Hockey Riots in Vancouver

[Heels20X6]

I'm just kidding around. I can take shots at Canadians all I want because I'm one as well.

 

 

I'm not sure what the last part means but Sharks were in the final four. Better than at least 26 other teams. Hardly qualifies as "lowly". Reality is that the road through the western conference is tougher than the east. I think the best of the Sharks and the Canucks were gone. This is debatable I know but just my opinion. And the part about Canucks being entitled is only weak teasing I guess.

 

My comments were just weak teasing too. If you've followed my history here, I'm still butthurt over the Heatley trade. Before that trade, I actually liked the Sharks...now I can't turn down any chance at a shot at the Sharks because of my hatred of that freaky-eyed loser.

 

The best comment I heard in this series was about the lack of crowd noise in Vancouver vs. that of Boston's loud crowds. "One city is desperate to win a Stanley Cup, while the other feels entitled to it." Truer words have never been spoken.

Edited June 16, 2011 by Heels20X6

[erynthered]

With the videos I've seen so far, they make last years G8 summit look like childs play.

 

Idiots. Be proud Canada, be proud.

[Delete This Account]

Fixed.

 

There has never been a city that has a population that feels as entitled as the city of Vancouver. No one rioted in Ottawa, Edmonton or Calgary when they were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Finals. This is a Vancouver problem. Not a Canada one.

 

bah-loney.

canada is a different country now. i saw it first-hand at the olympics where the win at all cost crowd was Canadian and not simply from Vancouver. i saw the smugness and "we're No. 1" attitude during the world juniors here in Buffalo last year, and found it quite enjoyable to see that balloon pop.

no one rioted over that loss, but i know the police had a big workout dealing with a bunch of drunk canadian yahoos (before the Russian junior team attempted to board its flight).

canada's changed. i don't know when it happened or why. it's carrying this big superiority complex chip on its shoulder. i don't understand it and i don't like it.

 

as for a city of entitlement, Toronto remains the center of the Canadian universe, hands down. do the papers there still compare themselves to rust-belt cities like Detroit as they did back in the 1980s? or is that too easy, and maybe they've moved on to, what, Tacoma, perhaps.

 

the worst was living out in vancouver and having to deal with all these Toronto-centric stories. the worst was back in 1994, when the Canucks had elminated the Leafs and were actually in the Cup finals, and yet the lead on TSN was how the Blue Jays were doing. puh-leeze.

 

jw

[Beerball]

nice legs

[CowgirlsFan]

Isn't it traditional for the fans of the winning team to tear it up after the clincher??

Yep..but us Maverick fans in the DFW metroplex DID NOT!

[KD in CA]

nice legs

 

 

There's no sex quite like riot sex.

[justnzane]

Guys, just imagine how Buffalo would react when the Bills or Sabres finally win one. Safe bet that Downtown would be totally destroyed if the Sabres won one.

 

 

Edit: Isn't half of Buffalo already destroyed?

Edited June 17, 2011 by justnzane

[DC Tom]

Guys, just imagine how Buffalo would react when the Bills or Sabres finally win one. Safe bet that Downtown would be totally destroyed if the Sabres won one.

 

If we're REALLY lucky, just the light rail system.

[Mark Vader]

Guys, just imagine how Buffalo would react when the Bills or Sabres finally win one. Safe bet that Downtown would be totally destroyed if the Sabres won one.

 

 

Edit: Isn't half of Buffalo already destroyed?

If the Bills or Sabres won a championship, the fans would probably start rebuilding the city.

[Spun]

Buffalo fans, if and when Buffalo ever wins a championship, have the brains and class not to riot. What happened in Vancouver is the "Los Angeles Syndrome" (or Detroit), a desperate attempt at making it "all about me" for the drunk, mundane and insignificant "wannabes". As for what has changed in Canada, maybe some Canadians can give us more insight. Montreal has been the most recent Canadian locale for mindless urban riots after winning a first round playoff series a couple of seasons ago. I was at the WJC in Buffalo and I was surprised at how rudely some of the Canadians behaved. While Boston has it's many detractors, I didn't hear of any riots.

 

The Bruins deserved the Stanley Cup. They were competitive in all seven games whereas the Canucks were competitive in three. By Game 7, the Bruins had the Canucks figured out and simply flexed. The entire Bruins roster played defense. I wish the Sabres did the same! Thomas didn't have to do a whole lot but when called upon he delivered. The shots-on-goal were deceiving. Most of the Canucks shots were from a distance away from the net. One of the things that stood out in this series is how players have gotten away from using shots other than the slapper. Watching guys shy away from the wide open backhand to instead clumsily attempt to switch to the forehand is frustrating to watch. I was of the understanding that backhands are very hard for goalies to stop.

 

Speaking of the Sabres, they won the season series against the Bruins 4-2 and the Canucks 1-0. The Sabres didn't fare well against the Capitals, Pens and obviously the Flyers, again. Consistency and matchup issues are among the things the Sabres need to work on.

 

I am looking forward to the draft. Training camp in three months. I am thinking of attending one of the games in Europe. Possibly Sabres vs. Kings in Berlin.

