Hey Caniacs, one of our fellow bloggers is leaving the community here at Canes Country because he got exasperated at an exchange over the team. I'm posting here to see if everyone would add their well-wishes for him to reconsider. A little background...

Yesterday I was lobbing some criticism of the team aimed at questioning some of the effort on the ice from a few players, when Sittler27 jumped in to defend the team as a whole. Apparently, he is an ex-player of some kind who is still close to the team, and he took things VERY PERSONALLY. At one point, he referred back to his playing days, saying if someone like me had drug myself out of the seats or off my couch to criticize his effort, he'd put me on the ground.

Well, that got me a little concerned, seeing how my criticism of the team -- NOT THE BLOGGER -- had somebody threatening me with physical violence. Being careful NOT to criticize or personally attack the blogger, Sittler27 nonetheless kept getting angrier and angrier to the point that he said he couldn't take it anymore and was going to leave the board. This, in turn, got several other bloggers angry at me -- one said I was a hater -- and even more begging Sittler27 to reconsider.

I wish to do the same.

Throughout his postings yesterday, Sittler27 kept referring to his days as a player in reference to, from what I can gather, having more weight than what I and any other blogger could say about the team. It's the age-old "Until you've walked a mile in my shoes..." censorship of those you disagree with. Sittler27 is TOTALLY VALID in his argument that he has personal insight that many of us don't, which we TOTALLY NEED on this board, hence my quest to get him to reconsider.

All in all, as a former player myself -- in addition to being a youth coach -- I understand how hurtful criticism can be. I've been called "bum" and worse by fans during my playing days, and I've had parents literally yell at me after games about their kids' playing time. IN NO INSTANCE did I threaten to put anybody on the ground -- we all know better than that, even if we felt like it inside.

So let's make a deal here: anyone who DOES NOT PERSONALLY ATTACK fellow bloggers nor THREATENS THEM WITH PHYSICAL HARM should be welcomed to share their opinions -- good and bad -- about the team. In that vein, I would want Sittler27 to come back and start bashing my opinions, pointing out flaws in my logic, and setting me straight on what goes on behind the scenes with our beloved 'Canes.

I don't have all the answers, nobody does, but the more questions we pose about this team the more informed we all will be about them.

BRING BACK SITTLER27!!!