Byline: Paul Newberry Associated Press
MACON, Ga. -- Start with the name. Macon Whoopee.
``Well, I know what making whoopee is,'' said Sarah Purvis, grinning mischievously as she watched a Central Hockey League game at Macon Coliseum. ``Maybe that's a good name for it, because it's very exciting.''
Sexual innuendo abounds in the arena in this Bible Belt city. The Whoopee logo is a fig leaf. One section of seats is known as the ``One Night Stand.'' A popular item at the concession stand is the ``Whoopee cushion.''
``It's all very subliminal here,'' said Pat Nugent, the team's general manager.
When Nugent decided to bring a minor league hockey team to central Georgia, he knew what the nickname would be. Two decades ago, the city had a team in the ill-fated Southern Hockey League that lasted less than a season but left behind a legacy: It was known as the Whoopees, a play on the Doris Day song, Makin' Whoopee.
``The only question we had was the fig leaf,'' Nugent said. ``We liked the Toronto Maple Leafs' game sweater, their style, so that's what we patterned our logo after. There are about 50 varieties of fig leaves around the world. This one just happens to be indigenous to Georgia, and it just happens to look at lot like the Maple Leafs.''
And that's as far as he'll go with the explanation.
``Well, you can make of it what you want,'' Nugent said, grinning.
That's what the fans are doing.
``It's so exciting to watch them try to get the ball into the goalie and run from one end to the other,'' said Purvis, watching the game with her husband, James, and their two grandchildren. ``And I like the fights.''
After a slow start at the turnstiles, the Whoopee has suddenly become the thing to do in Macon. The team leads its division, and people who don't know the difference between blue lines and Red Wings are shelling out upwards of $70 for Whoopee jerseys.
Sellout crowds are packing the Coliseum, an aging building where Elvis Presley used to perform.
``It's all fun to me,'' said Derrick Lunsford, 25, who had never been to a hockey game until this season.
``I like to socialize, watch the game, check out the babes and see 'em fight. This has got it all, man.''
Elvis would fit right in with the party atmosphere, with fans shaking, wiggling, spinning and dancing the Macarena from the first faceoff to the final horn.
``It's really energetic and it gets people going,'' said Mandy Wilson, a 21-year-old student at Mercer University who hardly spent a moment in her seat during a game that drew a record crowd of 6,837.
This was Wilson's fourth game, and she was still a little fuzzy about what those guys with skates and French-sounding names are trying to do. But when Twist and Shout or Stayin' Alive blared from the loudspeaker, she knew exactly what to do.
``I guess it's because hockey is a new thing to Macon,'' she said.
If anyone needs any help losing their inhibitions, a bar serves everything from gin and tonics to daiquiris. Then there are those little Southern touches that make you realize: Hey, Toto, we aren't in Canada anymore.
Like boiled peanuts. Fans decked out in hunting camouflage, cowboy boots and NASCAR caps. A contest during the first intermission for a chance at a red pickup truck.
``It's amazing,'' one of the bartenders said. ``One week you have monster trucks in here. The next week you have hockey.''
It seems this crowd would rather see Alain Cote than a pickup truck with big wheels. Every time the Whoopee gets control of the puck, it is serenaded with ``Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!''
``At the beginning of the season, the people of Macon did not know about hockey,'' said Cote, one of the team's leading scorers. ``Now, they're unbelievable.''
The Whoopee lost 3-2 on this night.
Still, the fans went home happy because of a brawl after the clock ran out. Memphis' Brent Fleetwood skated leisurely to the locker room, taunting the crowd by limply waving his glove. A Macon player tried to get at Fleetwood but was tackled. Whoopee goalie Shamus Gregga swung his stick at Fleetwood, but missed.
``C'mon, mom,'' said one young fan, being tugged toward the exit. ``I want to stay and watch the fight.''
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Photo
Macon Whoopee coach John Paris watches from behind the bench as his team takes on the Memphis Riverkings in a recent game. By Nick Oza / Associated Press.
