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Good morning, folks.
I’ve never been to Atlanta. My sister lived there for several years and my late father always had nice things to say about it from his visits.
I don’t know a lot about the city, but I’ve always thought I’d like to visit some day — mostly so I could take a side trip to Athens. I’ve been to the one in Greece a couple of times, but never to the one in Georgia that was an important part of the early evolution of alternative rock and new wave music and spawned the B-52s and R.E.M. It’s gotta be a pretty cool place to have inspired those bands.
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I should also mention that one of my all-time favourite bands — the Black Crowes — is from the Atlanta suburb of Marietta.
Unfortunately, I might not be welcome to visit the area anymore. Turns out there’s some Atlantans out there who are hot with me.
You may recall last week I wrote about how I felt it was time Jets 2.0 severed ties with their Thrashers history. That the constant references to the franchise leader in this or that, Ilya Kovalchuk, had run its course.
Most of you were in agreement.
Well, turns out Atlanta hockey fans are not — and they are offended by the suggestion. Although I think more of them are upset at what they think I said rather than what I actually wrote.
I’ve received numerous emails and plenty of Twitter blasts this week — most of them angry and retaliating for my attack on Atlanta and its hockey fans.
Say what?!
I never said anything about Thrashers fans.
What I said was, I think it’s odd that the Jets continue to stay connected to the legacy of a team from another city.
The more I think about it, it seems odd that any franchise in any sport that moves to another city does this.
The Jets are not the only ones in the NHL to have this blended-franchise past. The Arizona Coyotes have the Jets 1.0 legacy, and then there’s the connections to the past between the Carolina Hurricanes and Hartford Whalers; the Colorado Avalanche and Quebec Nordiques; the Dallas Stars and Minnesota North Stars; the New Jersey Devils with the Colorado Rockies and Kansas City Scouts; and the Calgary Flames with the first Atlanta NHL franchise.
And, I’m not suggesting the NHL erase the Thrashers’ history. The league has a list of defunct teams on its franchises web page. The Thrashers can have their history there — for those who care. Most of us here don’t — nothing personal.
I’m guessing some hockey fans in Atlanta are still upset — Blueland lives on — they lost their team. I’m sure many of you can relate to that.
But, I can remember sitting at a Phoenix Coyotes game after the Jets flocked south, thinking how wrong it was to see Dale Hawerchuk’s jersey hanging in the rafters at the rink in Glendale — whatever it was called then.
Which makes me wonder why on Earth do Thrashers fans want their hockey history in Winnipeg, anyways?
Keep it for yourselves and enjoy it.
On another note, my favourite songs from those Atlanta-area bands are:
R.E.M. — “Oddfellows Local 151”
B-52s — “Dance this Mess Around”
Black Crowes — “Thorn in my Pride”
As always folks, you can reach me by replying to this mailing or by sending me an email here.
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