Habs' president apologizes for booing
Sure, an apology is always appreciated, but it might have actually meant something if it had come from the trolls doing the booing.
MONTREAL (AP) -- The president of the Montreal Canadiens apologized Friday for fans who booed the U.S. national anthem before Thursday night's game against the New York Islanders.
"The Montreal Canadiens organization has always held a high respect for its neighbors and friends in the United States, and we look forward to maintaining this strong and positive relationship," Pierre Boivin said in a statement.
"We apologize to anyone who may have been offended by this incident, and would encourage all fans at the Bell Centre to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of our game and our two great nations."
Before the game, the sellout crowd of 21,273 was asked to "show your support and respect for two great nations" before the singing of the American and Canadian national anthems. But many fans booed throughout The Star-Spangled Banner, apparently expressing displeasure with the U.S.-led war against Iraq.
I don't begrudge Canadians, however ill-informed they might be, the right to express themselves. Perhaps they neglected to realize that a sizable portion of the Islanders roster is Canadian.
Oh, and while you're at it, try this one on:
ATLANTA -- A handful of fans at Philips Arena jeered O Canada prior to the start of Friday's Senators-Thrashers game.
This was a response to the booing of The Star Spangled Banner at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Thursday by Habs fans who were protesting the United States' lead role in the war on Iraq.
With the arena less than half full at the beginning of the game due to very tight security, only a very small portion of the crowd took part in the vocal protest during the Canadian national anthem. Seemingly embarrassed by the protests of this faction of fans, the remainder of the crowd cheered following the completion of O Canada.
The Star Spangled Banner was then greeted with hearty cheers by the sparse crowd.
"The entire Atlanta Thrashers organization regrets the actions of a small number of fans that behaved disrespectfully during the Canadian Anthem tonight prior to the Thrashers' game against the Ottawa Senators," the Thrashers said in a statement released after the second period.
"The Thrashers' organization firmly believes this type of behavior has no place in professional sports. We hope that this was an isolated incident and apologize to anyone who was offended, including the Canadian-born members of both teams."
OK, now that we've all proven ourselves to be classless jackasses, can we get over ourselves and put an end to this pissing match? People are dying in Iraq; how about we all worry about that for awhile, OK??
