Day-after Stanley Cup column

[playthrough]

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/14857871.htm

I'd be curious to hear what others think, but this seems a tad harsh for the day after the almost-home team (Raleigh to Charlotte) wins it all. Clearly gets tongue-in-cheek at the end, but still...doesn't sound like he's planning on attending the victory parade.

 

[JR]

What exactly was the point of that column?

 

[spnited]

What exactly was the point of that column?

It was the long way to say: "I don't like hockey"

 

[MrWrite]

what an asinine column.

 

[wheaties]

What exactly was the point of that column?

It was the long way to say: "I don't like hockey"

It was the long way to say: "Nobody outside of Raleigh gave a **** about the Hurricanes until last night, and even then, only a few people gave a ****. So let's not pretend like everybody in Charlotte is celebrating today."

And since I live in Charlotte, I can tell you he's right.

 

[Freelance Hack]

What exactly was the point of that column?

It was the long way to say: "I don't like hockey"

It was the long way to say: "Nobody outside of Raleigh gave a **** about the Hurricanes until last night, and even then, only a few people gave a ****. So let's not pretend like everybody in Charlotte is celebrating today."

And since I live in Charlotte, I can tell you he's right.

Does anybody in Charlotte care about the hockey team in Raleigh?

Does anybody in Raleigh care about the pro basketball team in Charlotte?

 

[DyePack]

When I got to the end, I could just picture the designer whipping up a giant 393 headline while simultaneously drooling, having multiple orgasms (whether male or female), crapping his/her drawers and oozing ear wax.

 

[JR]

It was the long way to say: "Nobody outside of Raleigh gave a **** about the Hurricanes until last night, and even then, only a few people gave a ****. So let's not pretend like everybody in Charlotte is celebrating today."

And since I live in Charlotte, I can tell you he's right.

Of course, you're right but it's still a dumbass column. Smug ****er.

And it only confirms what most hockey fans have known all along: cities below the Mason-Dixon line don't deserve hockey teams.

And it's a further burr under the saddle of Canadians who know that  if the 'Canes were the Winnipeg Blockheaters and won, all of Manitoba would be hung over today.

 

[Double J]

It was the long way to say: "Nobody outside of Raleigh gave a **** about the Hurricanes until last night, and even then, only a few people gave a ****. So let's not pretend like everybody in Charlotte is celebrating today."

And since I live in Charlotte, I can tell you he's right.

Of course, you're right but it's still a dumbass column. Smug ****er.

And it only confirms what most hockey fans have known all along: cities below the Mason-Dixon line don't deserve hockey teams.

And it's a further burr under the saddle of Canadians who know that  if the 'Canes were the Winnipeg Blockheaters and won, all of Manitoba would be hung over today.

Doubtful. They'd still be drunk, which isn't the same thing.

This guy -- actually, smug ****er really does say it best -- also needs to learn that the NHL only has one championship round per year. Therefore, it's the Stanley Cup Final, not Finals.

The NBA ****ed up in the naming of its own championship round but that does not make it correct. Hey, there's Jason Whitlock's next NBA Finals column idea. You're welcome, big guy.

 

[wheaties]

It was the long way to say: "Nobody outside of Raleigh gave a **** about the Hurricanes until last night, and even then, only a few people gave a ****. So let's not pretend like everybody in Charlotte is celebrating today."

And since I live in Charlotte, I can tell you he's right.

Of course, you're right but it's still a dumbass column. Smug ****er.

And it only confirms what most hockey fans have known all along: cities below the Mason-Dixie line don't deserve hockey teams.

And it's a further burr under the saddle of Canadians who know that  if the 'Canes were the Winnipeg Blockheaters and won, all of Manitoba would be hung over today.

You're right. And that's why I was rooting for Edmonton. (Actually, I was mainly rooting for the game to end in regulation for deadline purposes, but you know what I mean.)

The last two cup winners probably excited about 1/10th of the people a Canadian team would have. Maybe even 1/100th. And while you might not have liked Sorenson's approach, his point is essentially that.

It's better than him writing a "This is wonderful; now more of us will like hockey" column.

 

[tarheelgamecock]

What exactly was the point of that column?

It was the long way to say: "I don't like hockey"

It was the long way to say: "Nobody outside of Raleigh gave a **** about the Hurricanes until last night, and even then, only a few people gave a ****. So let's not pretend like everybody in Charlotte is celebrating today."

And since I live in Charlotte, I can tell you he's right.

Does anybody in Charlotte care about the hockey team in Raleigh?

Does anybody in Raleigh care about the pro basketball team in Charlotte?

Does anybody in Charlotte care about the pro basketball team in Charlotte?
www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2006/06/19/story3.html?from_rss=1

 

[buckweaver]

JR, you're such a hoser. ;D

(But that was a stupid column. Why oh why do sports columnists insist on telling us how much they don't care/don't pay attention/don't like X sport? If your job is to be a sports columnist, I don't want to read you bragging about how ignorant you are about X sport. It's not cute. It's not cool. It just makes you look dense. So find me somebody else to do your damn job, if you don't want to do it.)

