Note To Canes Fans: This is OUR house!

Yes, Raleigh is approximately 700 miles from Buffalo (depending on how you drive there). The culture is different, where Buffaloians live and die with the results of the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres, and fans in the Carolinas are generally more concerned with drafting in NASCAR then Cam Ward.

And today, the crucial battle was played in Raleigh NC between the Buffalo Sabres and the Carolina Hurricanes.

You could not tell based on the reactions for the Sabres.

In what has become a home away from home for the Sabres, Buffalo grinded out the biggest win of the year to date, with a 2-1 OT win at 'Buffalo South' and stunned the Hurricane faithful.

For whatever reason, Carolina fans have taken to message boards to complain over and over about the behavior of Sabres fans at their arena for the Canes games.

Do not believe me? Here is an excerpt from a article in the Charlotte Observer:

"I find every Buffalo game unpleasant," said Chuck Wright, a Hurricanes fan who skipped the Hurricanes' earlier home game against the Sabres for that reason. "There are a lot of Buffalo people who live here now for jobs and the lifestyle, and they're big Sabres fans and big Bills fans, and that's fine.

"But some of the behavior is just - I don't want my kids exposed to it, the F-bombs and over-the-top type behavior. It's like they're trying to prove something because they're on enemy turf.

Well I wonder if they take a look in the mirror at how their fans react at NASCAR games, at College Football and Basketball games in the state of North Carolina. Would Chuck Wright be complaining about their behavior?

Highly doubtful.

Why do Canes fail to see this? Because Buffalo fans care more about hockey then they do, and they cannot match it. End of story. And THIS is why it pains me that the Canes have a Cup, and the Sabres had 4 defencemen out for Game 7 of the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals.

Are there some Sabres fans at these games that probably don't belong? Sure, as a longtime Buffalo sports fan and witnessing issues at Ralph Wilson Stadium for the Buffalo Bills games and to a much lesser degree, at Sabres games, there are some fans that deserve to be tossed.

And I will be damned as a Sabres fan for almost 28 years now if I will sit back and watch our fans painted with a broad brush. The majority of our fans are loyal, and respectful. Maybe Canes fans should look in the mirror at how some of them act at the games too.

But apparently in Carolina, it is a one way street.

Canes fans: Enjoy the off season, because it is coming fast.