Re: Hockey Thread! (NHL etc.)
Posted: 18 May 2018 16:41
Depends indeed! I don't think how "good of a sports town" a place is should factor into it. I'm all about factors like "time since last title" or "one of the greatest ever has never made a Cup Finals." Part of that sentiment, admittedly, is born from the fact that I'm a small market fan myself. Particularly with respect to Georgia Tech (my team with greatest emotional attachment and investment). We are vastly outperformed and dominated in fanbase size by the University of Georgia (not to mention most Southern universities). Our fanbase is largely fickle, and because of our greater percentage of international students compared to other nearby universities (due to greater prestigeKong Wen wrote: ↑08 May 2018 03:00Meh, that depends on how you define interesting. Tampa Bay and Washington aren't interesting to me no matter how long they've gone without winning a Cup, as I can recall seeing their arenas empty as a minor league rink in the summer even during playoff games. Terrible hockey cities.
Vegas, Winnipeg, and Nashville all absolutely belong there.
The last time a team has won 3 Cups in a row was the '80-'83 Islanders dynasty under Mike Bossy, one of the best players of all time. And NO player has ever won 3 Conn Smythe trophies in a row—something Crosby would be a serious contender for if the Penguins were to make it that far. It's fun to see history being made.
), we often fail to sell out, sometimes by an embarrassing margin. But I am a diehard, and I have a good circle of friends and twitter people that I know are as invested as I am. What that gives me perspective on is that every team has at least some fans like that. As long as there's at least somebody out there with that passion and investment for a team and it's been sufficiently long since their last championship, I'm all for 'em winning and experiencing that Title Town nirvana that has eluded me my entire life. I'm sure that sounds melodramatic and cheesy. And for what it's worth, a strong argument could be made that I allow myself to be too deeply invested in sports. I get that. I'm just saying that I have a strong sentimentality for the small market, hard luck fan. Fuck the blue bloods.And as a side note: with respect to Vegas, do you really think they'd have that loud, killer atmosphere if they had 20 wins going into March? Whether or not they're a "hockey town," IMO, is unknowable until they're bad. To refer back to college sports, the University of Tennessee's football fanbase is one I admire a great deal. They're a team that is by no means storied but by no means bad, speaking in terms of their entire history. But the past decade, they've frankly been awful. Dramatic underachievers. Yet their stadium has been sold out almost that entire time. A stadium with a capacity of one hundred and ten thousand in a much smaller city than Vegas. That's a sports town. Pulling for a team that exploded out of the gates in their first season isn't exactly a badge of devotion. Now, maybe you were saying Vegas was interesting only in the sense that a brand new team is so good so fast, but that's not the vibe I was reading. I could be wrong.
Also to hell with the Penguins and their history. Glad those dipshits got sent home. Hope Crosby never has another playoff win. But I'm a little biased.
