One of my favorite things about running SinBin.vegas is the incredible passion that turns into Guest Posts from you guys who read the site every day. It’s been far too long since our last one, which was a doozy by the way, so what better time than now to hear from another member of the ever growing SinBin.vegas army (We still need a good name for this).

This one is from Robert Price (aka Slack).

As a Red Wings fan growing up in Michigan, I can remember watching them play the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in their inaugural season on TV and their arena public address announcing “Offsides”. I can also remember laughing about it out loud with my friends before LOL even existed.

Fast forward 22 years or so and we are about to embark on our first NHL season here in Las Vegas where I have called home since 2000. I am older, wiser and became a bit more jaded with every lockout, strike, work stoppage or whatever you want to call it, but there is one thing for certain. I want the Vegas Golden Knights to succeed.

For those of you who already know, hockey is the greatest sport in the world, for those that don’t but want to, you are about to find out. Toughest athletes that give back to the community, best live action games, crazy playoffs and, of course, the ultimate trophy. I’m trading in my red and white to watch this franchise grow with my son who now has a team to call his own, and it’s going to be a great ride.

Getting back to my original point. Credibility. It is earned, not given. Traditionalists and a few neighbors in the country to the north are watching. And when I say “watching”, I mean that are looking for a laugh and/or clamoring for a reason to move the Knights to Moose Jaw so they can have eight teams instead of seven that won’t win a Cup. (I’m sorry, was that out loud? I jest) My point is this. A lot of things go into making this a successful franchise for the long haul, some of which we as fans control and some we can’t, but we do have a voice. I feel the sooner these things happen, the sooner the critics will be quiet. Without further ado, here are six factors in making the Vegas Golden Knights one for the ages.

Number One: On Ice Success

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On a day in which the team selected a superfan to send to the All Star Game, we thought it might be nice to hear one of the most passionate fans of SinBin.vegas. Unfortunately for Jerry we don’t have All Star tickets in a luxury box, so I guess seeing his name as the author of a website that draws 1.5 million fans a day will have to suffice as a consolation prize.

It’s the pledge of allegiance, VGK style, from Jerry “Phi Sig 150” Tomeo.

There’s been a tide of excitement slowly building for almost two years. First there were murmurs, then rumblings, then rampant rumors which were followed by full scale speculation until the glorious day finally arrived when it was officially announced that yes, what we had been hearing was true, Las Vegas was indeed getting it’s first pro sports team. Die-hard hockey fans rejoiced. Locals swelled with pride over the giant step our burgeoning city was taking. The Internet and Las Vegas locals alike played the name the team game for months fueled with occasional teases from Foley. Deep down in our hearts we knew he wasn’t lying when he said that Knights would be incorporated in some fashion but what if it was an elaborate ruse to throw all of us off the scent? What if he’s actually planning on playing a wild card? What if he’s naming the team the Rat Pack? Or better yet what if he’s going with a name that was actually good? Then the name came out. I’m sure somewhere out there must be a small group of Renaissance faire performers that flipped their medieval lids over the name. Most locals were indifferent, content with the prospect of hockey and pro sports in Las Vegas. There was, however, a very vocal group that hated the name. I mean really, really hated the name with a level of loathing usually reserved for Isis or Bettman. I’m not going to rehash the arguments pro and con Vegas Golden Knights for the thousandth time but suffice to say a Golden opportunity was Las.

There exists a significant segment of our fan base that feels disenfranchised. They want to be like the rest of us snapping up shirts, hats, and especially those sweet, sweet lanyards. The disenfranchised long to get lost in the excitement but for some reason they just can’t. Some of these fans helped get the team here in the first place by committing to season tickets. Some still intend to buy tickets once the puck hits the ice. There are unfortunately a few that have completely written the team off over the naming process. The disenfranchised feel the name isn’t representative of the city they love and feel slighted that they weren’t included in the naming process. Despite some of our ultimately fruitless fantasies the name isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. So the question becomes how do we get these fans back into the fold? The solution: the creation of an identifiable fan collective.

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The next SinBin.vegas Guest Post comes to us all the way from New Orleans. Like many around the country, our next writer was waiting for an opportunity to love the best sport on Earth, and the Golden Knights are here to give him that opportunity.

So here it is, the New Years Resolution from Chris Trew.

Hockey fans and Las Vegas residents don’t know me and should have no reason to care about my 2017 New Year’s resolution. But I resolve to be as big of a Golden Knights fan as geography and my time allows.

Quick, context-providing, background: I’m a season ticket holder for the New Orleans Pelicans where I sit behind the visitors bench and write about it for Uproxx. Our AAA minor league baseball team recently rebranded from the Zephyrs to the Baby Cakes and I wrote this piece documenting my approval and that led to me now with a position on the franchise’s advisory council. I love sports and I’m fascinated with expansions and rebrands. I’m obsessed with fan loyalty and without a real reason to get behind an NHL team, I never have. Until now.

I was in Las Vegas for my annual Thanksgiving weekend trip in November of 2015 with a couple of units left in my sportsbook budget on the final night of my stay. Since I had discovered the possibility of the NHL landing in Las Vegas I couldn’t consume newspaper articles, blog posts, and podcasts quickly enough. The ticket drive was in full force and my heart told me to avoid investing the rest of my budget and to put it into a ticket. So, I did. For my last night in your city, I ate a leftover granola bar for dinner and watched Netflix instead of having steak and gambling. But I was now a proud partial season ticket holder for an NHL franchise that didn’t exist.

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