I like watching people win things!

While all the too cool for school people, which sadly includes me, have been following the World Cup (go Brasil!), the Carolina Hurricanes have been quietly causing the Edmonton Oilers to play Exxon Valdez style. Tonight, in a beautiful victory, the Hurricanes beat those Oilers by 3-1 in game 7 of the Stanley Cup.

Initially, I pondered how my basketball and barbeque loving home state could embrace a sport that was founded by the Northern Aggressors (or maybe the Canadians - but hell, they're above the Mason-Dixon line). The Hurricanes won a game played on ice in the middle of June in North Carolina. Many people in North Carolina still think the Civil War is going on, so how could they feverently embrace a yankee sport? After watching game 7 this evening, I think I figured out a few reasons why. First, the hockey players seem to closely resemble the mountain men who hide out in western North Carolina. Pastey white skin. Fully bearded. Missing teeth. This feels familiar to North Carolinians, not because they look like this, but because they have a random cousin who does. Second, the Raleigh-Durham area, where the Hurricanes reside, is the hot bed for NCAA basketball. That ends in March. What is a sports fan to do until November? Root for a hockey team! Third, I bet you a million dollars that the RBC Center in Raliegh sells sweet tea and barbeque. You don't have to tell a North Carolinian that twice before they show up en mass.

Congratulations 'Canes! Now the fairweather fan in me is back to rooting for Brasil to win the World Cup.