I was not expecting this:

“The Columbus Blue Jackets are pleased to announce that tickets for the 2027 Stanley Cup Playoffs will go on sale on Oct. 1 at 5 p.m., two hours before the season opener against the Buffalo Sabres at Nationwide Arena.

“As a special treat prior to the opening faceoff,  defenseman Zach Werenski will be honored for winning his second consecutive Norris Trophy for the 2026-27 season.”

Now, that’s getting in front of the story.

Of course, this is my fabrication much like the Big Ten’s attempt at justifying Michigan’s “magic second” which enabled them a do-over to defeat Western Michigan on Saturday.

The point is, there’s a lot of revisionist, or as I call it pre-visionist (trademark), history and we’ve got Ohio State to thank.

First, the Buckeyes started the dubious tradition last season of ringing the victory bell before the game, usually with an OSU celebrity doing the honors.

Good on the folks  along the Olentangy for seeking ways to ignite the crowd before a game and liven the atmosphere but the bell clanging should be saved for when the clock, or clocks, hit zero no matter how many times it takes the Big Ten to decide.

I would suggest OSU find an alternative pregame ritual to juice up the fans – maybe shoot candy buckeyes into the crowd (brought to you by Anthony-Thomas Chocolates) – and save the bell for when it really counts.

If ringing the victory bell before the first snap wasn’t silly enough credit coach Ryan Day for taking it a step further in this pre-visionist history.

“Hey, why not honor our seniors neatly three months before our final home game.” Of course, that would be Nov. 28 against Michigan, you know, the school that causes so much distraction that all semblance of tradition has to be gutted.

So it was that this past Saturday in Ohio Stadium that emotions were raw and deep and so very, very moving as 31 seniors, including 14 who had never played a game for the Buckeyes, were recognized for their years/weeks of contributions. O-H.

I’ve got a better idea to avoid the “Michigan problem.” How about holding Senior Day during the spring game?

Also, if Ohio State wanted to go all-in on doing things before they happen they missed a fantastic opportunity at the opener last week against Ball State to unveil a plaque on the façade of C-deck honoring the Buckeyes as the top-ranked team in the preseason polls. The players could have been gifted their pre-championship rings while fans waved their commemorative scarlet pre-title towels. What a remarkable sight.

Not to rag on the Buckeyes much more but the school doesn’t have to go far to find an example of how to properly do pregame, in-game celebration and postgame tradition.

Prior to the start of a Crew match, a famous or not-so famous person “ignites” the fans at their (sponsored) field. Here’s how it was described in The Columbus Dispatch three years ago when suspended head coach Wilfried Nancy had the responsibility against rival FC Cincinnati in the Hell Is Real Derby:

“Nancy served as the official ‘Match Ignitor.’ His duties included breaking through a faux brick wall and pushing the plunger on a Columbus Crew box to ‘officially’ get the game started.”

It’s a cool concept and a terrific way to incorporate notables from the area including OSU and Blue Jackets players to take the plunge, so to speak.

Then, when the Crew scores a fan from the Nordecke supporters section takes a jackhammer to a slab of concrete with the opponent’s logo on it and knocks off a chunk and displays it as a conquest.

After the match, the players join the Nordecke in singing “Wise Men” not unlike the Buckeyes belting out “Carmen Ohio” (now that’s a tradition).

Of course, the CBJ decided to join the pregame fun last season by implementing their own tradition of having someone light the cannon just before the face-off.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay and it fits the overall theme for the franchise. … but.

Man, I loved the boom when the opponent stepped on the ice. No matter how many times I’ve heard the sound it still seems unexpected because it wasn’t announced ahead of time. It was always fun to watch the newbies in the press box jump the first time the cannon resonated.

The teams would head through the tunnel to the ice and all of a sudden, Boom. I miss that jolt and in my mind it’s like hearing, “This Is Jeopardy” and expecting Alex Trebek to walk onto the stage. What we’ve got now is the Ken Jennings effect. It’s good but not Alex.

