like a hurricane

it's come as quite a surprise to many folks in the great state of north carolina that we do, indeed, have a hockey team. the team's been around for some time now, but has been in relative obscurity until recently. oh, i know there'll be naysayers that claim carolina hurricane mania, but guys, i grew up partially in DETROIT where hockey is KING and the redwings RULE so the fanbase here must be hidden. i have discovered that there are hard core fans and that they call themselves "caniacs." really a clever play on words, isn't it? i was impressed; it's way better than those wisconsin cheese heads.

the reason this afore-unbeknownst-to-many team has been flung from the grasp of relative obscurity? they have been, in the past weeks, in the stanley cup finals. and, after playing seven long games against the edmonton oilers, and almost blowing a 3-1 series lead, they won the darn stanley cup.

huh? a team from north carolina, playing a cold northern sport like hockey, in the championships, in JUNE for crying out loud, and WINNING the thing? when it's 90 degrees outside the rink where the final game took place? i'm in awe. it's incongruous! i compare it to a north dakotan beach volleyball team winning the national championships in january. it's simply not feasible. not feasible, but realistic i guess, since the carolina hurricanes just did it.

i wonder how many on the team are native carolinians? just wondering.