A collection of Black & White Cityscapes and Skyline Photos by Photographer Jason Wilson.

Today is the morning after MY Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 in their own barn and doing it while also starting the backup goalie.  Nice win, eh.

So, I’m perusing the Blue Jacket forums at Hockey’s Future and Hockey Fan Zone when I stumbled across a thread on the “main board” at hfboards.com titled, I Love the Blue Jackets. And I’m thinking, ok probably just an overzealous Jackets fan posting a thread on the main board to get the Jackets some more exposure.  

Wrong.  What it turned out to be was a 5 page thread by fans of other teams talking about how much they really were hoping for the Blue Jackets to make the playoffs this season, and how bright of a future they see for the Jackets franchise, and (the reason for my post) how impressed they are by the city of Columbus.  Which got me to thinking….

Speaking personally here, one of the things that is so satisfying about the way the Blue Jackets are playing right now is the type of attention its drawing to Columbus.  We’re being seen in a different light. 

The word I kept coming back to while reading through those seven pages was underrated.  The Columbus Blue Jackets are underrated.  People around the NHL are just now starting to recognize how good, and how dangerous our team is and how dedicated the fanbase is.  That’s great as a Blue Jackets fan.  But what excites me more is how a playoff run by the underrated Blue Jackets can shine a different spot light on our underrated city of Columbus than the only one people are used to seeing us under.  We hear it all the time (if you’re a close follower of the Blue Jackets) from new free agents the Jackets sign.  ”I didn’t realize Columbus was so….*insert surprised phrase here*”

Its a statement that’s fun to hear for a while, but after while, you wonder why its one of the first things people say about your city.  Are the marketing messages not getting out cause we aren’t telling our story well enough, or are they not working, or do we really enjoy being the world’s largest small town?  There has to be something that can be done to take advantage of the new light that’s going to be shined on our underrated city as the Blue Jackets make the final 12 game push toward the Stanley Cup Playoffs (and hopefully deeper). 

Would it be out of line to be wishing for a Columbus vs. Pittsburgh Stanley Cup Final in early June? I do, however, KNOW it wouldn’t be out of line to stop asking Canadian, Russian and European born hockey players what they think of the high school sophmore left tackle commitment for the 2014-15 OSU recruiting class.