemieux.
… yeah, just kidding.
Actually, one of my favorite hockey players that comes to mind is John Madden of the Devils. I remember that he was only a rookie with the Devils when they won their second of three Stanley Cups in a decade, and I always remember how excited I got when the Devils were on the Penalty Kill with him on the ice.
Yes, the Penalty Kill. If I recall, one of the big draws about him to me was that he had a pretty notable record for having the most shorthanded goals in a season back in college (it may’ve either been in the NCAA itself or just his team). I loved watching and waiting to see if he would break out of nowhere and go streaking down the rink on a breakaway with his speed. He actually reminds me of Jason Chimera a little bit, except more polished. They both have that blinding speed, but Madden does have the upper hand on puck control and knowing exactly when to use that speed.
Q.6 – What are your thoughts on the recent Anson Carter signing?
I want to say that I like it, but at the same time I also want to say I’m saddened that things with Nikolai Zherdev are at such a bad point that this signing had to happen in the first place. I have my reservations about Carter, but when put into perspective, one of the key positives is that Carter, who is a veteran, is a more polished player who has had more time in the NHL. Zherdev, meanwhile, still leaves a lot of questions when it comes to his play. Will he ever be able to realize that he needs to put more effort into playing defense when needed? And how about issues concerning selfishness with the puck?
Carter, meanwhile, is a more rounded player who can actually help on D when needed, and isn’t known for hogging the puck. He knows how to play well with others, and seems excited to be coming to Columbus (but then again, this was probably a last ditch deal since it was so close to training camp). If he can do with Nash, Fedorov, Modin or the others what he did with the Sedin Twins in Vancouver, he’ll fit in just fine.
And who knows. Maybe an early Christmas miracle will happen and Zherdev will sign with the Jackets before the season starts. Then we’ll have more top six forwards than we know what to do with, for once!
Q.7 – Which team do you think made the most improvements during the offseason whether it’s staff, signings, trades, etc?
I don’t know if I can really narrow it down to just one team. Some of the signings and trades that really stuck out to me were not just with a single team.
I liked what the Penguins have been doing over the offseason, finally aquiring Evgeni Malkin, and then getting back Mark Recchi, as well as drafting Jordan Staal with the 2nd pick of the 2006 Draft. I don’t know if they’re ready to get into the playoffs just yet, but they’re moving in the right direction. But then again they have nowhere to go but up, huh?
And then there was Anaheim’s trade for Chris Pronger. You can’t say enough about just how intimidating it is going to be for any team that has to deal with Pronger and Neidermeyer either one after the other, or at the same time. And with both Guigere and Bryzgalov behind them guarding the pipes, I’d be tempted to say their defense is about as rock solid as it can possibly get leading in to this coming season.
Q.8 – If you had to pick the worst signing or trade of the summer, which one would it be and why?
No one would blame me if I said the 15-year bombshell of a deal that the Islanders gave Rick DiPietro, right? There’s just no way I can even wrap my brain around what Charles Wang has done.
If that isn’t reason enough to consider it the worst signing this summer, all you need to do is hop on over to TSN and see the interview between Rod Smith and Garth Snow. Both me and Eric at Off Wing made almost the same commentary at how he looked as Smith asked him those questions. You know when your own General Manager looks like he wants to break down and cry, that it was just an awful, horrible deal.
I don’t like the Islanders, but even they don’t deserve this sort of fate. No hockey team does.
Q.9 – If you were in charge of marketing / advertising for the NHL, what would you showcase in print, radio, and TV ads?
Print) The recent sign of people in the NHL – both at the league level and team level – looking towards bloggers for coverage and getting in touch with the fans is the best thing I can think of when it comes to print marketing and advertising of the sport. The NHL needs to play to their strengths, and while it might be a little over the top for me to say this, I think that bloggers that cover hockey are much more well-spoken, active, and even knowledgeable when it comes to this sport, compared to the other pro sports in North America. If the NHL can use this to their advantage, they can aim for a younger, more tech. saavy audience.
TV ads) I would drop a hydrogren bomb on whoever made those impersonal, totally generic “MyNHL†commercials, first and foremost. You remember that YouTube video you put up a while ago on your blog showing a commercial with Shanahan and Fedorov, and the comedic feel to it? That is what I would bring back.
But there’s also a need for more serious and dramatic emphasis on the sport, too. The media department needs to find some sort of guy like the guy who does all those NFL Films and NFL commercial-based voice overs. A voice that you’ll recognize, and that’ll send shivers down your spine when they talk about the sport, even if you don’t even like it!
Q.10 - Is there any hockey blog or website that you look to for inspiration?
The very first blog that I ever started reading that was about hockey, which is Off Wing Opinion. When I was still using AOL, I saw his blog was at the bottom of AOL’s Top 10 Sport’s Blog list (probably just the typical “token hockey guy†choice), and I started reading it sometime around the start of last season, or a couple months in. Eric amazes me at how he’s been at this for quite some time, and the fact that he seems to be in contact with his local team, the Capitals. I got to say I’m pretty envious that he’s able to be that involved, especially now as he and several other bloggers (and even some people in the NHL) work on things such as the possibility of media credentials for bloggers.
Any additional comments?
I think this BtB is already long enough. So … good night, Internet!
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