Colorado Avalanche: Good Riddance, Organist

Feb 27, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Avalanche fans cheer in the first period during a Stadium Series hockey game against the Detroit Red Wings at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 27, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Avalanche fans cheer in the first period during a Stadium Series hockey game against the Detroit Red Wings at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Whether you believe the Colorado Avalanche’s woes were caused by the coach or the players last season, the team’s organist was easily their Least Valuable Player.

The Pepsi Center recently posted a job opening for a new Colorado Avalanche Organist on their employment page, which can mean only one thing: last year’s travesty of an organist has been shown the door.

Last season, I purchased a 20-game pack after landing my first “big kid job”, eager to see my Avs play live as much as possible.  It wasn’t long into the home opener, however, that I realized that something sounded off.  I quickly realized that the new organist was utterly failing to play “Charge!” correctly, among other simple tunes.

This was remarkably disappointing, especially since the previous organist was so good.  In a brief conversation with a member of the Avalanche broadcast team, I learned that the previous organist was difficult to deal with, and kind of a diva, but the dude could play.

Apparently his being a diva was merited, as much to my terror, this continued throughout the year, with little to no improvement.  As a musician, I found the thought that a professional production company could hire someone lacking anywhere near professional competency was appalling.

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Then I remembered we’re dealing with Kroenke Sports and Entertainment.

While I could sit here and rip into ex-organist’s missed notes, lack of rhythm, and shoddy articulation, I can’t be too mad at the kid. He was offered a gig, and he took it.  Anyone else would have done the same, so good for him.

What is not acceptable is that the KSE folks have allowed such low quality spill into off-ice productions.  People pay good money to attend Avalanche games; the least they could do is get someone who doesn’t have to play the Mexican Hat Dance in half time.

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But enough of my ramblings.  If you can play the organ better than the last guy, please get yourself that job.  Maybe with some better tunes in their ears, the mood of Pepsi Center will lift our players’ spirits.