Hats off to Darren Ford!

[barks1737]

Let me start by saying that I do not know DF personally. In fact, I have never seen him in person or spoken to him on the phone.

I joined ROTJ in March of this year and immediately got sucked into all the hype. I was aware of the forum for a long time, and when things started happening I signed up.

Here is the reason for my post. Whether you like him or not, Darren played a part in the ROTJ. It may have been a very small part, it may have been a big part, but regardless..... he played a roll. I believe in giving credit where credit is due and if anyone deserves it, he does.

Now before all you Darren haters go off on me, think of this. In the months coming down to the announcement people were begging DF for any sort of new news. And he provided tidbits of info. that we got before some media outlets. It did get a little sickening when guys would suck up to him and defend everything he did, but I believe they were almost a band of brothers defending their leader.

Darren deserves credit for all the things he had to endure over his 8 years of running the ROTJ forum. Now you may not like the way his forum shut down. You may not like the new site. You may not like how he's benefited from his site, but as far as I go.... He deserves every little perk he gets.

One more thing .... if you want to bash DF or myself for this post just remember that Mark Chipman himself walked DF into the press conference on May 31st and DF saw it live. He was also at the unveiling of the jerseys. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that DF is going to Chipmans for Thanksgiving supper this year.

If Mark Chipman respects Darren that much....... well then so do I!

Like I said before, I don't know Darren but my hats off to you fella! Thanks for everything you did!

[LTZ]

OK, I really liked it over at JO in my short time there. DF did a good job of bringing people together. However, most people gave DF his due in the final days over there.

Not sure this is necessary here and now.

[gforce]

He kept the spark alive for a number of years, took lots of crap from the naysayers. He deserves the kudos (well said BTW) regardless of what the haters say.

[truenorthjets]

Excellent excellent thread my man! Having spent the draft weekend with him in St Paul and all the other ROTJ memories I can say without a doubt, Darren is a stand up guy!

[cooljetfan]

Darren kept the dream alive for regular folk but he had absolutely no hand in the jets returning. That was Chipman, Thomson and Bettman . Darren ford could not afford to buy these guys lunch.

[scottysurge]

Leader? Band of Brothers? Put his name on the line. Yikes! I don't really understand the personality cult here. The guy had a website and said what half the city believed to be true and what the other half wanted to be true. Some people might call that putting his "ass on the line", I call it a blog.

I agree that his site, along with others, brought people together and provided a bit of e-optimism. Hell, if I see him at a game, I will buy him a beer. But its laughable to suggest that Darren Ford had anything to do with the actual return of the Jets.

[damaaster]

Darren may be an awesome guy. Darren DID run an awesome website.
Darren had absolutely NOTHING to do with the jets returning to Winnipeg (except give people a forum to discuss the possibility and the rumors of the REAL people involved in bringing the team back).

If Darren himself and 5-10 of his "entourage" weren't constantly trying to convince everyone he had anything to do with the Jets returning he would probably be well liked and have a decent reputation online.......unfortunately that didn't happen.

Going forward can we please just be happy we have our team back - and cut out all this Darren Ford BS.....

[TheDeuce]

I'll tip my hat to Darren. He's never asked for anything more and I'm grateful for the ROTJ forum and website that was something I followed daily for 6 years. It was also a place where I met a lot of fellow Jets fans and friends that I'm happy to have met.

Hats off, Darren.



m.

[Ric O.]

Hats off to Darren Ford for all he's done. All of you can judge for yourself that that means to you. Other than that, we're not opening this up for discussion. This forum is simply not the place for it.

And once again, he's more than welcome to join us here anytime!

[z]

Meh....I thoroughly enjoyed DF's Forums. It was nice of him to share what he did. I've never met him, so I definitely have nothing bad to say about him. Nothing good either. Just, meh. I accept him as the face of the fan that never gave up, it was his site, with his name on it. It helps that it was pretty popular. And this forum exists because a few people from there took the initiative to start this one. I think really that's where it should end. The constant letters to the editor he sent to the Sun makes me wonder a bit...but you read those pages enough you start to see names over and over again.

But I don't honestly believe he thinks he had anything to do with the return of the NHL. I certainly don't. I remember thinking some of the JetsOwner members were bootlicks who seemed to put him on a pedestal, I also think that was of their own accord. Not his. I see him as a guy who started a popular website and counted himself lucky he got inside info. The hate seems extreme and unfair.