Category Archives: Carolina Hurricanes

Carolina Hurricanes, Charlotte Hornets, College Basketball

From the North Cack Stacks: The Weekly Best in NC Sportswriting

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It’s been a while since we’ve concocted one of these posts, but it’s time to run this thing back. We spanned the state — and the globe — to bring you the best sportswriting from the past week that centers on North Carolina: athletes, writers, teams, everything. If you missed it, we’re here for you:

I grew up a massive sports fan in North Carolina — but I just never caught the NASCAR bug. That’s no knock; it just never caught my interest. That said, I remember where I was when I heard news of Dale Earnhardt Sr. died at Daytona — I’ll never forget it. Last week we hit the 15th anniversary of Dale’s crash. The single best thing I’ve read on sports in the recent past is Liz Clarke’s recollection of that tragic day. (Clarke, who currently writes for the Washington Post, cut her NASCAR teeth working for the Charlotte Observer.)

Michael Lee is one of the best scribes covering the NBA; this week he published an insightful piece on Washington Wizards point guard John Wall: a native of Raleigh, NC, who enters an early crossroads of his career as his team stumbles down the stretch.

We’re late to the party on this one — but it’s worth bring back up here: friend of the program and Raleigh denizen Chip Patterson of CBS Sports, from two weeks ago, on Mike Brey’s success at Notre Dame along Tobacco Road (special shoutout to Ben for the idea pitch). Is the next Gary Williams? Great writing by Chip, but I’m not sold; Brey doesn’t sweat enough.

The Hornets fell on the road last night to LeBron and the Cavs, which snapped their five-game winning streak. Charlotte has still won seven of their last nine — and no one has played a bigger role in that, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer, than Kemba Walker, who is having a career year at the most opportune time.

The Hornets seemed poised for their second playoff appearance in three seasons — but as Russell Varner at At The Hive states, the team will need to play better on the road — 10-18 away from Time Warner Cable Arena, with a negative point differential — down the stretch if they want to be dancing come mid-April.

It’s been perhaps the most-discussed storyline of the Carolina Hurricanes’ season so far: will Eric Staal — the team’s captain, who possesses a no-trade clause — be dealt before this season’s trade deadline, which is next Monday (2/29)? Over at WRALSportsFan, Ken Medlin reminds us that a decision must be made soon.

Carolina Hurricanes, Carolina Panthers, College Basketball, College Football

Naughty or Nice: NC Sports Holiday Outlook

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With only one more day to leave an impression on Santa that determines whether or not you get a lump of coal in the form of crippling NCAA sanctions or that shiny new Red Ryder BB Gun of a program changing bowl victory, here’s how things stand …

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The Nice List

Quinn Cook

The emotional leader of the Duke Blue Devils, for better or worse during his four years in Durham, was desperate to avoid the distinction of becoming the 2nd four year player to leave Duke under Coach K without an ACC or NCAA championship ring. While it would have been easy for Cook to try to do it all on his own, his willingness to defer to true freshman Tyus Jones in crunch time was likely the catalyst that propelled Duke to a 5th National Championship, and Cook’s first banner.

Gene Chizik

When North Carolina football fell flat on its face towards the end of the 2014 season, it was obvious that the defense was in need of serious repair. Chizik was hired early in 2015 in a move that was regarded as a great hire that would pay dividends in a few seasons when he would finally be able to implement his style of play. No one expected UNC’s defense to go from disgustingly awful to above average in one season, but they did, and that improvement was good enough for an 11-2 record and a spot in the Russell Athletic Bowl.

The Carolina Panthers

Even though the national media is working hard to paint the Panthers as a traditionally dirty, bat-wielding band of hooligans, Greg Olsen is a finalist for the NFL Man of the Year Award, Cam Newton is consistently making headlines for his work in the community, and they’re on the verge of becoming the first team since the ’72 Dolphins to go undefeated during the regular season without cheating.

Greensboro

The ACC won’t be coming back to Greensboro any time soon, which is a total shame when you consider how much that city embraces the event. The arena staff is second to none, you can’t go anywhere without being chatted up about the tournament by a restaurant hostess, gas station cashier, or Uber driver, and because there’s not much to do in Greensboro, the arena and surrounding restaurants become an ACC community for the entire week. The town put on an amazing event in 2015, just like they always do.

Steph Curry

Over the past year, somehow, some way, Steph Curry has become the most popular basketball player on the planet. We always knew he was incredible, but the way in which he keeps improving is downright frightening. The best thing about Curry? He’s seemingly backlash-proof.

