It all began with a simple tweet.
Harmless enough, right? Wrong. Clearly, the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes are excited to unveil their new “Reverse Retro” sweaters, which the team will debut Friday night against the Blackhawks. Paying homage to the Canes’ previous identity as the Hartford Whalers, these uniforms are objectively phenomenal. While the Whalers were never particularly successful throughout their two-decade run in Hartford (but no one can take away their 1987 Adams Division title!), which ended with the team’s relocation to Raleigh in 1997, fans still can’t get enough of the Whale, buying throwback merch wherever they can find it. Even the incomparable Snoop Dogg copped himself a Whalers hoodie, which he wore during his late-night appearance on Jimmy Kimmel in 2014.
But even if we all agree the Whalers had the best logo in sports and their theme song "Brass Bonanza" (played each time the Whalers scored at the Harford Civic Center) was a certified banger, it doesn’t dull the pain of Hartford losing its first and only major sports team to North Carolina—not exactly a hockey hotbed—of all places. Hartford was also famously used as leverage by nefarious Patriots owner Robert Kraft when New England was looking to build a new venue (which would ultimately become Gillette Stadium) in the early 2000s, but that’s a topic for another day.
To say Connecticut is still bitter over the Whalers’ departure would be a massive understatement. Even a quarter century later, Nutmeg Staters aren’t close to being over the shocking betrayal that transpired in 1997. When the Hurricanes cheerfully took to social media to acknowledge their new gear Friday, residents of the 860 clapped back in emphatic fashion, eviscerating Carolina for dancing on the Whalers’ grave. As some of these vicious replies would suggest, the Insurance Capital of the World holds one hell of a grudge.
As an adopted Nutmegger that lives in Hartford 😩 pic.twitter.com/fIBMrJb2Ll
— Antonietta Collins (@AntoniettaESPN) February 19, 2021
Y’all are the abusive ex who left and took everything yet still feels the need to drive through the neighborhood in your former lover’s favorite car every now and then just to see the pain on their face when you cruise by.
— Ant Rokosa (@Incognegro_Ant) February 19, 2021
imagine stealing an area's team and then thinking you're doing them a favor by reminding them about it under the guise of "history"
— Jake Hall (@jhall_4) February 19, 2021
Its so rude that they took our team away, kicked the Whalers and their fans to the curb, but still come back to milk the marketing of the logo that was created in Hartford for the Hartford Whalers. If anything it just shows that legacy outweighs their current image. https://t.co/E3N4IQhyRG
— Listen, Hellboy fights Nazis ✊🏼 (@heldermira) February 19, 2021
Whether it’s the cold weather, the ridicule they’ve received over the years from Deadspin (who ranked Hartford as America’s worst city, one spot behind “getting hit by a car”) and Dave Chappelle (the comedian suggested he wouldn’t mind if North Korea bombed Hartford after hecklers ruined his set at the Oddball Comedy Festival in 2013), or the hole in their hearts left by the now-defunct Whalers, the people of Hartford are not to be trifled with. Trot out your precious new threads, if you must, but I’m warning you Carolina, disrespect Connecticut’s fourth-largest city at your own peril.
LISTEN NOW on the RADIO.COM App
Follow RADIO.COM Sports
Twitter | Facebook I Instagram
