garnetpalmetto
Jerkministrator
Ah, but business, like politics in some respects, is about the art of the possible. Perhaps it was not seen as possible, at least around here, because the "many" chose to pursue flights of fancy (cable guys, people glued to FlightAware, and "mysterious insider sources" whose stories just didn't square with reality) instead of listening to the boots on the ground - hockey fans here in the Triangle, some of whom may know more than the average user about the goings-on of our team in our community?
I get that we were in a sensitive spot. We sat squarely at the confluence of the desire to see a market that had lost its team get one back (Quebec City), being a relocated team from a spot that has been rewritten into being a passionate hotbed of the sport (Hartford), being located in a Southern market that not many on the outside know much about, and having this all happen in a post-Thrashers world where every Tom, Dick, and Harry wants to be the guy to break the news that IT'S HAPPENING (whatever that "it" is to them). But all the statements from people associated with the team, people associated with the NHL, people associated with the upper echelons of the hockey media, and people here on the ground made were waved away by people desperate to believe cable guys, flight trackers, and (imaginary?) sources and, in the end, they were all the more wrong for doing it. It's interesting to see that there's nary an apology from those around here who told us for months, years even, that we were losing our team imminently and to deal with it and who wound up with egg on their face as a result of it. Not that I expected one, but that would have been just a little refreshing - for the "many" to own up to the fact that for any number of reasons (envy, hatred, ignorance, etc.) they bought into and peddled lies and falsehoods about the fate of this team and they were in the wrong for doing so. That's enough of that though - we were right and they were wrong and continuing to analyze it at this point, is academic.
It's early, but a toast - Here's to doing whatever it takes, to being relentless, and to being lovable goofballs. Here's going from the penthouse to the basement and the slow, arduous climb back into grace and glory. To going from being derisively called "Whalercanes" by some to spending more years in Raleigh as the Hurricanes than we did in Hartford. Here's to the last 20 years of Carolina Hurricanes hockey and many, many more to come in the future.
