Hey, this blog belongs to Ovie-come-latelys too :-)

By J. Freedom du Lac, Washington Post, Feb. 6, 2010:

"Going to a Caps game is the 'in' thing to do now," says Jeff Greenberg, owner of ASCTicket.com, a Gaithersburg ticket brokerage. "This town hasn't had a winner in 20 years, and now the Caps are good and they have a true superstar, the best player on Earth, Ovechkin. We're seeing a lot of demand from people who two, three years ago didn't care about hockey."

The result is wild success -- and a certain sense of resentment among die-hard fans who see the newcomers in the crowd as Ovie-come-latelys.

Backlash against the bandwagon occasionally bubbles up on Caps-centric Web sites such as Japers' Rink, but it's much ado about nothing, says Jon Press, the blog's founding editor.

"I don't really see much of a downside" to the broadening of the fan base, he says. "Maybe it's harder to get tickets, but it's fantastic to have that arena filling up with red every night. It's just unreal. It's so loud and raucous, and I think everybody just gets swept up in it, the real die-hards and the next generation of fans. And no one is born with original fanhood; everyone has to become a fan at some point. Hopefully some of the new fans will really learn the game and stay with the Caps even if things aren't going as well as they are now."

Speaking of Jon Press, on behave of all Caps bloggers we just want to say "thank you" to him, he welcomes all new bloggers and grooms them and takes care of them. He is JonVechkin of all hockey bloggers in visible universe. When this blog started, it used to be 10-20 visitors a day, and then J.P. would put a link to us, "OMG, we have 50 people today!" Now it is from 3,000 to 5,000 unique visitors per day, but it's still the same, "OMG, J.P. has put a link to our post!" It's an honor.




Now here are some pictures from our "field reporter" Emily (thank you!):


Sochi House Ovechkin (by amarks86)


Crosby vs Ovechkin: Which Hockey Jersey will Outsell the Other at the International Village of Vancouver 2010 Olympic Wear? (by susan gittins)

The International Village on the 5th floor of The Bay Downtown (home to the Olympic Superstore on the main) is open for business. Predict these will be bestsellers.

---

TWEET:

 TWEET THIS: http://tinyurl.com/ovetjkin