Day-after Stanley Cup column

You're having a hard time with this.

Since the lock-out ended, hockey attendance has been at an all time high.

The product is better than it's been in 20 years.

The finals were the best in probably 10.

The new NHL has proven what we knew all along: played properly it's the greatest sport either to watch or to play.

TV ratings alone do not define the rise or declilne of a sport.

 

If it's one game, it's a Final. If it's a series, it's Finals. Can't expect the hosers to get it right.

 

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Why do you take it so personally? Are you somehow diminished because not enough Americans love hockey?

I'm Canadian, but your constant flag-waving is actually quite annoying. Isn't that kind of jingoism what Canadians find so annoying about Americans?

 

No. And no.

I like Tom ... like his tone and the way he approaches things. Usually.

I'm not about to call this the biggest thing to ever hit the Carolinas, but this borders on a cheap shot. Hey, every columnist whiffs from time to time. This was Sorensen's turn.

 

AppGrad nailed it. Nobody in the Triangle cares about Charlotte and from what I hear Charlotte people don't care about the Triangle except for the colleges they went to. People in both places want to think they are better than the other. There are some casual Panthers fans in Raleigh and Durham, just because the NFL is so popular, but I never met a diehard Panthers fan there. There was virtually no excitement there when the Panthers were in the Super Bowl a few years ago.

 

I wasn't taking it personally. Quite the opposite in fact. Where do you read that into my statement?

Americans not liking hockey is a fact of life. I get it. What a lot of us never figured out is why Bettman thought they would. It flies in the face of what most hockey observers have known since the sport was first broadcast in the States in the '60's. It's like soccer--without as much disdain.

What I find annoying is columns like this that say, "Hockey? Who gives a shit about hockey? Ballroom dancing draws more viewers". STFU and watch NASCAR.

 

ummmmm ...
No

 

Here's another key: compartmentalization. (at least, I think that's a word  :-\).

North Carolina is still basketball country. Hockey has grabbed a bigger chunk of the market ... see the run to the '02 finals for proof.

But back to that key word. The Triangle is divided by Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State fans, sprinkled with the odd Wake Forest backer and the odd East Carolina supporter. So while UNC's winning the NCAA men's title in '05 was a big deal - just like Duke in '01 - it left the other schools' backers steaming ... at least those non-ECU types who don't pull for the Atlantic Coast Conference as a whole.

But who competes with the Carolina Hurricanes in the hockey market? No one. They don't support Nashville, and they don't support Atlanta or Washington. More than your fair share of games at the ESA, even during the regular season, will see some jerseys/sweaters and T-shirts of the opposition because Raleigh is such a melting pot culture. But aside from the transplants who haven't given up their original team of allegiance, those same college sports fans have only one hockey team to support.

And if you don't think the so-called college fans in North Carolina don't love a winner, note how many Duke fans there are now versus 20 years ago. Hell, one had a hard time filling the bandwagon in Durham, much less the rest of the state, back in the day. If Wake Forest wins a national title or starts becoming a Final Four regular, there will be an unprecedented run on black and gold. There are ample people in North Carolina claiming to be diehard Tar Heels fans who have never set foot on Chapel Hill's campus, much less know or are related to someone who attends/attended the school.

Some will now back the Hurricanes. Sad but true.

 

Good work. I remember that cover.

 

I think hockey works in the Raleigh-Durham area because in a lot of ways the Research Triangle is a Northern town that happens to lie below the Mason-Dixon line. There's a huge difference between the 'country folk' out in the rest of the state and the people in Triangle area. The Triangle is educated and full of people from the North and Midwest. Hell, NASCAR is huge in North Carolina, but doesn't get that much play in the Triangle papers.

Put hockey back on ESPN and the ratings wouldn't be great, but they'd be OK.