The Avs Hockey Podcast

Two Fan's Perspectives on Colorado Avalanche Hockey...and jerseys too.

My Newest Follower on Twitter

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It wasn’t my goal at all, but I’ll definitely take it.

It’s hopefully the start of something nice for Avs fans following the organization on social media.

A special thank you to Stephen DeGraff, one of my followers on Twitter.  He forwarded the link to my original post to his Avalanche season ticket representative.  That rep got back to him and told him that the right people with the Avs would see the post.  I then gained a new follower on Twitter.  Thanks again Stephen.  That was very cool of you.

Thanks, as well, to all of you for the retweets, reposts, comments, reads, shares, and everything else having to do with my last post.  Together we can definitely make a difference.  Let’s Go Avs!

Take care and talk to you again soon, Jay

Dear Avs, It’s Time…

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Dear Colorado Avalanche Organization (especially whatever group within the organization’s job it is to actually connect with the fans),

We, the fans, want more.  At the same time, we want less.  Let me explain.

You currently, as of May 31, 2011, have 20,584 fans following your feed on Twitter.  Out of ALL those people that follow you, you in-turn follow 22 people.  You’re not even following players from your own team that now have Twitter accounts.  I’m not asking you to follow every Avalanche fan that mentions the Avalanche in a tweet.  I am asking you though to connect to your fans.  Let us know you’re there.  Let us know you’re listening.  More on this as a whole here in a second.

You also currently, as of May 31, 2011, have 253,802 following your official Facebook Fan Page.  That’s an amazing number, but what do Avalanche fans get there?  We are blanketed with links to stories on your website.  I can guarantee that pretty much every single one of those fans on Facebook knows where to find your website, so, with all due respect, what’s the point?

Let’s talk big picture here.  If I “unfollowed” your feed on Twitter and “un-liked” your Facebook Fan Page, what would I miss?  Nothing at all.

I follow, visit, and see retweets from other Twitter accounts for many other professional sports teams.  I routinely see retweets of fan tweets along with replies to fans from representatives in the team’s PR department whose job it is to connect with the fans.

For example:  Here’s a screen shot the the Chicago Blackhawks official Twitter feed.  Notice they are interacting with their fans with replies every once in a while.

Here’s a screen shot from the Edmonton Oilers’ Twitter feed.  Notice the retweets from the players on the team that have Twitter accounts.

The Vancouver Canucks and the San Jose Sharks both have separate live in-game official Twitter accounts so people can follow the game if they’re not able to watch it on television or listen to it on the radio or stream the game online.  I don’t follow other NHL teams, but I imagine that many of them have the same type features within their team’s Twitter account.  I like that.

I see, every once in a while, from other team’s official Twitter feeds, who is starting in net for that night’s game fairly early in the afternoon.  The only “official” Avalanche news that most fans get is from The Denver Post’s Adrian Dater.  Avalanche radio play-by-play man Marc Moser does what he can, but during the games it’s tough for him to stay that active because he’s doing his job live.  Moser does his best to connect with fans, he’s a total class guy, but there’s only so much he can do.  Mike Haynes also does his best to connect with fans via Twitter, but again, it’s difficult with the job he has.  I give them both all the credit in the world for the effort though.  That means a lot to fans.  The many fans that have received replies and mentions from either or both of them know exactly what I’m talking about.  It’s a good feeling.

And overall, the teams, for the most part are following their fans.  There are a few exceptions that you’ll see here, but I’ll let the fans of those teams speak up when it’s their time.  Here’s a breakdown of your Western Conference competition when it comes to Twitter.

Let’s begin with the most and work our way down.  These numbers are current as of June 1, 2011.  Check out the second column above “Following.”

And some other local teams…

The Broncos are an exception on the point that I’m making here.  They don’t follow many people, but they connect with the fans in other ways.  More details below.

And then there’s the Avalanche.  Following a whole 22 of their fans directly on Twitter.

Again, I’m not asking you to follow absolutely everyone that mentions you Twitter, but it does make me wonder how St. Louis Blues fans feel when they get that email notifying them that their favorite NHL team now follows them on Twitter.  I imagine that’s somewhat exciting, but that’s just me.

