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SURVEYING THE LANDSCAPE
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College Notebook No. 19
Friday, June 16, 2006
By Denny O'Brien |
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Feuding factions declare
truce over 'Canes
�2006 Bonesville.net
Peter Karmanos deserves the Nobel Peace
Prize for Intercollegiate Athletics in North Carolina. That's the
complementary hardware I would reward the Carolina Hurricanes' owner for his
team's indelible quest for Lord Stanley's Cup.
While that fictional prize hardly stacks up
against hockey's Holy Grail, it is a fitting honor for an individual who
miraculously accomplished the unthinkable in North Carolina � which was to
successfully galvanize the divided loyalties of the state's sports fanatics.
Think about it.
At what other point in our state's proud
athletics history has there been a consensus following for one team? Or when
was the last time we experienced a cease fire between rival fans on Internet
message boards and talk radio?
It certainly never occurred at any point
during the Hornets' residency in Charlotte. And the Carolina Panthers hardly
corner the market in a state where the Washington Redskins still maintain a
stranglehold on thousands.
But the Hurricanes do. That much became
apparent from the opening drop in their first playoff series against
Montreal, and the buildup throughout the postseason has been nothing short
of a phenomenon.
Especially when you consider the reluctance
with which we welcomed the Hartford Whalers when they washed ashore in N.C.
Nearly a decade later the Hurricanes not only are welcome residents our
state, but have begun to embed themselves deeply into our sports culture.
Perhaps hockey caught fire because at some
level we all can identify with the stereotypes and biases the Hurricanes and
their fans battle on a daily basis. If the Canes are the outcasts of the
hockey universe, then Caniacs are the uncouth, uncultured misfits who don't
fully grasp the rules and insist that cheerleaders have a traditional role
in the frozen game.
That's exactly the type of ridicule to
which Cane Country was subjected during the 2002 Cup run, not to mention
this season. And to some degree, it is akin to what many of us experience
with our primary rooting interests.
The Carolina Hurricanes are as misplaced as
the University of New Jersey at Durham. Their 'bandwagon' fans are as
undeserving of success as those hoity-toity wine sippers who monopolize
First Class in the Smith Center.
The small-market Canes are the ECU of
hockey, succeeding against the odds and fighting an uphill battle against
the wealthy aristocracy of the NHL.
Or maybe this newfound love affair can be
directly traced to indelible moments that we've retrieved from our memory
banks.
It's hard not to compare the Hurricanes to
the 1991 Pirates, who uninvitingly crashed into the Top 10 and permanently
onto the landscape of major college football. And their knack for late-game
heroics has to remind some of the Cardiac Pack from '83.
That Hurricanes players and coaches embrace
their everyman appeal hasn't hurt their cause, either. They are as
accessible to us as a college coach on a booster club trail, as well as the
athletes who stroll across campus like an Average Joe student.
It's quite a recipe when you think about
it. And you can't help but wonder if Karmanos factored in all of the
ingredients, or if the success of the move from Hartford to Raleigh was just
blind luck.
Regardless, by now almost every major
columnist and broadcast journalist has weighed in on the unlikely success of
Karmanos and his Canes. We've all acknowledged the fact that he was the
first to sell professional hockey in a region that most associate with
NASCAR and barbecue.
Even more impressive is the fact that he
sold it in the epicenter of major college athletics. And in the process, he
proved that common ground is possible despite the sharply divergent
allegiances that have underscored our state's sports history.
For years, we've debated which school in
North Carolina has the most passionate fans and which venue provides the
most intimidating environment. That answer is now clear.
It's the melting pot of each school's
diehards pouring into the NHL's loudest igloo.
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02/23/2007 02:03:07 AM |
