June 17, 2011 5:42 AM

An open letter to hockey fans in Vancouver, BC

Dear People of Vancouver, BC,

Please allow me to start by stating for the record that I love your fair city. I’ve always said that if I could live anywhere in the world, I’d probably chose Vancouver. You live in an stunningly beautiful place, surrounded by all the natural beauty a person could possibly want…and then some. You’re blessed with great restaurants, fantastic cultural opportunities, natural beauty, and a quality of life that’s difficult (if not well nigh impossible) to surpass. Vancouver, in my estimation, is the best of everything Canada has to offer.

OK, now that I’ve dispensed with the niceties, this is all I really have: REALLY? WTF?? Your team lost a hockey game…and you go on a rampage, rioting, destroying, and burning? You live in what’s often been called “the most livable city in the world,” and THIS is how you show yourselves to the world?

Let’s keep in mind that we’re talking about a hockey game here. Not war. Not famine. Not pestilence. Hockey. Granted, it was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, and your beloved Canucks rolled over and played dead, losing to Boston 4-0 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score. Yeah, your team mailed it in. In Game 7. Of the Stanley Cup Finals. Nice. Still, no one died. Vancouver wasn’t hit by a terrorist attack. Nor did Canada slide into anarchy while your Canucks were going belly-up on national television in the US AND Canada.

I might have considered cutting y’all some slack…and then I remembered that this isn’t the first time you’ve done this. After the Canucks lost to the New York Rangers in 1994’s Stanley Cup Finals, you did the same damned thing. I don’t know what your problem is…but I’ll bet it’s very difficult to pronounce, eh?

A few folks have made legitimate efforts to understand and explain why Vancouver suddenly turned into Detroit, but let’s face reality, shall we? There IS no good explanation, no sound justification that gives us any insight into why all y’all lost your minds. Some of the folks responsible for the riots after the end of Game 7 are the same loons who beat up Bruins fans the night before the game.

Unfortunately, when it comes to hockey, Vancouver (and its hockey fans- albeit a small minority thereof) are the equivalent of English soccer hooligans. Thanks to you, whenever I and most people outside your fair city think of hockey and Vancouver, we’ll focus on the senseless rioting and destruction of private and public property. That’s really too bad, because while I understand that only a relative few hooligans were responsible for the madness, the pictures of burning police vehicles paint a pretty ugly picture that will tar the entire city of Vancouver with the same brush.

Perhaps it’s time y’all got over yourselves and your overdeveloped sense of entitlement. Yes, I understand that y’all consider hockey your birthright and property. I grew up near the Canadian border; I figured that one out early on. Still, no one owes you a Stanley Cup simply because you’re blessed to live in Canada. Judging by the way some of you acted on Wednesday night, I hope it’s a good long time before you have a shot at it again.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on June 17, 2011 5:42 AM.

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