 

[Bob Cook]

Re column: the writer should have focused more on the positive, such as how the team is not unlike many of the state's citizens, in that each is thick with heavily bearded men missing lots of teeth.

Re Bobcats: The team gives away 7,000 FREE tickets a GAME? That's what it looks like, unless my math is wrong. I'd be curious to see how many other teams are papering the house on such a high level.

 

[JR]

 

You're right. And that's why I was rooting for Edmonton. (Actually, I was mainly rooting for the game to end in regulation for deadline purposes, but you know what I mean.)

The last two cup winners probably excited about 1/10th of the people a Canadian team would have. Maybe even 1/100th. And while you might not have liked Sorenson's approach, his point is essentially that.

It's better than him writing a "This is wonderful; now more of us will like hockey" column.

More like 1/1000th.

After Tampa won the Cup, reporters were saying that once you got three blocks away from the rink, you wouldn't have known anything happened.

On the other hand I understand (at least from a TV piece the other day) that youth hockey is slowly making headway and new arenas are being built. Any truth to that?

 

[JR]

Re column: the writer should have focused more on the positive, such as how the team is not unlike many of the state's citizens, in that each is thick with heavily bearded men missing lots of teeth.

Coke all over my keyboard. Classic.

 

[Moondoggy]

Why oh why do sports columnists insist on telling us how much they don't care/don't pay attention/don't like X sport? If your job is to be a sports columnist, I don't want to read you bragging about how ignorant you are about X sport. It's not cute. It's not cool. It just makes you look dense.

You think it's bad for hockey? You should read what is being written about soccer and the World Cup.

 

[buckweaver]

JR: New arenas in Tampa? Or in the South, in general? I couldn't say.

As far as youth hockey building in the South, that's definitely true. Metro Atlanta, for one, has two large ice-skating facilities (one of them is the Thrashers' practice rink in suburban Duluth). There's been at least 1,000% growth in the youth leagues at those two rinks since the Thrashers came into the league in '99. Still don't have many, if any, high schools forming teams, but there's a few more club teams around.

It's growing. It won't ever be part of the culture -- it can't be, due to weather -- but there's a niche.

 

[playthrough]

 

You're right. And that's why I was rooting for Edmonton. (Actually, I was mainly rooting for the game to end in regulation for deadline purposes, but you know what I mean.)

The last two cup winners probably excited about 1/10th of the people a Canadian team would have. Maybe even 1/100th. And while you might not have liked Sorenson's approach, his point is essentially that.

It's better than him writing a "This is wonderful; now more of us will like hockey" column.

More like 1/1000th.

After Tampa won the Cup, reporters were saying that once you got three blocks away from the rink, you wouldn't have known anything happened.

On the other hand I understand (at least from a TV piece the other day) that youth hockey is slowly making headway and new arenas are being built. Any truth to that?

I was in Tampa at that time. The Cup was a fairly big deal. Bigger than the Bucs? Of course not. Just like the Hurricanes aren't bigger than anything pertaining to UNC/Duke/NCState hoops. But it's dumb to compare across sports and seasons. Fans can compartmentalize and get behind whoever's playing at the time. Everybody loves a winner, baby...except Tom Sorensen.

 

[buckweaver]

Why oh why do sports columnists insist on telling us how much they don't care/don't pay attention/don't like X sport? If your job is to be a sports columnist, I don't want to read you bragging about how ignorant you are about X sport. It's not cute. It's not cool. It just makes you look dense.

You think it's bad for hockey? You should read what is being written about soccer and the World Cup.

I do. And it's just as bad. But soccer has never caught on as a mainstream sport in the States, and it never will. That's fine. It's a niche -- but it's a strong niche that won't ever go away.

Hockey, OTOH, used to be one of the Big Four. It used to be a big, big part of the sports landscape. Now they don't even have a real TV deal, and they barely get more than a million viewers for the finals. It's becoming a niche, and it didn't used to be that way.

 

[Appgrad05]

It was the long way to say: "Nobody outside of Raleigh gave a **** about the Hurricanes until last night, and even then, only a few people gave a ****. So let's not pretend like everybody in Charlotte is celebrating today."

And since I live in Charlotte, I can tell you he's right.

Of course, you're right but it's still a dumbass column. Smug ****er.

And it only confirms what most hockey fans have known all along: cities below the Mason-Dixon line don't deserve hockey teams.

And it's a further burr under the saddle of Canadians who know that if the 'Canes were the Winnipeg Blockheaters and won, all of Manitoba would be hung over today.

But a large part of this is the Charlotte/Raleigh dynamic. People in Charlotte don't like something because it's in Raleigh, and vice-versa. It's nowhere near Calgary-Edmonton, but it's the same dynamic.
Besides, it really chaps the ass of all Charlotte-ians that the first major sports championship is in Raleigh, not with their beloved Panthers or Bobcats. Oh, btw, the Redskins are still more popular in Raleigh than the Panthers.