| Ever wonder why people in Michigan sneer at the idea
that Canada is the only place where hockey thrives?
74,554 fans
in East Lansing, Michigan tonight proved why the state of Michigan has
a legitimate claim as heartof the hockey universe.
Every time Michigan and Michigan State get together for a hockey game, it's
huge. The two schools HATE each other. Period. It's never
enough to win. When UM looks across and sees green and white, or MSU
sees that block "M" on the chest, it's not enough to just merely win. One
must win, destroy, and utterly obliterate the other school. Whether
it's football, basketball, hockey, or platform diving.
So it's no surprise that Michigan State could play host to a CCHA college
hockey game like MSU - UM outside in chilly, open confines of Spartan Stadium
and sell out all 74,554 tickets.... in 3 hours... weeks in advance.
Most hockey games have under 20,000 in attendance. The North Amercian
record was 28,183 in Tampa Bay in 1996. The world record was 55,000
in the then-Soviet Union to watch the USSR play Sweden in Moscow. This
Cold War shatters that world record. That was a huge international
game. This was a regional college hockey game.
Oh yeah, and the hockey wasn't bad either. Michigan State 3, Michigan
3 in Overtime in the usual brutal, physical, high-flying sort of game one
expects from Spartans-Wolverines.
Someone will undoubtedly try to copycat this record and event in a Me Too
fashion -- probably Minnesota vs Wisconsin in a year or two. But there's
one thing that can't copy. And that's the fact that nobody in the state
of Michigan ever doubted they could pull in 74,554 fans. If Spartan
Stadium had 35,000 more seats, the number would probably easily have been
109,554 fans. The Big House in Ann Arbor holds 110,000+ and that could
have easily been filled, no doubt.
So go ahead, copycats. 'Cause we all know that only the state of Michigan
could pull this off, and would have the nerve or the audacity to try this
first. |
