I'm becoming a fair weather Flames fan. Am I alone?

[puckedoff]

'Tis better to have loved and lost....

[ben voyonsdonc]

It's just hard to be really engaged when the team doesn't seem really engaged. There is no entertainment value to watching the Flames right now. They aren't just losing...they are boring which is a bad combination.

[SofaProfessor]

I still tune into to nearly every game live but I find I'm much more willing to turn off the game and do something else after it's out of hand. Kind of speaks more to the team than my own dedication, though. I mean, two years ago you NEVER turned off the game when the Flames were down by 3 goals. They were always working hard and pulled out so many come from behind wins. However, this weekend when they went down 3-0 I just turned off the TV and went to go do something else because the game was over as far as I was concerned and I wasn't seeing anything from the Flames to suggest otherwise.

I guess my point is, why stress and be upset watching them get pushed around when there are literally 100's of other things to do with your time? As for going to games, I only make it out to 2 or 3 a year and that likely won't change as the experience is more about seeing my friends or family and having some beers and a night out rather than just watching the Flames.

[Traditional_Ale]

The person to blame for all this is really Brian Burke, who fired the GM who built a winning team with a veteran, cup winning coach. He got us JG, Mony, Brodie, etc....

Brian Burke is the problem. He's stuck in an old school way of doing things, it seems. And its not working.

[Wiggum_PI]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

The person to blame for all this is really Brian Burke, who fired the GM who built a winning team with a veteran, cup winning coach. He got us JG, Mony, Brodie, etc....

Brian Burke is the problem. He's stuck in an old school way of doing things, it seems. And its not working.

Brodie was actually drafted by Sutter, but he definitely thrived playing under Bob Hartley.

[nik-]

And Monahan was the obvious pick. And seeing he almost lost us the pick over nothing, it's pretty good that Feaster is gone.

A lot of revisionist history around here lately. Byron can skate through walls and shoots 200mph, Hartley is what this team needs because he didn't actually have 75% of his seasons be terrible, Feaster was the GM we should have kept.

What next?

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

The person to blame for all this is really Brian Burke, who fired the GM who built a winning team with a veteran, cup winning coach. He got us JG, Mony, Brodie, etc....

Brian Burke is the problem. He's stuck in an old school way of doing things, it seems. And its not working.

The Flames under Hartley were not a winning team. Nor under Feaster.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

The person to blame for all this is really Brian Burke, who fired the GM who built a winning team with a veteran, cup winning coach. He got us JG, Mony, Brodie, etc....

Brian Burke is the problem. He's stuck in an old school way of doing things, it seems. And its not working.

Laughable.

Feaster was a joke of a GM. He always spoke a big game but never backed it up. He tried to pay Brad Richards north of 7x7 back in the summer of 2011. He signed RoR to an offer sheet that almost cost us Monahan and Kanzig (our 3rd rounder) for absolutely nothing. He bumbled the Iginla trade and the organization looked like a joke time and time again under him.

Looking at the current flames

Sutter players
Giordano
Brodie
Backlund
Bouma
Ferland
Stajan


Feaster players
Gaudreau
Monahan
Kulak
Wideman

Treliving players
Bennett
Tkachuk
Brouwer
Frolik
Hamilton
Engelllend
Elliott
Johnson
Jokipakka
F. Hamilton
Shinkaruk/Versteeg
Chaisson

Feaster has 2 key players he drafted on the team. Burke does very little in terms of team building IMO. He has brought back respect to the organization that became a laughing stock when Sutter traded Phaneuf and Jokinen in 2010 right through until Feaster was fired in 2013.

[GioforPM]

Feaster blew the Regher, Jaybo, Tanguay and Iggy trades IMO. Sad returns every time.

Treliving has had his duds. Raymond, Grossman, Bollig. His drafting is TBD.

[ThisIsAnOutrage]

Originally Posted by puckedoff

'Tis better to have loved and lost....

It is, except that's not what happened this season. The never was love, the entire Flames organization just went ahead and friend-zoned the fanbase.

[Bourque's Twin]

This is literally the Jim Playfair situation all over again. D. Sutter implemented a certain brand of hockey, got the most out of his players, and took an underdog team to game 7 of the SCF. Then, Playfair was hired and was in way over his head. He was supposed to be the player-friendly coach but he lost control of the roster and they under performed until the core was traded away.

The current Flames are 1 season removed from "hard-ass" Hartley who got them to round 2 of the playoffs when they were supposed to be a bottom-5 team. They chose the player friendly coach and he has lost control of the roster.

What really gets me as a season ticket holder is that they are uninspired. I have no interest in attending games until the players show interest in winning. It's hard to spend hard earned dollars on supporting uninsipired players.

