Well, well, well. It seems that Dan Shaughnessy, columnist of The Boston Globe, has referred to those of us in Tar Heelia, specifically those of us who are fans of the Carolina Hurricanes, as "goobers." This comes from my colleague Luke DeCock, The N&O's hockey correspondent, who has been dueling of late with Mr. Shaughnessy because of the Hurricanes' battle with the Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League playoffs. Luke's the best in the business in my book.
But my task today has to do with "goobers." This term, applied to us in a derisive way, is meant to say we're rednecks and cornballs, I suppose. Had Mr. Shaughnessy been comparing us to Goobers, the chocolate-covered, movie-theater peanut treat, well, that would be OK. You can't beat a Goober. Had he been playing off the song, "Eatin' Goober Peas," well that would be OK, too. Ernest T. Bass once wanted to sing that one to Charlene Darling in a memorable episode of "The Andy Griffith Show." Had he even been speaking indirectly of Goober Pyle of the aforementioned show, we would take no great offense. Goober was a fine mechanic, after all.
I doubt, however, that Mr. Shaughnessy intended such. My guess is he's never seen "The Andy Griffith Show." Friends, do we really need to know anything else?
