Death, Taxes, Avalanche: Colorado Buries Jackets 5-1
By Steve Sirk, Columbus Wired (3/13/03)
Possessors of an appalling 0-10-1 all-time record against the star-studded Colorado Avalanche entering tonight’s game, the Columbus Blue Jackets were hoping that the 12th time would be the charm. However, the fired-up Avs pummeled the Jackets early en route to a 5-1 romp before 17,256 mortified fans...more
 

Twenty Minutes Of Bliss: Jackets Jump Wild, 5-0
By Steve Sirk,  Columbus Wired (3/15/03)
Tonight at Nationwide Arena, the Columbus Blue Jackets finally discovered a sure-fire way to overcome their debilitating habit of allowing the first goal: Light the lamp before the other team ever even carries the puck into the offensive zone. Buoyed by Andrew Cassels’ goal 16 seconds into the game, the Jackets made quick work of the Minnesota Wild, defeating their expansion siblings 5-0 on the strength the five first period goals...more
 

Flames Finally Finish Off Jackets, 3-2
By Steve Sirk, Columbus Wired (3/8/03)
Third year expansion teams rarely serve as an established franchise’s bogey team, but when the Calgary Flames can’t sleep at night, it’s due to nightmares about a radioactive green insect. Columbus entered tonight’s game 7-3-0 all-time against the Flames, including an unblemished record in five Ohio matchups. But tonight, with 14th place in the Western Conference on the line, the Flames exorcised their cowtown demons, beating the Jackets 3-2 on Jarome Iginla’s goal with seven seconds to play in overtime...more
 

Thrashers Again Torment Jackets, 3-2
By Steve Sirk,  Columbus Wired (3/22/03)
If someone were to put me on the spot and ask me to describe tonight’s Blue Jackets – Thrashers game in one double-hyphenated word, I’d choose “Aye-yie-yie.” I don’t know that someone would ask such a silly question, but suffice it to say that there was a lot of aye-yie-yie’in to be done at Nationwide Arena this evening, as the Jackets inexplicably lost to the heavy-legged Thrashers by a 3-2 score. It was a maddening game from the Sisyphean start to the bad-bounce finish. Blecch...more
 

Red Wings Frustrate Jackets Again, 3-2
By Steve Sirk, Columbus Wired (3/3/03)
It is only fitting that on a night dominated by the spectre of Anna Kournikova, the Blue Jackets looked really good but lost. Despite outshooting the heavily-armed Red Wings, having a crack at eight power play chances, and even getting a goal from the heretofore scoreless Rostislav Klesla, the Jackets lost another frustrating game to the defending champs. A pair of Brendan Shanahan goals, including the game-winner on a third period power play, propelled Detroit to a 3-2 win before a sellout crowd at Nationwide Arena...more
 

Blackhawks Bewilder Jackets, 7-1
By Steve Sirk, Columbus Wired (2/15/03)
In their brief existence, the Columbus Blue Jackets have acquired a certain knowledge about blowout hockey games. Like all expansion teams, trial and error has taught them the surefire signs of a blowout, be it sluggish legs, a lack of fire, or simply being overmatched from a talent perspective. If any team is well-versed in the ways of the 7-1 hockey game, it is a third year club...more
 

Jackets Win Ugly, 2-1, Over Predators
By Steve Sirk, Columbus Wired (1/30/03)
On the strength of goals by Tyler Wright and Espen Knutsen, plus the usually superb goaltending of Marc Denis, the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the vile Nashville Predators 2-1 tonight at Nationwide Arena...more
 

Buckeye Nuts Even Bewilder Browns Fan
January 3, 2003
This weekend is The Big Game. It is the type of match-up that fans have dreamed about since the beginning of the season. It has seemed like an eternity since the The Good Guys have played in a game of this magnitude. And this very weekend, at long last, a national TV audience will get a chance to see if the scrappy team from Ohio can pull off another last-minute, heart-stopping, can’t-look-at-the-TV-but-can’t-look-away-from-the-TV victory, this time against a well-seasoned, heavily-favored opponent...more
 

Club Seats Undercover: A Nobody Hangs With the Somebodies at Nationwide Arena
December 21, 2002
Columnist Steve Sirk goes undercover to witness the highs and lows of sitting in the swanky club seats at Nationwide Arena during the Blue Jackets game against the Calgary Flames...more
 

Mullet Hunting at the Ohio State Fair
September 14, 2002
For the true sportsman, the Ohio State Fair is the time of year in which one can nobly engage in the Sport of Kings: mullet hunting.  Ah, the mullet. A hairstyle that’s short on top, long in the back. Hockey Hair. The Kentucky Waterfall. The Ape Drape. The Shlong. The Camaro Cut. The official hairstyle of the television show “Cops.”...more

 

You Don’t Have To Be A Brain Surgeon To Recognize A Good Story
August 8, 2002
Cushion stuffing bulged out from slits in the chairs. Cigarette burns marred the unwiped tabletops. The pool table was unscientifically leveled with what appeared to be the beer-soaked remnants of an old phone book jammed under one of the nicked-up table legs. A thatch of tangled wires hung from the ceiling, making me thankful that more electricity wasn’t being used to illuminate the subterranean dive that is Bernie’s Distillery. The place hardly looked sterile enough to stage a cockfight, much less brain surgery. Nevertheless, the Brain Surgeons set up shop on August 1st and prepared to rock Columbus on the final weekend of the 2002 summer tour...more

 

Mr. Snooty Food Critic
August 1, 2002
Columbus Wired columnist Steve Sirk plays the role of the insufferably pretentious food critic who is completely out of his element when he visits a far-from-exquisite eatery. Read his "review" here.

 

A Look Into The Crystal (Base)Ball
July 20, 2002
To say that the 2002 Major League Baseball season has been a train wreck is to downplay the significance of colliding locomotives.  Labor unrest, steroid accusations, financial problems, the contraction fiasco, competitive imbalance, dwindling attendance and a tie All-Star Game have turned our national pastime into a rubbernecker’s paradise. Life in the sports lane has come to a crawl as everyone gawks at this gruesome 30-team pile-up. Make that a 29-team pile-up…even in analogies, the Yankees fly charter...more