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

[Wastedyouth]

I pretty much have stopped watching. And I used to watch every game, no matter what for the last 10 years.

Too much "meh"

[CaptainYooh]

Flames fan forever, good times or bad times, doesn't matter. Never cheered for another NHL team. I noticed that those who are the loudest cheerleaders and the most intolerant to criticism of the players in good times are the ones that lose interest first in bad times.

As much as it hurts me watching my team that has advanced to the 2nd round of playoffs one season, then got seriously improved with a top young defenceman and a healthy Giordano, but did not make playoffs the next season, then got even more improved by a pair of good goaltenders and yet keeps losing miserably ... I know, this is a cyclical business. Things will change eventually.

[CliffFletcher]

Been a fan since I was 14 years old in '84. Had seasons where I watched every regular season available on satellite, hopping from bar to bar. When I backpacked through Europe I spent a significant amount of my daily spending money on USA Today so I could keep up with the Flames. When I lived in the NWT in the 90s I had a friend mail me newspaper clippings so I knew what was going on with the team.

I cancelled cable last year. Today I'm cancelling GameCentre. Regular season hockey simply isn't entertaining anymore, and the Flames are a franchise mired in chronic mediocrity.

It used to be that even when the teams weren't playing a classic game, there was a good chance you'd see some emotion and passion in the game. No longer. The players have never been fitter or more skilled, but the emotion has been drained out of NHL hockey.

I knew this would be a long rebuild, but the lack of intensity combined with the inability of the Flames to find an effective coach makes it impossible for me to muster much enthusiasm for the team on the ice. I'll tune back in for the playoffs - whether the Flames make it or not - but aside from going to Battle of Alberta matchups at the bar, I'm checking out for the regular season.

So yeah, I guess I'm now a fairweather fan.

[Serapth]

I am an eastern time zone fan, and that's a good way to measure my interest in this team. As of late, its just not worth staying up until 1am to watch the best players on this team play the worst.


I think in some ways though I'm becoming less and less of an NHL fan. Too many horrifically officiated games. Too much saturation of talent. I don't know how to say it exactly other than hockey just isn't the draw it used to be.


This years Flames however are a disheartening bunch. Backlund, Frolik, Tkaczuk and when he's not being an idiot, Bennet, are about the only players actually playing most nights. It's hard to watch. I would have never imagined the players most frustrating me this year would be Gio, Monahan, Johnny and amazingly enough Brodie. Plus we play a system or brand of hockey that is just... not fun.

[Tyler]

There's just something inherently unlikeable about this team this year. It's not that any of the players are jerks or bad people, it's just chronic underachievement coupled with expensive contracts and the same old tired excuses.

Additionally, whatever 'coaching system' Glen Gulutzan has employed, isn't entertaining and is really becoming an unwatchable dumpster fire.

[FlamesAddiction]

I am definitely more causal than I used to be, but it has more to do with life stuff than the team.

[flames_fan_down_under]

Ya I definitely have lost interest in the Flames over the years.

This team I am watching has no identity. There is no passion or intensity to their game.

I also just don't care about hockey as much anymore. The Canadian market is over saturated with hockey coverage, it has gotten to become too much. Last night sportsnet was showing the junior players vs. Russia, then there's pointless Spengler cup coverage, the World Juniors, the IIHF World Hockey Championship, the World Cup of Hockey, the Memorial Cup, then nationally televised pre-season hockey games, to finally the NHL regular season and the marathon that is the NHL playoffs. It's too much. I cannot sustain a heightened interest in hockey if it's all I see or hear about. I like that in baseball and football there are long off seasons, this helps maintain my interest! I never miss hockey because it's always there.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Off topic, but I have to vehemently disagree with that. List of players who could get a decent or good return in a trade:

1. Johnny
2. Mony
3. Bennett
4. Backlund
5. Tkachuk
6. Gio
7. Brodie
8. Hamilton
9. Elliot if he signs.
10. You might throw in Jokipakka too.

Yeah, but my point is numbers 1,2,3,4,5,7 on that list are not guys this team is likely to trade at this point.

Gio as a trade chip is interesting I will give you that.

Would they entertain trading Hamilton? Maybe but his value is now less than his original acquisition cost.

Elliott is more likely to be traded if hes doesn't sign.

We have seen Jokipakka's trade value already. Its very little.

So my point is there is no next to no chance of a significant trade helping this team right now. Which makes it much less interesting to discuss.

[Psytic]

The more Treliving puts his stamp on the team the worse they get. They are boring to watch and I had actually hoped they would become like a mini Chicago which is always fun to watch. They have totally gone the other way. I think they should of let Hartley have another season with good goaltending. Maybe even traded one of our offensive D for a stud defensive dman. This team is really missing someone like a prime Sarich or Regher.

[Wood]

I'll keep torturing myself watching each game, ill always be a huge fan. Right now it's tough since I fully expect this to be a playoff team, but they haven't looked like it outside of a couple games

I do understand the fairweather fan feeling, I feel the same way towards the NFL. I've been a die hard Broncos fan since i was 7 in 1999 and they were the easy choice for favorite team. I watched every game since then and suffered through some terrible teams with no playoffs, but loved so many players through the years. Now the NFL is getting tough for me to watch. So many commercials, inconsistent reffing and not many likeable guys in the league IMO. Even after last years superbowl I'm getting less interested in the league every week. Still watch every game, but if the Broncos start feilding a bad, underperforming team I can't say I'd keep watching

[Fire in the disco]

Feeling pretty apathetic as well, not fairweather, because I love and support the team. I'm in my 30's so that might be part of it, but I am finding myself the least interested in the team that I've ever been. The games aren't the biggest priority of my week anymore, and im expecting mediocre play and results when I do tune in

[Hemi-Cuda]

Stopped watching almost entirely. The team has given me nothing to get excited about other than '04 and '15, and are now back to being an incompetent organization from the players up to management. I have far better things to do with my time than get angry watching a terribly managed franchise fumble it's way through another season

[Dogbert]

Haven't really watched a game yet this season. I'm up before sunrise for work, and between that and the gym, I'm usually in bed by the time the games start.

