04/18/24
July 13, 2017
Peter Karmanos close to selling Hurricanes for $500 million: Peter Karmanos Jr., majority owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, could be close completing a sale of the NHL team for about $500 million, according to a Bloomberg News report.
Coincidentally, the guy that wrote Brass Bonanza passed away 2 or 3 days ago.
To commemorate his passing, local stations replayed footage of the final home game in Hartford, with the guys tossing their gloves and gear to the fans in the stands after the horn went off.
That communal goodbye and sendoff was a heartfelt, bittersweet lovefest.
posted by beaverboard at 04:50 PM on July 13, 2017
I was never a Whalers' fan, but I loved the fact that the Bruins had a rival within the New England area and required a drive of less than 2 hours (from southern NH) to see. I still see the occasional set of flukes on a Whaler t-shirt at various events around Boston.
posted by Howard_T at 05:49 PM on July 13, 2017
I always wonder what might have happened if the Whale had stayed put in Hartford and Bob Kraft had gone ahead with his plan to move the Patriots there in the late 1990's.
That glum and unanointed bend in the Connecticut River would have become an epicenter of New England pro sports. With the other Boston teams staying put and looking on with disapproval from afar.
posted by beaverboard at 06:55 PM on July 13, 2017
That glum and unanointed bend in the Connecticut River
As someone who spent the first decade of his life there, I want you to know that I take absolutely no exception to that comment.
I still see the occasional set of flukes on a Whaler t-shirt at various events around Boston
I ran into a guy at the BottleRock Music Festival in Napa, California a couple of years back sporting the Kelly green and blue. Cost me $10 because I had to buy him a drink for flying the flag.
posted by tahoemoj at 11:48 AM on July 14, 2017
I was a Hartford resident for a couple of troubling years. I do better as a visitor than a resident.
But I always thought it was great to be able to walk around downtown and pass by the Civic Center and realize, hey, there's a major league hockey game going on in there, and it's not jamming up the downtown or making life temporarily annoying. The scale of the Whalers enterprise fit in with the modest surroundings. Same with the UConn basketball games that got played there.
In the early 80's, UConn basketball was not a happening thing. It was prior to the arrival of Auriemma and Calhoun. The facility could be cavernous and subdued on certain days, depending on the opponent. A good place to spend a cold, rainy late winter weekend afternoon.
posted by beaverboard at 12:12 PM on July 14, 2017
This brokenhearted Whalers fan (i) would applaud Karmanos no longer having anything to do with the team; (ii) stopped caring about the sale when I read that the team would remain in North Carolina. Sorry NoMich, but the Whale should be playing at the mall, and the dulcet tones of Brass Bonanza should be crooning the insurance industry yuppies and Colt gun executives once again.