On Wed. Nov 18th the Rough Riders were defeated by the Indiana Ice 2-3. On Friday. Nov 20th the team fell to the Sioux City Musketeers 1-3. Their play was nothing less than horrible.
The team's home record is now 4-5. Not bad, but not great either. I can't imagine that losing at home is going to bring in very large crowds (besides the recession, which already has enough weight on the league) and the owners have to be biting their nails right about now.
I'm not really sure what to say about the team other than they need to step up. Cedar Rapids has been a powerhouse in the East Division for years. Inconsistency is not something that the die hard fans are used to, and they never will be. Wins=$, $=team staying in Cedar Rapids, and the survival of the Rough Riders keeps all hockey in Cedar Rapids alive.
I'm not saying that this one season will mean the team makes it or falls apart. I just know that it's hard to create (and keep) a fanbase when the team is not fulfilling expectations. Hopefully they can pull their game together and start wracking up the Ws.
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The fans in CR are very soft to say the least; many of the same people who claim their team is soft should look at themselves in the mirror. Yes, the team is struggling and maybe not playing up to par - but holy cow, does that mean the fan base needs to disappear so quickly. Look at other teams that are in worse position than CR and the fans are stilling turning out and supporting their team. I realize there is a certain "standard" that exists in CR and fans have come to expect their team to be in the top of the standings and winning games; however, sometimes teams may have an off game, off season, etc. that should be no excuse for true fans to abandon their team - very sad and disappointing to say the least. CR has a young team and maybe in hindsight more veterans could have provided a better balance and leadership - who knows. The talent is there but sometimes that isn't always enough but CR needs to get behind their team and cheer them on!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment! I believe what you have said holds true about a majority of Cedar Rapids fans. There is a solid group of season ticket holders that have been at the Stable season after season, through thick and thin, but for the most part fans come and go rather quickly. I would estimate that a majority of fans are casual...a few games a year. The ones they go to, they want wins. I think our team this year does have talent, but with 1 million dollars thrown into the rink and a ten year contract, attendance of 1800 and below each game has to leave the owners shaking a little bit. The numbers will increase at some point, but people are going to start coming out A.) If the team has a winning record, B.) If there's fights, and C.) If the organization can figure out how to make things FUN again (think 2001-2002, or even earlier with the Hickey years!)
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