Columbus

The Weekly Dis

"A hot dog at the ballpark is better than a steak at the Ritz." -- Humphrey Bogart

Michael Arace

18 Oct 2025 — 8 min read

Cam Atkinson comes out for one final twirl in a Blue Jackets uniform. He's the ant in the red pants at the red line near the bench, with the spotlight.

The usual schedule is to post M-W-F and drop the newsletter on Saturday morning. This week, I wrote four columns plus the Weekly Dis. On Saturday night, I'll be toggling between the Crew's regular-season finale (6:12 kickoff vs. NYRB) and Nationwide Arena (7 p.m. puck drop vs. Tampa Bay). A handful of Original Jackets – coach Dave King, Kevin Dineen, Ron Tugnutt, Rusty Klesla and Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre) – will be on hand at Nationwide as part of the CBJ's continuing celebration of their 25th season.

Posts

Monday: A prime cut of #SaveTheCrew members spent the afternoon of Oct. 12 celebrating the seventh anniversary of Saved The Crew Day. They made the annual pilgrimage to the site of the original bacchanal, Endeavor Brewing on W. Fifth Ave. I might've choked down a glass of champagne with them.

Wednesday: The Blue Jackets' special teams have been dreadful. If they could score on the power play, at all, and/or kill a damned penalty, they might be 3-1 instead of 1-3. My report from the home opener:

Thursday: Crew coach Wilfried Nancy and center backs Sean Zawadzki and Malte Amundsen give their thoughts ahead of the Crew's regular-season finale. Post-game, the Crew will honor soon-to-retire Darlington Nagbe, one of the greatest and most decorated midfielders in MLS history. Nancy, in spectacular Frenglish, presented a Food Network metaphor on the eve of the playoffs.

Friday: Cam Atkinson, who is second to Rick Nash in every important career scoring category for the CBJ, signed a one-day contract so that he could retire as a Columbus Blue Jacket. He put on the uniform for one last time and took a twirl around the rink just prior to the opening face-off against the Colorado Avalanche. Prior to that, he met the media and, per usual, he was a terrific interview.

Alert: Road closures

The Columbus Marathon is a popular stop on the circuit, in part because the flatness of the course lends to fast times – and marathoners need fast times to qualify for the "majors" like the one in Boston. Former (brilliant) tagline for the race: "Our world is flat."

The Columbus Marathon goes off early Sunday morning – but the preparation for it consumes the weekend. Crew and Blue Jackets fans should be aware that there will be any number of road closures in and around the Arena District Saturday. Plan accordingly and expect delays.

I will be taking my ebike and flying in and out of there.

Here's what the Crew PR staff is disseminating:

ROAD CLOSURES

For access to Lower.com Field until 7 p.m. ET – Expect delays due to multiple events taking place around the Arena District - Standard matchday arrival routes will be available.

Starting at 7 p.m. ET – The SR 315 North offramp to Dublin Road (US-33/Long Street), eastbound Dublin Road starting at North Souder Avenue, and Westbound Spring Street from Marconi Boulevard will all close for the marathon.

For departure out of Lower.com Field – Westbound Dublin Road (US-33/Westbound Spring Street) will remain open from Neil Avenue and West Spring Street. No Eastbound traffic will be permissible on Dublin Road. Fans with vehicles are recommended to utilize Twin Rivers Drive or 670 East.

a crowded street filled with lots of traffic — If the Blue Jackets were playing in Indonesia. Photo by Iqro Rinaldi / Unsplash

Jackets facing the iron

The Jackets opened the season on the road at Nashville, where they were stymied by the stellar performance of goaltender Juusi Saros. Next, the Jackets were in St. Paul, where they lost to the Wild; it was the start of a six-game stretch against teams that made the playoffs last season. The stretch continued with home losses to the New Jersey Devils and the Colorado Avalanche (the latter loss being particularly brutal – see the Atkinson piece above). The Avs won 49 games last season.

"We're all in the same league," center Sean Monahan said after the 4-1 loss to Colorado. "It doesn't matter who you're playing, you've got to play your own game. Tonight, we didn't play our game."

The Jackets have Tampa Bay at home Saturday. The Bolts won 47 games last season. Then, the Jackets are off to Dallas for a Tuesday night tilt against the Stars. The Stars won 50 games last season. Then, the Jackets are back home on Friday to play the Washington Capitals. The Caps won 51 games last season. A day later, the Jackets are at Pittsburgh – and then comes another back-to-back, at Buffalo on the 28th and home against Toronto on the 29th. The Maple Leafs won 52 games last season.

In sum, the Jackets better get their fecal matter together sooner rather than later.

Outtakes

Nancy on Nagbe: "For me, this.is not about his career. For me, this is not about the player because everyone knows the player. For me, this is more about the human being. The person I see every day, what he brings to the players around him without being the most vocal, or loud. He's vocal, but he is not the loudest person. Sometimes, when people are loud, it's because they want to hide something. And this is not the case. He's Darlington. The guy that you see on the pitch is the guy you can see outside of the pitch. The best compliment I can give is that Darlington is Darlington. Simple as that."

Amundsen on Nagbe: "For the first time in my career when someone has retired from my team, I really thought, 'Damn, I was proud to play with this guy.' Not to take anything away from anyone else, but Darlington really stood out to me. ... What a humble, generous human being he is."

Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell on the possibility of Atkinson working for the team: "We've met several times trying to figure it out. We both have thoughts about it. Obviously, as I told Cam, and I said the same thing to Rick Nash a year ago: You missed your family for so many years, make sure your first priority is taking care of the kids, your wife and all that. Because those years – you never get those years back. So, nothing official, but we are talking about it."

Nagbe will be feted after Saturday's game. That's unusual, but it fits the Nagbeast's rhythm. He spends a lot of time lingering on the field with his wife, kids and extended family. It's tradition. The team is just adding some ceremony to the usual reunion. Asked if he was at peace with his decision to retire at age 35, Nagbe said:

"Definitely. Right now, I'm not sad. If anything, I'll miss not providing entertainment with my friends and family. Sometimes, their weekends revolve around my game. They meet up, watch and root for me. I'll miss providing that for them, but I'm happy I can spend more time with them. My family. My wife's side of the family. I grew up in Cleveland and all my friends are there. We made friends here. My kids play for Ohio Premiere, so we've met friends there. I've got a lot of people coming in to see me one last time. To have everyone together is going to be special. Everyone that'll be there will be important to me."

Looking for some spicy-hot takes

According to the literature, a Sloppy "No" is a vegan Korean sloppy Joe with Asian slaw and shoyu onions on a gluten-free bun. It is part of "a fresh lineup of innovative food options for the team's 25th National Hockey League season at Nationwide Arena."

What they're saying is "fans can look forward to bold flavors, creative combinations and local favorites across the arena."

Humphrey Bogart once said, "A hot dog at the ballpark is better than a steak at the Ritz." The Jackets are now offering a Croissant dog: Croissant dough with everything seasoning wrapped around an all-beef hot dog." I don't know if that's better than a steak at the Ritz.

Have you had the Mediterranean Nachos? Stix Tacos? CBJ vs. East Coast Nacho? 5th Line Salad? (Does anyone among the 5th line eat salad?) the 61 Stack? Smoked Turkey Sandwich? Jet's CBJ Pizza? (Is Jet's really pizza or is it casserole?)

If you've access to a luxury suite, have you had Dessert Nachos? Umami Fries?

I'd like to hear your thoughts. Leave a spicy comment below or email me at lifeisarace8@gmail.com. Soon, I'll be sending my own correspondents out for samples and reviews. Cheers.

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