The Duke/Carolina basketball pregame

There’s no shortage of hate in the Duke/Carolina rivalry, and with the NCAA mess and Duke’s latest run of success on the court and in recruiting, things seem to have really ramped up on the Chapel Hill side of things recently. While all goodwill pretty much faded with a commanding UNC performance and a furious Duke comeback, before the game, Duke fans made and distributed “Dean” t-shirts to honor the passing of the legendary Dean Smith, and the teams shared a genuine, touching moment of silence before tipoff. It was a rare reminder that we can all actually behave during rivalry games.

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The Naughty List

ACC Referees

There’s really not enough room to talk about how bad ACC officiating has been, and the negative impacts its had on teams in North Carolina. Just know that you’re the worst, ACC referees. You get nothing for Christmas.

The Carolina Hurricanes Front Office

Give us a hockey team again, please. And don’t float this garbage about relocation out there either like anyone in any city would pay to see the product that’s put on the ice every night. North Carolina fans don’t have to have a Staal or a Ward on the roster to buy tickets. We’re not dumb. Build around the youth, move overpaid “stars”, and build this franchise back up again.

Jeff Compher

Sure, you hired a super person as your new head coach, but let’s not forget that you fired a super person to get him. And the guy you fired also happens to be a proven head coach who also happens to have graduated from East Carolina. It’s extremely hard to cheer against Scottie Montgomery, but it’s pretty easy to hope this blows up in Compher’s face.

“Tweet at recruit” Guy

Smith. Brandon. Bam. Harry. And many, many more. So many elite NC recruits this year, and so many of them had multiple NC teams in their final list. From fans begging recruits to come to their school to wishing injuries on them when they don’t, North Carolina saw our fair share of Twitter nastiness on display. Talking to you too, assistant basketball coach who subtweets recruits who chose to play elsewhere.

Whoever is in charge of the ACC broadcast agreements

Do better.

 

 

Carolina Hurricanes, Carolina Panthers, Charlotte Hornets, College Basketball, NC State

From the North Cack Stacks: The Weekly Best in NC Sportswriting

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The Charlotte Hornets are 15-10 and tied for 4th place in the East; they’ve gone 5-3 in the month of December — all of those games sans Al Jefferson, who was out with a calf injury, and will now begin serving a five-game suspension. I love Al, and he’s been the heart and soul of this team the last three years, but it’s no mystery why they’ve been so good without him: more shooting, faster, and better defensively. Good stuff here from Rick Bonnell, who examines what could happen next with Big Al and the Hornets.

Cam Newton is basically running Charlotte right now: When he’s not busy leading a 13-0 football team, Cam found time — on Tuesday — to run around Charlotte, surprising students and teachers at various schools with Christmas joy. Friend of the program Jonathan Jones was able to tag along for the festivities. Oh, also, Ice Cube and Kevin Hart were there, too, which produced this amazing Tweet:

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For Our State magazine: Shane Ryan penned a cool piece on the beginnings of the Carolina Hurricanes in the state of North Carolina, including those first two years spent splaying in the ACC’s headquarters, and how the franchise carved out their own corner in the sports universe.

Sticking with the Hurricanes — they’ve been playing better as of late, which is great to see. However, as Brett Finger writes over at Cardiac Cane, despite the newfound success, especially on the offensive end, the franchise needs to remain committed to a rebuild.

Cat Barber is having a really good season for NC State – but he has one glaring hole in his game, which is having an ugly impact on an important aspect of the Wolfpack’s offense, writes Steven Murma at Backing the Pack.

From earlier this week, over at Duke Basketball Report, JD King on the sudden retirement of Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan.

Carolina Hurricanes

What We’re Thankful For: #21 – Kaiton, Forslund, and Tracy

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There’s not a day that goes by when we don’t wake up being thankful for being a sports fan in North Carolina. This November, the SportsChannel8 team and a panel of peers from NC media will be counting down to Thanksgiving with the top 25 things we have to be thankful for in this great state.

As a state, I hope we’re comfortable enough now in our own skin to admit that we don’t know much about hockey. That was an extremely sensitive topic when the Carolina Hurricanes moved from Hartford to Greensboro, and later to Raleigh. Personally, I would get seethingly angry listening to ESPN sprinkle redneck jokes into highlight packages, refusing to even say the word “Hurricanes”, and making jokes about the sparse attendance in Greensboro by referring to the empty seats as “Green Acres”. As we all know in ACC country, ESPN is THE tastemaker in sports, and the obvious butthurt over losing Connecticut’s pro franchise to North Carolina contributed to the construction of an extremely negative perception of the franchise and its fans. In short, ESPN wanted the Hurricanes to fail in North Carolina and you’ll never convince me otherwise.

