MetaChat - New home for Stanley.

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20 June 2006

New home for Stanley. →[More:]
Congratulations to the Hurricanes and to the Oilers for a damn good series!

This normally being ACC/NCAA basketball territory, it's weird to be celebrating a pro team victory here - especially ice hockey. I pretty much know nothing about ice hockey except the puck goes in the goal and it has to cross the line before the team. Or something like that. Hockey's new to Raleigh - there are a lot of people here like me that aren't [yet] die-hard fans. I'm sure the harder cores are making fun of us for not understanding the game/passion as much. We'll get there.

Canadians sure are classy and mature, and Americans sure are kings of rude buffoonery. They were interviewing people leaving the arena. All the US'n were yelling things like, "we're Number ONE (because they can't fucking think of anything more original)". They asked an Oiler fan who came down from Edmonton his thoughts. He said, "It's ok as long as they continue to support the sport," smiling sheepishly. In the background was a local holding up a big "L" thumb & forefinger to his forehead. That image in a nutshell said it all. What a classy thing for the Oiler guy to say. I wish this country would grow the hell up.

Raleigh has always been in the shadow of Charlotte, like a waify little sister. It's sweet that we won the state's first major pro title before Charlotte and its beloved Panthers who choked in the Superbowl a couple of years ago. AND I was smiling, thinking about what an asshole Jeff O'Neill was at the pub that night. Bet he wishes he was back in ye olde capital city.

Still, it was nice to see the cup. It does look beautiful, and when the craziness subsides, I'd like to see it in person. And maybe a better 'Canes logo sooner than later. :D

post by: chewatadistance at: 07:23 | 25 comments

They play ice hockey in NC? How cold does it get there?

posted by GeckoDundee 20 June | 07:29

Canadians sure are classy and mature, and Americans sure are kings of rude buffoonery. And Italians sure can make a pizza pie, and Germans will eat your baby, and the French are all louche heterosexuals, the English prim homosexuals, the Russians are smelly beasts not far removed from Asia, where all sorts of nasty peoples come from. The subcontinent is full of polite, considerate countries with populations as kind as they are lazy, but most of all, the most courteous people on Earth come from the Seychelles (Canary Islanders are all philanderers, though).

Great, fun hockey, cheered on both sides by all sorts of excited fans.

posted by Hugh Janus 20 June | 07:31

It doesn't get below freezing very often, Gecko. Maybe never. It is cusp-like subtropical.

posted by sciurus 20 June | 07:45

Hugh, I think what chewatadistance was saying is that when buffoons like that behave like that, those stereotypes are harder to get rid of. She might also have been wistfully hoping that were more USAians to behave with the dignity of the bloke from Edmonton, then such stereotypes might disolve into the murky depths of shameful history where they belong, in much the same way that the nastier racist stereotypes have (for the most part anyway).

Or she might not. What would I know?

Thanks, sciurus. That's what I'd thought. It seems to me like, say, one of our local hockey teams winning something. Or Switzerland winning the America's Cup.

posted by GeckoDundee 20 June | 07:49

The Hurricanes are a relatively new franchise here - I don't remember exactly how long. We had a smaller local team for a few years prior. Market testing, I guess?

It doesn't get crazy cold - we have snaps of a few days hovering around freezing and a few snows - an occasional freak snow dump of over a foot, but last year no winter to speak of, really. Mostly in the 50's or 60's and high 30's low 40's at night. Summers are like sciurus said - hot humid sticky mosquito fests.

posted by chewatadistance 20 June | 07:54

Hugh, I think what chewatadistance was saying is that when buffoons like that behave like that, those stereotypes are harder to get rid of. She might also have been wistfully hoping that were more USAians to behave with the dignity of the bloke from Edmonton, then such stereotypes might disolve into the murky depths of shameful history where they belong, in much the same way that the nastier racist stereotypes have (for the most part anyway).

That's exactly what I was saying only way better said! Thanks, gecko. Didja ever get those malted milk balls?

posted by chewatadistance 20 June | 07:56

After attending a championship game that one's home team won, I'd warrant that most of the victors would be shouting and hoarse and jubilant and in that celebratory mob moment that inspires fans to all sorts of idiocy; fans of the losing team are much more likely to display a philosophical bent, no matter where they're from.

It's not the display of stereotypical behavior that perpetuates stereotypes, but the commentary on that behavior, that points out and reinforces these stances. And in particular, sports fan behavior is similar worldwide.

That said, it's all pretty harmless, right? I didn't mean any but the lightest tweak. I mean, honestly, the Seychelles?

posted by Hugh Janus 20 June | 08:01

Alas, no luck with the malted milk balls, but I did find a recipe. Any day now I hope to have a chance to make my own. I'll be sure to post some pics. Erm, or I might just email you them. (*Wonders exactly how "unsuitable for MeFi"¹ a MeCha post can be*).

On preview, there's probably a really interesting debate in there, Hugh. But possibly too dry and/or serious for here. It was also indeed a light tweak.

Hugs?

