The hypersensitive reaction from Carolina Hurricanes fans. Unbelievably lame.
Someone sent this to me a couple of days ago, and I couldn't stop rolling my eyes. Needless to say, if you're busy looking for potential insults being hurled towards the Carolina Hurricanes on Myspace, or some ridiculous blog (yes, like this one) -- you have too much time on your hands.
Do you know what the biggest concern of some Carolina Hurricanes fans is right now? It has nothing to with winning the Cup. Some 'Canes fans are freaked by the idea that someone, somewhere, might be calling them a redneck.
I'm dead serious.
Never mind that they are supplementing their ironic online outrage with a photo of a fan from the RBC Center during Game 7, who is holding up a sign that reads, "Redneck Hockey". Never mind that some in Canada refer to Albertans as rednecks or roughnecks, due to the province's prevalent oil industry. And never mind that there are other legitimately negative portrayals being made in the mainstream media that are receiving copious amounts of coverage.
Portrayals such as the one Bomani Jones provided to ESPN.com's Page 2 this week.
Here's a synopsis of Jones' piece: He traveled to Raleigh-Durham during the Carolina-New Jersey series in search of Hurricanes fans. He scoured a number of venues (restaurants, bars et al) to see who would be out watching the games. All venues visited contained barely a handful of fans (both for afternoon and evening games), and in some cases, the game wasn't even being shown.
In other words, hardly encouraging.
I don't want to get into Jones' piece in depth, because I've referenced it in this week's column. But it bears mentioning here, because it demonstrates that mainstream media are attacking Canes fans on a legitimate topic: Fan growth. Are Jones' claims true? Are they not? Why? Tell us. Give us your side of the story.
But alas, they seem to be far too caught up in their Internet wars. And the most blatant observation I can make thus far, is that these comments are getting to them. But rather than ignore them, they bite -- which is obviously what the instigators want.
How highly predictable. And how unbelievably lame. Now come on, 'Canes fans -- add the icing on the cake and bring the "jelly" retorts.
Posts
On one message board, one guy told me the problem was that I live in Durham. Why? Because there's probably a "needle in my arm, and a bullet in the other that stops the blood from flowing to my brain."
Funny stuff.
Anonymous
9:01 a.m.