Follow up...

Lots of good banter going on... Needless to say I don't agree with some or most of the things being said but I don't have a problem with people disagreeing with me. I do get irritated with people who think opinion is fact and don't support their opinion with facts or at least attempt to submit evidence.... but I'm not banning anyone... I just don't understand why there is this small group of fans who think it's "cool" to be negative about everything. If it is so bad... why are you a fan? This darn broccoli just continues to taste like crap... but darn it... I guess I'll just keep eating it and just complain about it.

So let's just take these in order.

"Nielson is garbage. Shappert got destroyed on a hit he was trying to make. We have the worst examples of leaders on this team i have seen in a long time. When you have two d men playing center and wing for your team it speaks volumes of where your team is heading. We have no on ice leadership and no identity. Until we resolve these issues we could score 10 goals and manage a way to lose."

- Nielsen is spelled with an "e" first of all, and second Schappert is spelled like this. Third... If you told me that Nielsen wasn't "producing points" sure I'll go along with that. If you want to say he is playing poorly... I'll agree to disagree but he certainly isn't "garbage". Players don't go from being solid to garbage over the summer so I disagree on that one. Schappert didn't get "destroyed"... guys give hits and take hits all the time... he stood a guy up at the blue line and probably got the worst of the hit. How would that determine the value or worth of a player? Is a player only good if he's never been on the losing side of a hit? Fact of the matter is... neither one of us are in the locker room so to speak on "leadership" is probably a silly point. D men playing wing really just means we have too many defensemen on the roster and not enough wings. People... including you... love to say things like "speaks volumes of where your team is heading" but you intentionally leave out a definition. I take risks and make predictions... put your money where your mouth is and define what you mean rather than intentionally being vague.

"With that said, I think after watching last night's game, there are some things to be adressed on the team, young or not.

I am also tired of the "fire the coach" thing. the display of some fans behind the bench (where they screamed after sumner) was shamefull.

to see haber and Flemming up front is kind of telling of the state of the team right now.

We need a big natural center on this team. A guy that knows how to consistently win face -offs. Lisday Nielson is a fine center on the second line, but we now are sorrely missing O'brien and even Boyer.

on the plus side, i think that Alos,Muth, Sena, Jacobs and Schapp are playing really good in this situation-Also on the plus side, Ramsay seems to be a great addition so far. Not super fast, but it seems like the younger kids are more confident with him in the line up."

- I'm not sure what the big deal is seeing Haber and Fleming up front. They obviously don't think Tutt and Doty are ready for a ton of ice time and they want to get these guys on the ice. With the addition of Ramsay... you have more depth on the back end. We do need a big center... I totally agree... but not this season. I don't think we should sacrifice any assets this season or for the future for this season.

"End of the day this coach needs to go."

- I really... really wish we could get more intelligent comments. I've said before and I'll say it again. If you're going to tell me that Sumner should go or Farwell should go... thats fine with me, you are entitled to your opinion... but at least back it up with something. If you're going to believe in something you might as well find an intelligent reason to do so.

"no because it true and you just can't come to grips with it. Write all you want to try to justify keeping him but he still needs to go."

- This is basically an extension of the last post.... and another point here. Why are you grinding the axe with me? I have no control or influence on front office. If you want to complain, you you just do it to someone who might care.

"I'm not going to comment on anything here except you said Neilson wins faceoffs..... He has not done that well at all this year. Other than that rant on."

- Again Nielsen is spelled with an "e"... I don't have faceoff numbers, so I'm willing to concede that you might possibly be right but that doesn't change the fact that he IS a good faceoff kid... so even if the stats were true for what you are saying... my response would be that I would expect that to change.

