DATELINE: SHAKING MY HEAD IN DISGUST – The final whistle hadn’t even been blown to end the Stanley Cup game, and already the crap was happening on the streets of Vancouver. Way to go, you classless gits. I have held my tongue through the series, but there is a limit.
It’s a GAME. It is nothing more than that. None of those players puts their lives on the line to save anyone else, none of them run into burning buildings to rescue babies, they don't spend days without sleep beating bushes to put out a wildfire, or stand for fourteen hours while performing delicate surgery. Hockey is a game, played for the most part by thugs on skates, and certainly not by the Gods our media would make these thugs out to be. It is driven by the obscene amounts of money pumped into it for contracts, advertising and to line the owners' pockets. No three-hour event is worthy of $6000 tickets; no person, regardless of how well they can handle a puck, is worth the multi-million dollars these idiots are paid. Don’t think that I am against hockey as a sport, because I’m not. I just can’t stand the bastardization that has been done to it.
In a time when household debt is at a record high, where many people don’t know how they are going to make their next mortgage payment, for them to be paying huge amounts of money for the privilege of watching A GAME, running the tickets through on credit cards because, well, gee… it’s the Stanley Cup or gee, it’s a new team for Winnipeg, is asinine. I understand wanting your team to win, I applaud the fans cheering them on, but come on, there is a limit. Now, even hockey has become elitist, because the normal middle class peons just cannot afford it, and that’s the crime.
But now, because the Canucks lost a game, people feel the need to carry on like wild fucking baboons. Vehicles started on fire, flipped over, fights breaking out, people defying the police. What the hell did the people who have businesses downtown do to deserve this crap? They are trying to make a living, working to create an atmosphere that welcomes people to the city, and certainly can’t afford to have their shop windows smashed, their stores looted, especially over what? Because of A GAME. Lord Stanley would be so very, very impressed with this shit.
I can’t imagine how terrible it feels to be a player, knowing this is what the fans want to do. It has to be terribly embarrassing for them, one hell of a way to end the day after losing the game of the year. How terrible for the fans that are there for the right reasons, who wanted to go out and cheer on their team, but now they are in the middle of exploding tear gas canisters and assholes lighting vehicles on fire. This is why I hate seeing sporting events around here -- they are nothing more than an excuse for an excess of money blowing, booze flowing and criminal behavior. The irony is that Vancouver wanted to get rid of the Indy race, an annual event that did a lot of good for the city, because it was an inconvenience to some tight-asses downtown. Are they going to get rid of the Canucks for the same reason? There were never riots in the street after a fecking car race.
What sort of a screwed up society are we? This shit is never acceptable, but when did we let it get so skewed? We are more concerned about our child being able to skate than we are about them being able to read. We are more concerned about driving them all through the night to a game, but we never sit down and help them with their homework. Are we so blinded by the god-like glow these athletes give off while perched up on their pedestals? Is the smell of a multi-million dollar 5-year contract to play more important than absolutely anything else in our lives? Are we really that driven by greed? And what the hell is this shit about fighting in the streets en mass over the results of a game. It’s A GAME! None of us will suffer tomorrow from the loss of the Stanley Cup game, the world won’t stop turning, and there will be another chance next year and the next year and the year after that for them to do it. It is NEVER an excuse for criminal behavior.
So, while the Canucks did their best, played their hearts out, and were disappointed, they probably had an even more devastating disappointment in the fans who are bound and determined to make it impossible for the public to enjoy games together in the future. Stores had shut down to accommodate the fans, had given up several hours of sales, all to allow the fans to enjoy A GAME. Instead, it became a clusterfuck of tear gas, Molotov cocktails, injured people, burning vehicles and riot squads. The whole damned works of you should be ashamed, because THIS is why so many of us would like to see professional sports stopped and the focus returned to amateur events that celebrate a sport and the players.
It’s A GAME, idiots. Why is that so fucking hard for you to remember? For Vancouver's sake, I have to say that, despite all odds, this morning I was thankful to turn on the American and overseas news broadcasts to find Anthony Weiner's penis again in the headlines. Thank God for 'small' mercies.
It's the ultimate disrespect they can show their team that they are supposedly trying to support. Nothing says "Thank you for a great season, for making it this far and for being the leader of the league, all season" like fires, looting, violence and total disregard for public property. I have no use for supposed fans who will take any excuse to break the law and act like untamed fucking animals. We had this same thing happen here in Boston after the Patriots and Red Sox brought home the ultimate reward for PLAYING A GAME. Don't get me wrong, I'm an avid fan of sports. I love when players play with heart, for the love of the game. I also have a higher respect for what those players do off the ice, field, court and turf. What they give back to the communities, charities and a host of organizations is priceless. It's disgusting to think that this is how reaction is when a team loses.
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