[Jojado]

Originally Posted by Slanter

This is an interesting thought. Anything to back it up (e.g. anything you've read), or just a hunch you have? I may personally fall into this category to some extent.

Just a hunch, honestly. Being here among fellow information-junkies also creates the perception that people would rather analyze in the aftermath instead of watching.

Winning fixes things. Look at the Toronto Blue Jays.

If anyone remembers the latest Flames vs Hawks game in Chicago, it was on a ho-hum Monday night and scarcely an empty seat. They are charging more for lower-bowl tickets than the Flames.

Gaudreau and Monahan have signed big contracts and so far, the end result is the same or worse. The expectations for this year were absolutely higher than last.

So basically:
increased payroll + higher ticket prices = same result as last year = bad value

[lazypucker]

I used to watch the games in real time (at the Dome or live on TV), but the past several seasons I have been doing the PVR fast-forward thing. But the past couple of seasons I don't even care as the play was so bad that I just take one look at The Score app and shake my head in disgust. If the Flames keep getting worse I think I won't even bother to check the score on my phone....

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Bourque's Twin

This is literally the Jim Playfair situation all over again. D. Sutter implemented a certain brand of hockey, got the most out of his players, and took an underdog team to game 7 of the SCF. Then, Playfair was hired and was in way over his head. He was supposed to be the player-friendly coach but he lost control of the roster and they under performed until the core was traded away.

The current Flames are 1 season removed from "hard-ass" Hartley who got them to round 2 of the playoffs when they were supposed to be a bottom-5 team. They chose the player friendly coach and he has lost control of the roster.

What really gets me as a season ticket holder is that they are uninspired. I have no interest in attending games until the players show interest in winning. It's hard to spend hard earned dollars on supporting uninsipired players.

The Playfair situation was somewhat different in that he wasn't a new face like Gulutzan as he was the former assistant head coach and Darryl's right hand man on the bench. We will never know how good of a coach he could have been as Iginla and some of the other veteran players undermined him and simply didn't buy into him. I think there's better character and leadership in this Flame's team's dressing room and it's simply a young team struggling to adjust to a system that may or may not be a fit for the talent.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by nik-

And Monahan was the obvious pick. And seeing he almost lost us the pick over nothing, it's pretty good that Feaster is gone.

A lot of revisionist history around here lately. Byron can skate through walls and shoots 200mph, Hartley is what this team needs because he didn't actually have 75% of his seasons be terrible, Feaster was the GM we should have kept.

What next?

This team needs more Paul Byron.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by puckedoff

'Tis better to have loved and lost....

then be abducted by aliens and probed ruthlessly for a span of 24 hours?

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

This team needs more Paul Byron.

This team needs more Matthew Tkachuk.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

The person to blame for all this is really Brian Burke, who fired the GM who built a winning team with a veteran, cup winning coach. He got us JG, Mony, Brodie, etc....

Brian Burke is the problem. He's stuck in an old school way of doing things, it seems. And its not working.

Lol. There were no winning seasons under Feaster, and we had one fluke winning season under Hartley. Year 3 of a burn it down rebuild folks.

That run 2 years ago truly was the worse thing to happen to this team. Fan expectations are completely ####ed and cost us a top 5 pick.

[bigpete]

I can completely agree with most of the comments here. I've been a die hard fan for the past 20 plus years and I'm in my mid 30's and I can't ever remembering being this disinterested. In past years I hardly ever missed a game and tried to pvr games when I wasnt home. Starting last year and especially this year I hardly have been watching hockey at all.

There are a lot of reasons including poor play, the boring defensive NHL style nowadays, being busy with a young family, etc. but I think for me it had a lot to do with being excited and invested in the Blue Jays so much more over the past two years. When the Jays were in the playoff race in September and October, hockey was the last thing on my mind, when in the past I used to start getting excited about Flames training camp in early September.

I'm sure when the Flames start winning I will get more into hockey. But until that happens...meh I've got better things to do.

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

That run 2 years ago truly was the worse thing to happen to this team. Fan expectations are completely ####ed and cost us a top 5 pick.

If that "truly was the worse thing to happen" to the Flames, then I don't understand why I even watch? For me it was the most exciting Flames season I have ever witnessed as a Flames fan. Being down 4-0 on the road in Ottawa half way through the third period and forcing a shoot out! Are you kidding me? For a franchise that has done absolutely nothing since 1989 outside of the Cinderella run of 2004, a season in which they are in every game until the final buzzer was a huge breath of fresh air. Defeating their most hated rival on home ice in the first round was icing on the cake (coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the first). If we can't enjoy a season like that, then there is no point in even being a fan in my opinion.