You're absolutely correct. I've seen a lot of stupid things said in this thread.
My comment, as I already explained, was a caricaturization of the underlying belief of a GOOD MANY fans on this board. It's perfectly okay to slag on southern\western markets, but it's long been considered heresy to say anything negative about a Canadian market. Worse yet, there's another inherent idea that hockey BELONGS to Canada\Canadians, and while they've been quite gracious in letting us borrow it for these past years, the time for silliness is over, and it's time to return it to its rightful owners. For a league with a fanbase so fixated on ridiculous things like ratings, attendance, revenues(to the point that the game itself becomes secondary in its importance), it's amazing that the supposed "core fans" are so possessive and at times even xenophobic when it comes to growing the game.
I am from Edmonton. I can assure you that the elitism you are experiencing now
did not begin with the latest expansion. Even before the Oilers entered the NHL
there were comments about how the NHL was making a mistake going to such a hick town. The comments that the market was too small to deserve a franchise have really never stopped. These have come from both sides of the border and despite what you may think, over the years, in much greater volume than you have
experienced. (remember, this forum represents a very small slice of the world).
We also had to put up with many reports from the US depicting Edmontonians
as eskimos and describing the city as a wasteland. At some point you need to
develop a thick enough skin to dismiss these as ingorance on the part of the author.
You can see further examples of what I am talking about in this thread where individuals from Montreal put down QC as being unworthy.
That said, I don't apologize for my comment. I've seen just as incendiary from you in the past weeks, something that no doubt stems from where you currently live and the rumors about my own team
I did not ask you to apologize. In fact, twice in this thread I have said that I
would give you the benefit of the doubt with respect to your comments
and I stand by that. That being said, I would like you to back up the last line
in your response. Go read my posts. You will see that I have argued that
the KW area could support an NHL team. Most of this was in response
to comments to the contrary by my fellow Canadians. However, I have also
clearly stated on a number of occasions that a) I am not at all convinced
that the Predators will be coming to KW and b) that if Nashville steps up
in support of the Preds then I feel strongly that the team should stay.
None the less you seem to have decided that being
from Waterloo makes me the enemy.
In closing, I will say that the you're support "growing the game" or you're a
xenophobe argument does aggrevate me but not for the reason you might expect.
In fact, it is because most people (I will exclude you in this case) who use this argument are ignorant of the long history that hockey has had at many levels in the US. Over that time there have been both successes and failures (as has been the case in Canada
by the way) and there will continue to be both in the future. Again, go back and read my earlier posts on this.