Welcome to The Disrespected

The Blue Jackets are largely neglected by the national media. Some rich punk tried to steal the Crew. I'm Michael Arace and disrespected Columbus is my beat. Welcome.

My lawyer, Randy Kilbride, lost a battle with cancer in February. He was one of my best friends and would have loved this ride we're taking. The actual name "The Disrespected" was conjured by my new lawyer and old friend, Ken Robinson, as we spitballed ideas over lunch on a spring day. As soon as he said, "Disrespected media," I jabbed my (index) finger and said, "That's it." We registered an LLC post-haste

"The Disrespected" is akin to "Ohio against the world," whatever that means. It's condensed to cover Columbus, where the great state university for decades had a hegemonic hold on the local sports landscape.

The Crew were part of the vision of Lamar Hunt, perhaps the greatest sports entrepreneur of the 20th century. Hunt long believed professional soccer could work in the U.S. and, when he co-founded Major League Soccer in the mid-1990s, he made the Crew the league's first chartered franchise. At the time, Columbus was the largest city in the country without a major professional franchise and the Crew thrived. In 1999, Crew Stadium – often called the "first soccer-specific stadium in the country" (it wasn't; see: Fall River, Mass., or Bethlehem, Penn.) – was an early crown jewel of the league. Crew Stadium, now "Historic Crew Stadium" and part of the team's training facility, was part of what compelled Hunt to conduct a cash call with fellow owners to save the league from bankruptcy in 2001. It showed what was possible when soccer games weren't played on real grass, and not in football stadiums.

For all of the Crew's historical import, the franchise became an afterthought as the league grew. Crew fans of the mid-to-late 2000s cheekily described their team as "Massive," because they believed that everyone was against them – the commissioner, the big-market teams, even their own, penny-pinching owners. The be Massive was to persevere, and to overcome. The second owner of the team conspired with the league in an effort to move the Crew to Austin. That's disrespect. #SaveTheCrew was born to thwart the effort, and Crew fans won. That's Massive.

The Blue Jackets were born of an effort of Columbus power brokers to give the city a true major-league team (at a time when MLS was more LS than M). Ironically, Hunt was involved in the NHL expansion bid before he came to the conclusion it wouldn't work in the city (it's a complicated story involving an arena lease). An industrialist by the name of John H. McConnell stepped in to fill the void. Ohio State raced to build its own arena/concert venue to thwart the city's efforts for a downtown arena. Disrespect. McConnell (RIP) wrote an $80-million check to land an expansion team, and Nationwide Realty Investors built the arena and proffered an onerous lease – Hunt was onto something there – that later had to be adjusted. Now, even Ohio State is playing nice with everybody.

The Blue Jackets may be the most anonymous team in American pro sports. They're disrespected. Largely, this is their own fault, as their record (807 wins, 860 losses, 33 ties and 196 overtime losses through 24 seasons) indicates. They need to earn respect, which is to say they're disrespected. Works for me.

Columbus is the largest city in the seventh-most populous state in the union. It boasts of many attributes, including vibrant bar, restaurant and cultural scenes. Close through its Downtown center is Nationwide Boulevard, which presents one of the more unique stadium-hopping opportunities in the country. Within the distance of a quarter mile, you can walk from Neo-industrial Nationwide Arena, home of the Blue Jacket, to gorgeous Huntington Park, home of the Cleveland Guardians' Triple-A franchise, to the new Crew Stadium (Lower.com Field), which has an electric atmosphere driven by the hardcore fans in the Nordecke.

The Jackets are on the rise (it's about time). The Crew have won two MLS Cups, a Campeones Cup and a Leagues Cup since they moved into their new stadium in 2020. Here, at this website, the disrespected get respect from The Disrespected.

I've been covering these teams for decades. I'm going to focus on them, and reserve the right to delve into other Columbus topics, in this space. I'm writing three columns a week for paid subscribers, and a weekly newsletter for all subscribers, paid and unpaid. Your support is crucial to my goal to avoid becoming a full-time bartender and part-time Uber driver. Subscribe. Leave a tip (https://www.thedisrespected.com/#/portal/support). Tell everyone you know, as they used to say around here.

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