I tried to talk with as many of the 300 or so Atlanta Thrashers fans as possible during the fanbase's tailgate "rally" on Saturday -- three or four other videos near the top of this StoryStream -- but this man was the one I spent the most time listening to. He's from New Orleans, so as a matter of formality we traded a few shots about the Saints and Falcons, and says he first got into hockey when one of his friends took him along to a Tulane Green Wave vs. Texas A&M Aggies hockey game. Tulane has a hockey team!
Here he is listing the high points of his Thrashers memories:
He had a litany of grievances against the Atlanta Spirit Group, as did most of the people at the party.
I've tried to get video up of a couple of the other people I talked to, but not all of them are working -- Android phones are so perfect, y'all. There was the girl in a goalie mask who said she'd attended the team's first preseason game, along with her blue-painted friend, who grew up playing hockey. A guy from Akron, two girls from Washington, a family from Indiana. Even some native Atlantans; the species exists!
One young lady complained about getting asked condescending questions by the CBC's reporter on the scene -- she was asked whether the event mattered to her all that much, told what "CBC" stands for and asked if she'd actually miss hockey. She says the TSN reporter was pleasant and respectful, however, but everybody was unimpressed by how early Canadian media left. Most Atlanta media wisely set their clocks to Atlanta time and showed up an hour or two in.
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