Columbus Blue Jackets: How We Became CBJ Fans
As you can probably tell, the Columbus Blue Jackets are a big part of our lives. And they’re likely a big part of yours as well.
That’s why we decided to ask our contributors and experts why and how they became Columbus Blue Jackets fans. We’ve all come from different places and had different experiences, and we thought it was best to share those with you.
How did you become a CBJ fan? You should let us know in the comments below or on social media!
Preston Byers
PB: Out of the five of us, I’m actually the only Columbus native. I was born and raised in Columbus and I hadn’t been away until this past August when I moved to Youngstown for school.
Despite living 15 minutes away from Nationwide Arena for basically my entire life, I’ve never been to a Blue Jackets game (that I can remember) and I didn’t even watch hockey consistently until earlier this year. My family just didn’t care about hockey. It’s pretty much football and some basketball in my house.
This job is actually what got me into hockey. I applied to be a writer for FanSided’s Cleveland Indians site (not a huge baseball fan, to be honest), and they recommended that I help out as a co-expert for Union and Blue instead. I accepted and I started watching pretty much every game (because how was I supposed to write about the team if I didn’t know anything about them). It was a lot more fun than I remembered.
I think what made it better was being around people that loved hockey (like Lansing) and interacting with a large and passionate fanbase like the Fifth Line.
It’s been a blast since joining U&B in late February and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the Blue Jackets and our site.
William Espy
WE: I never really watched hockey growing up. In California, it had never been a commonly brought-up sport, so I never even really knew about it until about 7th grade. I actually found it through the video games, don’t remember exactly which year it was and just started playing. I picked the Columbus Blue Jackets because I grew up as a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals and Reds because of my Dad’s loyalty to those teams, and it just stuck. I never expected the game to essentially take over a portion of my life, but it’s easily one of the best decisions I ever made.
Lansing Murphy
LM: I always loved the cold. I grew up in the cold. I skied, I ice fished, I snowshoed, I skated on ponds with friends. But hockey is an expensive sport so I never played organized hockey. I didn’t watch the NHL growing up and only really followed a local college hockey team.
I came to Columbus for school and fell in love with the city. I loved the Buckeyes and loved how the city was all in for Ohio State Athletics. I missed the cold though. Columbus has a warm winter from what I was used to so I looked to find some manufactured cold.
I was a college hockey guy so I went to as many games as possible my freshman year at the Schott. The hockey Bucks weren’t great but it reignited my hockey spark. I wanted more. I needed more. So I went to my first CBJ game buying $15 student rush tickets. That was all I needed.
Nationwide Arena is an incredible venue and the speed of the NHL blew me away. I loved everything about it. I was lucky enough to go to a Pittsburgh game with three friends, all from Ohio. They hated Pittsburgh and that made the game I attended fantastic. The raw passion, emotion, speed and skill all mixed together to create an addiction that still afflicts me to this day.
Go Jackets.
Michael Mallory
MM: I’ve become a fan of the Jackets because I had a family member growing up that had season tickets. As a birthday gift every year I was able to pick a game of the schedule and go. So I would go every year, and this grew my love of the team and the game. Then as I got older and independent, my friends and I would go.
Aaron Winland
AW: Growing up in rural southeastern Ohio, there wasn’t much around in the way of hockey. Wheeling, West Virginia has an ECHL team, but I can only remember making the long trip when my old Cub Scout troop all drove up together. I didn’t understand what was going on and no one really explained the game to me. I actually remember being a little bored!
Fortunately, My Blue Jacket fandom got kick started thanks to my friend Torey. He convinced me to go to the final 2014-2015 home game against Buffalo. From the moment the game started, I was hooked. The sounds. The lights. The speed. Everything was different from what I had remembered about Wheeling.
Torey and I bought a ten-game package that summer for the 2015-2016 season. My wife was supposed to split five games with another one of our mutual friends, but after she attended her first game, the team’s first home win against the Coyotes, she was as hooked as I was.
My wife and I purchased tickets for additional games throughout the season, but decided we still hadn’t had enough when the season ended.
We heard the Lake Erie Monsters were in the Calder Cup playoffs through a ticket offer from the Jackets. Cleveland was only an hour and fifteen minute drive from our house, so we decided to drive up for a few more games.
When it was all said and done, we went to all but two of the Monsters home playoff games and also attended game two of the Calder Cup Final in Hershey, PA.
This makes our third year being Blue Jackets season ticket holders, even after adding a member to our family. We hope she will be as big a CBJ fan as the two of us!
Tony Mazziotti
TM: I actually didn’t even like hockey until I was about 16 years old. Baseball and football were the two sports I watched as a child.
Growing up in Northwest Ohio, I had one local hockey option, and it wasn’t the Blue Jackets. Their games are almost always blacked out in NW Ohio. My high school, Sylvania Northview, is known for being good at hockey, which is where it all started for me. I started going to hockey games and playing the EA Sports NHL games. Of course, once I realized that Columbus had an NHL team, that’s who I played with in the video games.
I grew up loving everything to do with Ohio State, so it was an easy choice for me to pick the Columbus team. My high school’s hockey team was even able to play at Nationwide Arena in 2012, where they won the state championship.
I traveled down to Columbus to watch the state finals that year and I fell in love with Nationwide Arena and the surrounding area. When I arrived at Ohio State for college in the fall of 2013, I was finally able to watch the Jackets on television and I became hooked.
I found myself watching the Blue Jackets as much as I could. There was actually one night in particular, I forget which game though to be honest, I realize I was addicted and would be a fan for life.
I also played intramural ice hockey at OSU, which was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done. This contributed to my liking of the sport and the Blue Jackets.
The CBJ made the playoffs during my first year in Columbus, they hosted the All-Star game my second year and had their best year in franchise history in my fourth year.
Becoming a Blue Jackets fan was easy. Hockey is so exciting and I love that Columbus has an NHL team. No matter where I go in life, I will go there as a Blue Jackets fan, as a member of the Fifth Line.