yet another reason to *loathe* the pink jersey

i still can't believe that vancouverites trashed their city (and each other) under the pretense of losing a championship hockey game... it really adds a little punch to the term "loser."

this might be a good time to point out that there are ever so many "canucks fans" who really only fly the green and blue for a split second every year when the team makes the post-season. this year, unfortunatly, when it looked like the dirty nucks would take the prize, it was probably these same ignorami (i'm looking at you, nathan kotylak, you unbelievable, utter moron) who decided the best way to console themselves would be to give the city a darned good reason to raise taxes... i suppose by tarnishing the reputation earned during the 2010 olympics, they did take the heat off of the fact that their hockey team took the night off on wednesday. thank god for small miracles, or whatever, i guess...

i do still know some folks that i feel awful for. even though a few pints and a first round win brought the goad out in goad, i still can't help but sympathize for a life-long team supporter who was so thoroughly devastated by the series' outcome that he sullenly described to me what it's like for a diehard fanbase to have such an unfortunate pedigree in playoff losses: "i would even say there is no fanbase more knowledgable in losing than our shitty, carburning, halfwit fans." as a true lover of the game, his team, and all that goes with it, it must be devastating not only to deal with the on-ice misfortune, but the realization that you're being represented by a horde of cretins...

while i like to boast that when calgary went down after the '04 run there was nary a fistfight on the redmile (just a LOT of bare chests), i'm not dumb enough to think that there weren't more extenuating factors that led to the difference beyond my belief that most canucks fans are simply awful... first is the fact that the "red mile" was a seven-or-so block stretch of the same road and therefore radically more simple to police than an entire downtown area. secondly, the city of calgary didn't put up a bunch of large screen tvs and encite the townsfolk to gather in droves without the proper amount of law-enforcing presence. and thirdly: the '04 flames were a mötley crew of nobodies and replacement players, led by a charismatic captain, a hotter-than-hot goalie, and the surliest coach in history. they weren't ever supposed to make it that far... the '11 canucks, alternately, were the best team in the league by a significant margin during the regular season, and were far-and-away the favorites to take home lord stanley's prize. the difference lies in expectation; while the flames fought to the bitter end, the fans were happy to have had the run. the canucks, on the other hand, fostered enormous feelings first of entitlement, and finally disappointment. a far more incindiary mentality, in my opinion...

anyhow, what's done is done. the draft is next up and i'm off to the big smoke then the big apple. it doesn't look like i'll be around for prospect camp this year, which is a drag, but i look forward to a blogger meet-up in ---let's say--- mid-august ? we can catch up then and discuss hockey at the time of year it's least in our minds....

best,
wi