And the hometown Denver Broncos may just be your best example to follow when it comes to Twitter.  They are approaching their fans in a whole new way after a long stretch of mediocre football.  Jim Saccomano, Vice President of Public Relations for the Broncos, has an active Twitter account.  John Elway, Executive Vice President of Football Operations for the Denver Broncos, has a Twitter account and uses it often.  And when former coach Josh McDaniels was relieved of his duties during last season, the announcement wasn’t made during a press conference, or on the Broncos’ website, or on a ticker tape during a newscast;  the announcement was made on Twitter.  There is usually a string of news on Twitter before news like that breaks from many sources close to the team, but the very first mention I saw of the firing was official word from the Denver Broncos Twitter feed.  Since when did details follow on a website when it came to breaking news?  Since Twitter.  That’s rethinking what you’re doing based on what’s available and I like that a lot.  It made me feel like my follow on Twitter was worth while.  I have never felt that way about following the Avalanche’s Twitter feed and that’s too bad.

It obviously would be pretty silly to retool your entire PR department so your lives all revolve around Twitter and Facebook.  That wouldn’t make sense.  You obviously are the experts and have experience that I lack in that side of business.  But I am asking you to let the fans know you’re there and listening every once in a while.  And this isn’t a table with a couple people sitting at it at the top of the main staircase at Pepsi Center.  It’s time to connect with the fans in a virtual sense too.  A retweet or a reply may be all one fan needs in order to get them that much more excited about the team as a whole.  It’s VERY simple and it only takes, literally, a few seconds.  Do that a couple times a day and who knows what will happen.  Thank the fans that follow you religiously and see what happens.  If not now, when?  And if no, why not?  You have NOTHING to lose.  The tools are available and they’re free.

Please take some notes from a few of your Western Conference opponents as well as the hometown football team.  Help relevant Avalanche news and notes find the fans.  We’re already waiting for it.  You don’t even need to ask.  With web and mobile tools people are connected all of the time.  News these days finds people.  People don’t need to look for news any longer.  You just have to feed in what the fans want and that doesn’t include mainly links to stories on your website.

In reality, attendance and/or fan morale can’t get much worse after the worst season in Avalanche history.  Now is the time to take a chance.  It won’t hurt.  I promise.  And over a quarter of a million people promise too.

Thank you for your consideration and see you at Pepsi Center.  I’ll always be a fan of the Avs, no matter what.  I’m just hoping that you can make the experience of being an Avalanche fan a more pleasurable one for fans like me.

Yours Truly,

Jay Vean, (Host, The Avs Hockey Podcast) on behalf of Colorado Avalanche fans all over the world

 

 

AHP Episode #63, We’re Going to Need Your Help

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Hello again Avalanche fans, James and I need your help.  Based on the performances of our favorite NHL team over the past 20 games it’s very difficult trying to find topics to talk about.  Game recaps and discussion about those games used to take up the majority of our show, but lately there’s simply nothing to talk about.  Game recaps about loss after loss would be pretty much pointless.  This is where you come in.  We need your support in helping us come up with topics to discuss on our upcoming podcast.

So…what would you like us to talk about?  Is there a question or two that you’d like us to answer?  Anything you’re wondering about us that you’d like to know?  Have a question about jerseys?  Let us know!  We can automatically build in shout outs and have some fun interacting with you at the same time.  Please help us bring you almost everything Avalanche by being a part of the next show.

There are several ways to get in touch with us: the big paragraph to the lower right of this post has my email address in it.  You can shoot us something there.  You can reply to this post on the blog of course.  You can also send a message or reply to me on Twitter.  My username is AvsHkyPodcast.  You can leave a post on the AHP’s Facebook wall as well.  We’ll take the best of the best and include them in the show.

Thanks for all of your support and hope to hear from you soon, James and Jay

Some Blueberry Love…

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A great friend of mine, who I grew up with, now lives in Wilmington, North Carolina.  We’ve tried our best to make it a tradition to get together whenever we have the chance.  As part of a new tradition, we made our way to Raleigh, North Carolina a few seasons ago to see this great comeback by our favorite NHL team.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bMeVbCQolE[/youtube]

I can definitely vouch for the fact that The RBC Center is one of the loudest buildings in the NHL, but it can also get pretty quiet when the visiting team comes back from two goals down to steal the game in the third period.  Thanks for the memories Marek Svatos.