"I'm not in the fire Sumner camp, I like him but his results aren't beyond question. My problem is with the man at the top, Farwell. Not because he is awful, but because he is the epitome of mediocrity. For me, Mediocrity is OK for awhile, but I'm not OK with it indefinitely and Farwell's been at the helm for a looooong time. Way too long for my preference. My patience meter is pegged out. If Farwell's Birds were a motorcycle gang their slogan would be FMMF forever mediocrity mediocrity forever. On the players, not long ago your prediction for Rai was "you can safely pencil him in for 40 assists and 20 goals as the absolute basement for his production" My response was he needs to be playing with folks that can put the puck in the net to get that many assists. Right now he's on pace for 18 goals and 9 assists for the season. Its early but I'll go on record right now, no way he gets 40 assists this year unless he is traded to another team. Nielsen isn't a 100 point player and I never dreamed he ever would be, not that he isn't of value to the team but right now it would be nice to get more scoring out of him, he's on pace for 0 goals and 27 assists for the year. Schappert is a -7, on pace for -56. No these 20 year olds aren't going to tear up the league. Thing is without them we'd really be in trouble. On the bright side wow on Jacobs and Pickard!"

- Results aren't beyond question... I'll agree with that. I don't mean to imply that his record is perfect and without question. I'm just saying is isn't the record of a coach you fire. As a longtime Tbirds fan... I can't really argue with you on the mediocrity thing. I will say this though... do you really think Farwell is sitting in his office thinking to himself "gee... how can we just be decent and nothing better." Doubtful. So I agree with your point to an extent. On predictions... Come on man... gotta give me a break here. The team has only played 8 games, that is just a hair over 10% of the season. Do you also think that Jason Bast is going to score 85 goals and 124 points? Give me a little bit of time before you start bashing predictions. 40 assists might be high... probably what I should have said was that 60 points was the basement. I'm still pretty comfortable with that prediction... maybe closer to 30-30. He will still get a ton of ice time on the PP and he'll play with Parker some and Jacobs some. I'm pretty comfortable with that. Plus/Minus is also something you need to give some time. Last year Warg and Sena were on the same pace and ended the season not even close to the pace so... give it some time. Might not get a LOT better... but I don't expect Schappert to be -56. If he is... you can tell me I was wrong.

"I was at the game sat, it was brutal to watch Jacobs is a one man band out there Rai was disgracful no heart at all. Acolatse feed Beach 4 lefts that was worth the price of admision."

- Not much to respond to here... I agree with this.

"Good blog Tyler. And many good points. If I could ask Farwell anything it would be, why are we carrying 3 goalies? My other question would be, is HE happy with our older players and going to stand pat, or does he see the same weaknesses that we do and will try and address them at the deadline? I'm totally happy with our younger core of players. From 18 down IMO we look pretty darn good. And my BIG question, what the heck are we going to do if the flood hits during a game? Do they have a plan in place that maybe they could make us fans aware of? Thanks again for all the work you do on this blog. Always good info!"

- Russ and the other WHL GM's are in Kelowna right now for two days of meetings. My guess is that he hasn't received an offer he likes yet to unload DeSerres. Would you rather he wait for the best deal possible or just trade him right away for like a 6th round bantam pick? You can always trade a guy for less than full value right away if you want to get rid of him badly enough.... but why do that when you can give Jake playing time, which benefits your team, and get maximum value. Having said that... maybe at these meetings he finds a partner to dance with. As for the flooding... I have absolutely no idea. I'm trying not to think about it. Back to Key Arena? Everett home games? No idea...

"So it sounds like we are back where we start before the long winded writing and an irrartional attempt to keep the coach & GM. Just because then are nice to you and provide information does not entitile them to keep there jobs. Look at he attendence numbers this year new building and still no fans. That equalls a problem why are there no fans coming to the games it never used to be this way before the current coach. It's getting harder and harder to renew the ticket every year when the don't seems to care about winning."

- This is another pathetic argument. Actually it is a couple of really poor arguments. I don't think I ever said that because Russ and Rob have been very cooperative with me that it meant they should keep their jobs. If I implied that... it certainly isn't what I meant. Second... look around the entire league before you bash "attendance". The numbers all around the league are down. Everett drew only 4200 on Sunday... Portland is good this season and drew 2600 on Saturday. This isn't just a Seattle issue. If everyone in the league was enjoying better than normal numbers and the Tbirds were one of the few teams that were down you might have an argument but my guess is that you didn't even bother to look up this "fact". Why are you bothering to threaten your tickets to me? Why in the world would I care whether you renew your tickets? I hear this argument all the time and it's just silly. "I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll cancel my season tickets...." Haha... go ahead... cancel... you aren't going to get an objection from this fan.