1. Note the term "unsuitable for MeFi" does not imply that MeFi is in any way inferior to (just noticed my mistake but will continue typing Freudianly anyway) MeCha.

posted by GeckoDundee 20 June | 08:09

I'm up for a group hug, followed by some jumping up and down and fun-bunching, as long as everybody shouts, "Mecha mecha numbah one! I'm just here to have some fun!"

posted by Hugh Janus 20 June | 08:21

Oh yeah, and probably the thing that gets me into more messes than anything else, is that I post solely here, and don't read over there, and am thus more likely to be contrary here than most, who seem to save their contrariness for that place. Mecha gets the full spectrum of Hugh Janus, for better or for worse. It keeps me honest.

But dammit, it was never my attention to derail this. I love hockey, and someday soon (I don't know when), the Caps will get to that place the Hurricanes are now (and we'll walk in the sun). But 'til then....

posted by Hugh Janus 20 June | 08:27

"MECHA MECHA NUMBAH ONE! I'M JUST HERE TO HAVE SOME FUN!"

I too post only here, but I do read there. So if anything, I'd be the snarkier one. I don't know who the Caps are, but I'm sure they will make it one day and I can tell you, winning the Big One is always a *lot* sweeter when it only comes round once in a lifetime. Go Caps!

posted by GeckoDundee 20 June | 08:33

The Caps just need to pick up Vagana and couple him with Ovechkin.

The 'Canes were the only thing I got right in the SportsFilter pool I was in, saving an overall lousy pickset. At least rainbaby didn't beat me again.

posted by danostuporstar 20 June | 08:41

Asheville even had a hockey team for a while. In fact, we had two, although the second one, the Aces, was really short lived, like half a season. The problem was that they had to go so far for games; there wasn't another team in their league (which would be, uh, the equivalent of a A league baseball: very, very minor league.)I love hockey. The best part of hockey in Asheville, though, was that our first team was called, I kid you not, The Smoke, and so every so often everyone yelled "Let's Go Smoke! Let's Go Smoke!" which was hilarious

posted by mygothlaundry 20 June | 08:53

I mean, there wasn't another team in their league for like 600 miles except Knoxville, and they could only play Knoxville so often.

posted by mygothlaundry 20 June | 08:54

Minor league hockey kicks ass; I used to go to Baltimore Skipjacks games as a kid. The 'Jacks were originally a feeder team for the Penguins, I think, but lost that affiliation at some point, so they were the dead-end kids of the league, prone to fighting and ugly play. It was great. We took my mother once; I must have been twelve, and she describes me looking at the tel-screen, watching the cotton candy vendors, and generally not paying attention to the game. That is, until the first fight on the ice broke out, when I leapt up on my seat, shouting "Kill him! Kill him! KILL HIMMMMM!"

I've been trying to mend my mother's broken heart ever since.

posted by Hugh Janus 20 June | 09:05

I can't believe the Oilers pushed the series to seven games after losing Roloson. It turned into a great series.

And can Rod Brind'amour retire now? Please?

posted by mullacc 20 June | 09:05

The 'Canes were the only thing I got right in the SportsFilter pool I was in, saving an overall lousy pickset. At least rainbaby didn't beat me again.

I didn't play, dano. Are you playing the World Cup one under an assumed name? I'm not doing too good there.

posted by rainbaby 20 June | 09:24

Yeah, umm ah, the person in first is my sock puppet. Please don't out me, OK?.

posted by danostuporstar 20 June | 09:29

No worries, Hugh. You're probably right about the reactions being the same if transplanted to another team/city/series.

As for manners, maybe it's just me, but it just seems like USA'ns are publicly rude more often than not. Little things like please and thank yous, holding doors etc. And how is that going to improve if no one says anything about it? Isn't saying something about it the first step to doing something about it?

posted by chewatadistance 20 June | 09:32

Ok "danostuporstar"! *winks*.

Congratulations, chewatadistance on the city's championship. Stuff like that is always good for a place.

posted by rainbaby 20 June | 09:34

Alas, no luck with the malted milk balls, but I did find a recipe. Any day now I hope to have a chance to make my own.

Excellent. Yeah, post pics!!

posted by chewatadistance 20 June | 09:35

I know, chewatadistance; it's a real conundrum, but I think there are specific cases, like when people get the chance to be on camera, where everybody acts kinda nutso. And levels of politeness (and what is considered polite) vary greatly, even within the USA. But honestly, I was mostly just riffing in a way that I thought was more goofy than pointed.

I think people look more often for things that conform to their expectations (e.g. I always miss the train by ten seconds) than they do for things that don't (the train, often as not, is waiting for me in the station, or I only have a couple minutes' wait). Americans may suffer for that, as world (and domestic) opinions are based on expectations reinforced by this kind of observation, rather than specific observations of well-defined, complex individuals (which Americans, along with everyone else, are).

posted by Hugh Janus 20 June | 09:45

Also:

END PARENTHESES!!!!

posted by Hugh Janus 20 June | 09:46

Understood, Hugh. And thanks rainbaby! Best wishes in the world cup pool.

It *is* kinda cool to see GO CANES on all our city buses and the flags flying today. And the headlines in the paper are REALLY BIG! :D

posted by chewatadistance 20 June | 10:21

Go Hartford Whalers!!

posted by mosch 20 June | 10:45

← Bump. || Bunnies nab Vagana →

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