But let’s be real. Fans didn’t really go to the games at first. And when they did, you’d hear fans screaming “SHOOT” on every power play, even though the four skaters on the penalty kill were completely blocking a path to the goal. You’d hear things like “GET THE BALL OUT” when the Canes were stuck in their own zone. It happened. I was there, trust me. The franchise was smart by hiring “Ron the Ref” who would shoot videos to explain the rules of hockey to fans and make himself available for questions in the concourse. But moves like that, man, it just fueled the fire for those eager to laugh at the Hurricanes fanbase. But there was one area within the organization that no one dared to mock. Three voices, two with universal credibility in the hockey world, and a third playing as the perfect sidekick. Speaking as a fan who hadn’t watched a single shift of NHL hockey before the Hurricanes moved to Greensboro, I’m incredibly thankful for Chuck Kaiton, John Forslund, and Tripp Tracy for teaching me to enjoy the game through play-by-play, analysis, humor, but most of all, chill-inducing excitement. Continue reading What We’re Thankful For: #21 – Kaiton, Forslund, and Tracy →

Carolina Hurricanes, Thanksgiving

What We’re Thankful For: #24 – The Caniacs

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There’s not a day that goes by when we don’t wake up being thankful for being a sports fan in North Carolina. This November, the SportsChannel8 team and a panel of peers from NC media will be counting down to Thanksgiving with the top 25 things we have to be thankful for in this great state. 

What do you get when you put a commonly-liked winning team in the middle of three passionate fanbases who have spent the last seven months at each other’s throats who suddenly find themselves without an emotional outlet until college football starts again? You get people camping overnight in the box office just to beat online ticket sales, you get miles of unrivaled tailgating, and you get three hours of an ear-splitting soaked blanket of sound in the “loudest house in the NHL”. You get The Caniacs.

You often hear phrases like “you’ve never seen anything like it”, but that’s truly the case with Hurricanes fans. As you’ve seen with the surge of popularity of professional soccer in the US, the temptation is there to mimic what you see on TV from Anfield or Emirates, and American fans flock to MLS games to sing and chant and light flares like their European counterparts do. But when hockey expanded to North Carolina, after a few seasons in Greensboro and one year in Raleigh of getting used to the idea of an NHL team in the middle of North Carolina, a new culture was born in the NHL that wasn’t anything like what you’d see in Toronto or Chicago or Boston. It was uniquely ours. Continue reading What We’re Thankful For: #24 – The Caniacs →

Carolina Hurricanes

Welcome Home, Carolina Hurricanes – Throwback Thursday, October 29th

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On this day in 1999, the Carolina Hurricanes hosted the New Jersey Devils in their first ever home game in Raleigh’s “Entertainment & Sports Arena”. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy performed pre-game because I guess every single band in North Carolina was busy that night.

What do you remember about the first true home game in Carolina Hurricanes history?

Carolina Hurricanes

The Official Carolina Hurricanes Chuck Kaiton Playoff Beard-o-meter

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It’s hockey season in North Carolina, which means…well we’re not always sure. Like most North Carolinians we check the standings after the Final Four wraps and if the Hurricanes are near the playoff hunt we are ALL IN for the Canes (did someone say tailgating?)

But no longer. We’re covering the Carolina Hurricanes with the same ardent fervor that we tackle all North Carolina sports. Most of that coverage will revolve around the official SportsChannel8 Chuck Kaiton Playoff Beard-o-meter. [note: though the hyphens are included for visual taste, it should be pronounced ‘Beardometer’ not ‘Beard O’Meter.’ Think ‘barometer’] It’s pretty simple: the longer Chuck’s playoff beard, the better the Canes’ chances of playing deep into tailgate season.

Look for the Chuck Kaiton Beard-o-meter to appear from the SportsChannel8 twitter feed throughout the season based on Hurricanes games and other news. Yes, we realize it may be a little high after an 0-3 start to the season. Bear with us, we’re working on the formula.

Also, don’t forget there are lots of good ways to attend Hurricanes games. Hit us up if you’re tailgating. And for even better Hurricanes coverage, check out the guys at Section 328.