What happened to the jungle – Blog 3 (Frank)

You’re at the game, place goes dark and silent, then you hear the start of a low scream, getting louder by the second, all eyes turn to the ice, the scream breaks and you hear…”WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE”. That song would bring such goose bumps to Flyers fans, from the LeClair era, through Richards and Carter, and the Giroux battles with Crosby. What intensity!

Those days are long gone. Yesterday marked 5 consecutive years of missing the playoffs. They have won only one round of playoffs in 13 years. The Flyers have become an afterthought in this city and it saddens me.

I long for the days of the playoff t-shirts with catch phrases that I wore with pride everywhere I went. You’d get a look from another fan passing you by and they gave you that nod of Lets go, before “Lets go!” became a thing. Today the only orange I when I go out are being worn by tree trimmers.

Its saddens me to see a team that always mirrored the grit of this city become so listless. The core fans will always be there, understood, but the new fans are becoming an endangered species. I’m not talking hockey fans, I’m talking Flyers fans and the Flyers product as a whole.

The system is broken, it has been for over 15 years. Ed Snyder (RIP) always had a drive and passion to better this team. Sometimes it worked, many times it didn’t, but you know he wasn’t going to leave any stone unturned. The organization doesn’t do that any longer. Its a corporate setting with an empty soul. Personally, I believe that as long as the seats continue to be filled, that’s all that matters. Its not the product on the ice that is getting the focus any longer, its the fluff around it. That fluff is getting really flat now and its beginning to wear thin for the fans.

The fans need to push back. Imagine the Philadelphia Eagles missing the playoffs for 5 straight years. We would be outside the Linc demanding Lurie sell the team. We need to hold ownership and management accountable. I’m sorry but Flyers fans have to let it go. The system of bringing back beloved players to run the organization has run its course. Beloved players, who won nothing by the way, doesn’t mean they will be great in management. Clarke was a leader, a champion and one of the most beloved and we held him accountable for every move he made. Yet, today we just let every move happen without understanding and even worse – without interest.

Flyers you need to FIX THIS.

Similar to the Flyers, now as I was thumb through the radio stations, I hear that same low scream as I did so many times before, but instead of listening to its crescendo, I just go to the next station.