In Case You Missed It

In the category of “It Couldn’t Happen To A Better Team,” Scottish Premier League’s Celtic were booted from the UEFA Champions League on Aug. 25 in the most bitter way, losing 5-4 to Austrian club LASK in the two-match total goals series.

Why the dislike of Celtic? Because of the manner in which they dismissed Nancy after 33 days and eight matches on Jan. 5. Yes, he had a miserable 2-6-0 record but he came aboard in an untenable situation and his backers quickly abandoned him.

He never should have been hired in the middle of the season knowing  full well he had a system he was going to use come hell or high water and the players were unwilling to adapt. He was at fault too for being stubborn in his ways. Nonetheless if he had a full preseason and was allowed to bring in the players he wanted, Nancy might have had a chance.

Celtic play in a garage-band league full of stadiums not worthy of many high schools in the U.S. so they have an inflated sense of worth when they win domestic titles year after year, usually at the behest of their rival Rangers.

So, they were feeling pretty good after taking the first leg 3-0 at home. They were already looking ahead to their next opponent when they scored in the 21^st minute of the rematch for a  4-0 aggregate.

Then everything fell apart. LASK scored in the 32nd, and the 48th, and the 58th before my new favorite-named player, Florian Flecker, came off the bench in the 86th minute to net the aggregate equalizer in the 90th.

The match went to extra time to break the aggregate deadlock and Houston-born Samuel Adeniran scored his second goal of the match in the 109^th minute for the 5-4 total. Bye-bye Celtic.

Not Bitter At All

You think I can’t hold a grudge?

Being an avowed Indians/Guardians fan, I’ve not gotten over losing the 2016 World Series in Game 7 to the Cubs in 10 innings. It felt even worse than the loss to the Marlins in 11 innings in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series.

I had no attachment to the Marlins but like many folks from my generation, I watched the Cubbies play afternoon baseball from Wrigley Field on WGN.

I’ve been to Wrigley several times, still own a T-shirt that reads “No Lights In Wrigley” and had a few in Sluggers, a sports bar directly across from the iconic ballpark which was owned by Columbus Chill owner Horn Chen.

But my affair ended the night of Nov. 2, 2016, when I vowed to never watch a Cubs game until the now-Guardians win the World Series. In other words, I’ll never watch the Cubs again in my lifetime.

I’ve held to it even though I might tune in to MLB Network in the afternoon and I’ll be damned; the Cubs are playing. I’m tempted, but no. Even when the Big Inning wraparound highlights the Cubs I turn the channel, although I admit that once when they were losing 17-1 or something to the Reds I stuck around to watch the final two outs.

Speaking of the Reds, they played at Wrigley for the NBC Sunday night game on Aug. 30 and I did my best to avoid the game. I watched an MLS match, some tennis from the  U.S. Opens and my top cop drama of all time, “NYPD Blue.” It was a rewarding night made even better when the Reds won 7-5.

Book ‘Em

My collaboration with former CBJ play-by-play broadcaster Jeff Rimer “It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This” will be on the shelves Sept. 28 but pre-orders are available through Amazon or jeffrimer.com. I hope you like it.

Jeff departs his Florida home and arrives in Columbus next week for a promotional tour and will be at Byers Imports, 401 N Hamilton Rd., (by the airport, if you remember the commercials) from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 17.

The next day we will be at the Barnes & Noble bookstore at the Lennox Town Center, 1739 Olentangy River Road, near the OSU campus from 4-6 p.m.

They are great people there and heavily promoted “Chill Factor” which I co-wrote with former Chill president David Paitson. The book is available on Amazon if not at Barnes & Noble.

Final Words

Not to make light of the death of the great Dolly Parton but more of an instructive to be careful about the placement of words in a headline. This from TMZ could be taken several ways:

“Dolly Parton’s Niece Misses Her 4 AM Calls After Death.”

Comments, column ideas or grudges you’d like to share. Send to: cmerz@cbussports.com

Previous Craig Merz commentaries:

“Buc-off – When image and perception matter” (August 12, 2026)

“A summer of sports controversy with updates” (July 15, 2026)