NASCAR, Hunting & Fishing & Red Neck Hockey
June 7, 2006
Once again the out of town press is taken a swipe at the Hurricane Fan base as a bunch of ignorant red necks who know nothing about the sport. This is what every visiting team’s press in 2002 said when the Canes made it to the finals losing to Detroit and its not the first time this year we’ve heard this dribble.
As a member of the Storm Squad, her job is to get a NASCAR-loving crowd excited about a hockey game.
And it can be quite the challenge.
In the third period of a game last week, Hurricanes fans accidentally began booing when a referee signalled a delayed penalty against the visiting team. But the home crowd was on its feet and cheering when a lucky member of the audience got to ride shotgun in a John Deere-sponsored Zamboni.
I’ve been at every single one of the playoff home games and the incident on the delay penalty doesn’t ring a bell with me. Yup some lucky fans do get to ride the Zamboni at every game but in between periods most folks are out waiting to use the bathroom or grabbing a snack.
I’ve been following hockey since I was a young boy growing up in Boston cheering for Bobby Orr and there is countless others like me that have migrated to the Carolinas from Detroit, Chicago, Philly, Buffalo, and even Edmonton. In the early days of this franchise when they played in Greensboro no matter who the visiting team was there seemed to be more fans for them then there was for the Canes. That’s because us relocated folks were just happy to get out and see our teams of old down here playing. I’m a Canes fan now, I still follow the Bruins but the Canes are now my team. The Hurricanes have united a community and you really show your lack of knowledge about us when you make a statement like this
forwards Eric Staal and Rod Brind’Amour would still be more popular if they were clad in the baby blue of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels.
The Hurricanes play in the same arena that NC State Wolf Pack does and dressing those boys in baby blue would make them about as popular as some of those foul mouth buffalo fans we put up with last week. Watch the jumbotrom in between periods and see what happens when Roy Williams the Coach of the Tar Heels comes on and says “Lets Go Canes” it’s less then a warm reception. The Canes have been successful at getting Duke, Carolina & State Fans to pull for the same team which many would have argued couldn’t be done.
I know Hockey is Canada’s game but the NHL to survive will have to expand into new markets and the last time I looked there wasn’t much expanding up in the frozen north.
“I can’t skate to save the my life,” fan Justin Bond says in a thick, southern drawl while chewing on a piece of pulled pork in the parking lot before a Hurricanes game. “But I can barbecue.”
And with the help from the Storm Squad, he will hopefully know when and what to cheer. That is, if Witley can remember what icing is.
“That’s easy,” she says. “It’s when the car does laps around the ice, right?”
I won’t claim that everyone sitting in the RBC arena knows everything there is to know about Hockey but those you featured in this story are a small percentage of those actually in the crowd.
Canada better face the fact that in the near future the Stanley Cup will be filled with “Sweet Tea Ya’ll”
Story
Moose Droppings is a place that chronicles my journey, Ill explore new places and ideas Ill learn new things and Ill teach the things Ive learned to others. Join me on the adventure and hopefully it will help you in your outdoor endeavors.