Not sure I would be rushing to catch them anyway, frankly - and that's more of a league-wide problem than a Flames issue. People have said there's no jam or creativity in the Flames' play anymore, but you could more or less apply that to any game these days, since it's been suffocated by refereeing and coaching.

[EldrickOnIce]

Can't stand under achievers.
That's what this team is.
Maybe the coach sucks, but without doubt most of the players do this year.
In Eastern time zone. I always start watching. I almost always fall asleep before the second period, then wake up to check how bad they lost.
I've enjoyed 1 or 2 games this year.

[MarkGio]

Originally Posted by genetic_phreek

Still love em. Try not to ever miss a game. In fact I see too much fairweather fans with their Canucks in Vancouver that it makes me ill.

I just can't understand this loyalty, nostalgia and lack of critical thought. Would you go and pay for a movie a 2nd time if it was god awful the first time? If you bought some molding food from a restaurant, would you pay for another order with hopes of it improving?

Only in sports and politics is it acceptable to be given a poor product, a poor service that hasn't earned your support, and/or be given an organization that insults it's customers, and not only get away with it by staying afloat, but also remain profitable or grow because the people continually and without care reward these lousy organizations with undying support!

To me that must be the definition of utter stupidity. If you're not going to earn my business, like any other business, I'll take it elsewhere. I feel the same way about my vote, the company I work for, and every other aspect of my life except my wife and children

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by MarkGio

I just can't understand this loyalty, nostalgia and lack of critical thought. Would you go and pay for a movie a 2nd time if it was god awful the first time? If you bought some molding food from a restaurant, would you pay for another order with hopes of it improving?

Only in sports and politics is it acceptable to be given a poor product, a poor service that hasn't earned your support, and/or be given an organization that insults it's customers, and not only get away with it by staying afloat, but also remain profitable or grow because the people continually and without care reward these lousy organizations with undying support!

To me that must be the definition of utter stupidity. If you're not going to earn my business, like any other business, I'll take it elsewhere. I feel the same way about my vote, the company I work for, and every other aspect of my life except my wife and children

So you just auto-cheer for the Presidents trophy/ Stanley Cup winner every year? Why settle for anything but the best, right?

Sports is not logical. All your arguments are logical. We cheer for a bunch of millionaire men playing a game that we like to play. The idea of sport is silly altogether, so applying real world logic to it doesn't make sense.

I hitched my wagon to the hockey club called Calgary Flames. I'm not going to "take my business elsewhere" just because they suck.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out while you turn in your Flames fan card.

[Thunderball]

I'm not the kind to take my business elsewhere, but I've found my support waning, particularly this season.

This is a cap team that looks listless, and a team that fired a Jack Adams winning coach. Rather than replacing him with a top notch experienced coach with a winning NHL record, they go to the scrap bin and picked a nobody with a mediocre to poor staff that look completely incapable of coaching an NHL team. Feels like a Feaster/Weisbrod move, rather than one from a so-called great GM.

Couple that with the Gaudreau holdout and flat start, and Monahan looking like a fourth liner, and its getting tough to care and substantiate the cash for season tickets.

Its not even that they are losing. Its that they look so hopeless and emotionless in doing so.

[shermanator]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

I agree. Greed will be their downfall. They ignored the regular fans, completely ignored millennials and annoyed the general public by increasing their cable bills and constantly begging for new stadiums. They can't just exist on corporate support.

How do you short sports? I think there's some money to be made there

This has become my view as well.

Professional sports is rapidly become a game where well off people watch millionaires playing a game for billionaires. As a result, the passion has really been sucked out of the game in all aspects, particularly the in-game atmosphere at the Saddledome. To be fair I've never been impressed by the atmosphere, but it seems so much worse than it used to be. I've also never seen a playoff game live.

As a result, my loyalties have completely shifted to another sport that is essentially the polar opposite of hockey. Do I pay $15 for a ticket and $5 for a beer to stand, sing, chant, yell, drum and watch university level players bust their ass? Or $62 and $9.50 a beer to watch a bunch of millionaires half-ass it through a game while everyone in the crowd talks business or plays on their smartphone?

[MarkGio]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

So you just auto-cheer for the Presidents trophy/ Stanley Cup winner every year? Why settle for anything but the best, right?

Sports is not logical. All your arguments are logical. We cheer for a bunch of millionaire men playing a game that we like to play. The idea of sport is silly altogether, so applying real world logic to it doesn't make sense.

I hitched my wagon to the hockey club called Calgary Flames. I'm not going to "take my business elsewhere" just because they suck.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out while you turn in your Flames fan card.

No, I don't cheer for the Pres trophy or Stanley Cup winner every year, but I will stop watching the Flames and focus more on Stockton or watch some Raptors, or even something else altogether like catch up on some shows. The reason being, I havent really tried watching a Pres winner all season to see if it works and they'd be my new team, but maybe I might one day? Have you ever tried listening to Shubert? Maybe he's your next favorite composer? You never know.

Sports is plenty logical. You watch something that entertains you. It's no different than watching a movie where million dollar actors are playing pretend to make millions for a billion dollar production company. Maybe to you sports makes no logical sense, but not all of us are short a few neurons if you know what I mean

[Weitz]

It's really simple. Hockey is entertainment. If you are not entertained you won't watch. This probably the first year in 5 I have watched every Oilers game because I feel excited. Usually I'm not so I don't make time to watch.