Humble Lumberjax
While I've been out here in Portland, I've been watching to see how much the area has received the city's NLL team, the LumberJax, and compare that reception to fandom for the Knighthawks in Rochester.
I can definitely say that Portland cares a lot less about its lacrosse team than Rochester does about the K-hawks. The obvious first gauge would be attendance: in 2007 the Knighthawks ranked seventh in the league with an average crowd of 9,995, while the LumberJax were 10th at 7,527. (By comparison, Colorado was first at a whopping 16,789, while San Jose was last at 4,669.)
Another gauge could be activity on various media and fan forums. The LumberJax' main forum currently has maybe a dozen or total posts, with very few comments. The Rochester forum at knighthawks.net is loaded with hundreds of posts and comments.
Another litmus test could be the thoughts of an actual 'Jax fan. And, as luck would have it, I've painstakingly tracked one down and talked to him extensively about the team.
Well, OK, he's my brother. But he's still a LumberJax fan who tries to attend as many games as he can afford. He says the team has a moderate fan base, but they're nowhere close to the popularity of the Trail Blazers, U. of Oregon and Oregon State, even the Timbers, the USL First Division soccer team. And that's not even counting the Seahawks up in Seattle, who are hugely popular in Oregon for obvious geographic reasons.
However, it's not like the 'Jax aren't trying. I've seen several billboards and a clever TV commercial featuring goalie Dallas Eliuk swatting away newspapers in his bath robe. (It's actually a much better and more professionally produced commercial than I've ever seen for the K-hawks.)
The LumberJax are entering their third season of play, so I suppose they're doing OK given their age as a franchise. It probably didn't help that they were a disappointing 4-12 last year after making the playoffs in their first season.
But fans here, such as they are, are pretty jacked up -- no pun intended -- about the team this year, largely because of the arrival of high-powered scorer Dan Dawson, who should provide the 'Jax with some badly needed offense and whom one local blogger called "the future of the NLL."
In addition to enhancing the team's offensive potential, Dawson should also help boost attendance in 2008. But we'll see. For now, the LumberJax won't rival the Knighthawks in terms of success on the field and in the stands.
We won't talk about how they compare in terms of managerial ineptitude.
I can definitely say that Portland cares a lot less about its lacrosse team than Rochester does about the K-hawks. The obvious first gauge would be attendance: in 2007 the Knighthawks ranked seventh in the league with an average crowd of 9,995, while the LumberJax were 10th at 7,527. (By comparison, Colorado was first at a whopping 16,789, while San Jose was last at 4,669.)
Another gauge could be activity on various media and fan forums. The LumberJax' main forum currently has maybe a dozen or total posts, with very few comments. The Rochester forum at knighthawks.net is loaded with hundreds of posts and comments.
Another litmus test could be the thoughts of an actual 'Jax fan. And, as luck would have it, I've painstakingly tracked one down and talked to him extensively about the team.
Well, OK, he's my brother. But he's still a LumberJax fan who tries to attend as many games as he can afford. He says the team has a moderate fan base, but they're nowhere close to the popularity of the Trail Blazers, U. of Oregon and Oregon State, even the Timbers, the USL First Division soccer team. And that's not even counting the Seahawks up in Seattle, who are hugely popular in Oregon for obvious geographic reasons.
However, it's not like the 'Jax aren't trying. I've seen several billboards and a clever TV commercial featuring goalie Dallas Eliuk swatting away newspapers in his bath robe. (It's actually a much better and more professionally produced commercial than I've ever seen for the K-hawks.)
The LumberJax are entering their third season of play, so I suppose they're doing OK given their age as a franchise. It probably didn't help that they were a disappointing 4-12 last year after making the playoffs in their first season.
But fans here, such as they are, are pretty jacked up -- no pun intended -- about the team this year, largely because of the arrival of high-powered scorer Dan Dawson, who should provide the 'Jax with some badly needed offense and whom one local blogger called "the future of the NLL."
In addition to enhancing the team's offensive potential, Dawson should also help boost attendance in 2008. But we'll see. For now, the LumberJax won't rival the Knighthawks in terms of success on the field and in the stands.
We won't talk about how they compare in terms of managerial ineptitude.
posted by Ryan Whirty at
6:33 PM
1 Comments:
One would think the the Knighthawks would of set up a booth at the local malls to have a player or two make an appearance over the holiday season and try to sell tickets for the upcoming season.
It is a shame that this championship team is run by a bunch of jackasses
By
Anonymous, at 8:32 AM
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