When the schedule for the 2010-2011 season came out my attention went immediately to when the Avalanche would be back in Raleigh.  Flight reservations were made and tickets were acquired.  Steps one and two, done.  That was easy.

Step three (and for those of you that know me at all this is a very important step) it was time to decide what jersey to wear.  For most people, that’s a simple task.  Just open the closet door, grab your Avalanche jersey, and head out the door to the game.  For me, it’s obviously not quite that simple.  If I went with a white jersey, I may have blended in with the home town crowd.  I didn’t want that at all.  I brought a jersey for my friend to wear because he has a lot of Martin Brodeur jerseys and no Avs jerseys.  I’m cool with that.  He’s a true hockey fan so I don’t give him too much stuff.  Here’s what he wore to the game:

Since I brought the burgundy jersey for him, I was going to go with one of the two alternate jerseys the Avs have worn through the years.  The burgundy alternate might have been lost in the sea of red and white in Carolina, so I went with my game issued blueberry David Koci jersey.  It was made for him to wear during the 2009-2010 season.

As marked on the collar tag,

…this jersey was a backup (“B.U.”) alternate jersey for the 2009-2010 season as Koci’s jerseys can take a beating (pun very much intended) at times.  Here are a few examples of why a backup jersey is needed.

December 13, 2009.  Fight against Calgary’s Brian McGrattan.  Check out the neck of the jersey at the end of this one.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPrIJ-D55yM[/youtube]

And something similar happens to his jersey during Joe Sakic night on October 1, 2009 during a scrap with San Jose’s Jody Shelley.  And for those of you that are into that type of thing, check out the Meigray tag towards the end of the fight as well.  It’s the white tag with blue stitching that’s sewn into the inside of the back tail of the jersey.  Here’s the Meigray tag on my alternate.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OTDoLTwpl4[/youtube]

As far as the jersey goes, I’ve received more heat concerning it than any other jersey in my collection.   People sometimes don’t think much of David Koci because of his limited role and limited skating ability as well, but, honestly, he’s never really given me any reason to not like him.  I purchased the jersey for two main reasons.  One, I wanted that style represented in my jersey collection.  And two, it fits me just in case I ever decide to wear it to a game.

Fast forward to December 3, 2010 in Raleigh, North Carolina.  My buddy and I were excited about our seats knowing that they were three rows from the ice, but we became even more excited when we saw exactly where they were located.  The RBC Center is one of those buildings where the opposing team has to skate from one of the corners of the rink to their respective bench.  Our seats were exactly four seats away from where the team entered and exited the ice.  We got there plenty early so we could watch pre-game skate as well.  That’s when the magic began.

A couple of the Avalanche equipment managers and trainers noticed my jersey right away.  They called me over and asked me a few questions about it.  They even took a picture of the back of it.  I’m assuming they were going to show it to Koci himself.  It was unexpected and exciting to draw some attention from the people with the team.

Then, after the Avalanche tied the game at one in the third period with a Milan Hejduk goal, my jersey made its network television debut.

For those of you that haven’t met me in person, that was me cheering on my team at the end of that highlight.  For those that had met me in person, the tweets and Facebook posts began to show up.  I caught a little bit of flack from fans complaining that I didn’t stand up though.  First, we were packed in like sardines down there.  I didn’t have the time to squeeze myself out of the seat.  Second, I didn’t want to be “that opposing fan.”  We’ve all been at a game with that fan there, and we all know how difficult that can be.  I did my best to choose the classy and laid back route.

So the jersey in my collection that hasn’t gotten much love from anyone in the past definitely came through for me.  In the end though, it didn’t come through for my team as they lost 2-1 in overtime.  Here are your highlights.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJomOpfkiYw[/youtube]

I’ve begged my buddy to stay in touch with the guy he got the tickets from because seats don’t get much better than that.  I’ll never forget the experience I had that night, and that was actually before I knew I had been on television.

And being as David Koci was a healthy scratch for the game and didn’t even participate in the pre-game skate, the jersey that was made for him to wear last season got more air time than the jersey the team brought with them for Koci to wear that night.  That’s a type of thing that doesn’t happen very often at all.