Fraters Libertas

A Flurry Of Faux Fans

The Wild's improbable playoff run has started to attract a lot of attention here in Minnesota, even from folks who normally pay no heed to hockey. Heck even long in the tooth sports columnist Sid Hartman wrote about the Wild today:

But the only local pro sports team achievement that compares with what the third-year Wild has done -- going to the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs -- was accomplished by the Minneapolis Lakers.

A Detroit Gems team that finished on the bottom of the National Basketball League at 4-40 in 1946-47 -- and sent only one signed player when it moved to Minneapolis -- was transformed into a championship team in its first year of operation as the Lakers in 1947-48. And then when they moved to the NBA the following year, they won again, finishing with a total of six championships in seven years.

Yeah Sid that's exactly the comparison I was thinking of. Besides Sid himself, there are probably eight or nine other people in the entire Twin Cities who actually might have witnessed the '47-48 Lakers and only half of them can still remember anything about it. That Sid, he’s right on the cutting edge.

And the Star Tribune published a “Hockey 101 primer” apparently for those readers who don’t know anything about the game. How fargin’ embarrassing! This is Minnesota not frickin’ Anaheim. If you live here and you don’t know hockey then don’t bother learning now. There are plenty of real hockey fans in Minnesota already.

Speaking of Anaheim I’ve received a few e-mails from readers informing me that the notoriously fickle Southern California sports fans are now pushing each other out of the way to try to jump on the Ducks bandwagon, much in the same manner as last year when come October suddenly everyone was an Angels fan. Even esteemed talk radio show host and FOF (friend of Fraters) Hugh Hewitt is now claiming allegiance to the Ducks and trying (without much success) to talk smack about the Wild. We love Hugh’s show and he’s done a lot to promote our blog but when it comes to sports his loyalties are questionable at best. He’s supposedly an Indians fan at heart (don’t look now Hugh but Detroit is now only two and half back of the Tribe) but when they’re not competitive he’s a big Angels backer, attending playoff and World Series games and dissing the Twins. When Ohio State won the college football national championship his gloating was nearly insufferable but yet I have a hunch if USC or UCLA made a run he’d be wrapping himself in their colors in a heartbeat. Good thing the NFL doesn’t have a team in So Cal are we’d have to listen to Hugh whine about the bad calls that got just like we do every time the Browns are “robbed”.

If you want to stay true to your roots Hugh you really should be a Dallas Stars fan.

Or have you already forgotten the glory days of the Cleveland Barons? The club that merged with the Minnesota North Stars, who, despicably abandoned Minnesota to become the Dallas Stars.

Besides how can you cheer for a team called the Mighty Ducks? There’s something very unmanly and vaguely French about that name.