[CowgirlsFan]

If the Bills or Sabres won a championship, the fans would probably start rebuilding the city.

 

 

A good point. Championships = urban renewal.

[Heels20X6]

bah-loney.

canada is a different country now. i saw it first-hand at the olympics where the win at all cost crowd was Canadian and not simply from Vancouver. i saw the smugness and "we're No. 1" attitude during the world juniors here in Buffalo last year, and found it quite enjoyable to see that balloon pop.

no one rioted over that loss, but i know the police had a big workout dealing with a bunch of drunk canadian yahoos (before the Russian junior team attempted to board its flight).

canada's changed. i don't know when it happened or why. it's carrying this big superiority complex chip on its shoulder. i don't understand it and i don't like it.

 

as for a city of entitlement, Toronto remains the center of the Canadian universe, hands down. do the papers there still compare themselves to rust-belt cities like Detroit as they did back in the 1980s? or is that too easy, and maybe they've moved on to, what, Tacoma, perhaps.

 

the worst was living out in vancouver and having to deal with all these Toronto-centric stories. the worst was back in 1994, when the Canucks had elminated the Leafs and were actually in the Cup finals, and yet the lead on TSN was how the Blue Jays were doing. puh-leeze.

 

jw

 

So you're using two events to describe Canada's sudden jingoism? One being the one of the largest events for measuring yourself athletically on the global scale in the Olympics and the other, an event in Buffalo where boorish Torontonians decided to be louts in Buffalo's downtown district.

 

With regards to the Olympics, what you saw as "big superiority complex" I saw as a nation finally embracing a bit of patriotism. Why is it when Americans cheer and chant "USA #1" it's okay, but some Canadians want to prove to the world that they can hang in winter sports and suddenly "we're obnoxious"? And spare me pointing to SOME Canadians cheering against the US in the hockey tournament. It's hockey, USA is now Canada's biggest rival and if I were the US, I'd wear it as a badge of honor that the Canadians were so worried about playing the US, they wanted someone else to do the dirty work for them.

 

You point to Vancouver and Toronto as your examples of how "Canada has changed". Ironic, as most Canadians not living in those two cities wouldn't even consider them a fair representation of Canadians. I lived in San Francisco the previous three years before moving back to Ottawa. I can safely see that apart from the climate difference, the people seemed the same to me. Apart from the few Americans I met that seemed to have a hate-on for Canada and their belief that Canadians thought they were better than them. Ironically, when I moved back to Ottawa, I heard the same thing about Americans. In both cases, I refuted these claims as imaginary.

 

RE: the rioting - it's a VANCOUVER thing. Ottawa, Edmonton and Calgary all lost when they made it to the Cup Finals. Those cities weren't burnt to the ground by their unhappy inhabitants.

[Delete This Account]

So you're using two events to describe Canada's sudden jingoism? One being the one of the largest events for measuring yourself athletically on the global scale in the Olympics and the other, an event in Buffalo where boorish Torontonians decided to be louts in Buffalo's downtown district.

 

With regards to the Olympics, what you saw as "big superiority complex" I saw as a nation finally embracing a bit of patriotism. Why is it when Americans cheer and chant "USA #1" it's okay, but some Canadians want to prove to the world that they can hang in winter sports and suddenly "we're obnoxious"? And spare me pointing to SOME Canadians cheering against the US in the hockey tournament. It's hockey, USA is now Canada's biggest rival and if I were the US, I'd wear it as a badge of honor that the Canadians were so worried about playing the US, they wanted someone else to do the dirty work for them.

 

You point to Vancouver and Toronto as your examples of how "Canada has changed". Ironic, as most Canadians not living in those two cities wouldn't even consider them a fair representation of Canadians. I lived in San Francisco the previous three years before moving back to Ottawa. I can safely see that apart from the climate difference, the people seemed the same to me. Apart from the few Americans I met that seemed to have a hate-on for Canada and their belief that Canadians thought they were better than them. Ironically, when I moved back to Ottawa, I heard the same thing about Americans. In both cases, I refuted these claims as imaginary.

 

RE: the rioting - it's a VANCOUVER thing. Ottawa, Edmonton and Calgary all lost when they made it to the Cup Finals. Those cities weren't burnt to the ground by their unhappy inhabitants.

don't know about you, but hypocrisy don't fly in my book. canadians had a lot of gut-busting fun making jokes about americans and their sports antics, the USA, USA, USA baloney back in the 1990s. they were loud and they were ugly, canadians had said. and so once canadians turn around and pull the same arrogant schtick, some -- you -- refer it to as 'embracing a bit of patriotism.'

 

what hooey. canadians were patriotic and rooted for their teams politely and encouragingly for quite some time, which gained them a reputation for being polite if not boring sportsmen. but that's not enough in this day and age, where canadians must join the crowd of boorish, arrogant maple-leaf peddlars. what a bunch of baloney.

 

so yes, suddenly canadians have become obnoxious. not all of them, but enough. and really, ottawa? i wouldn't expect a bunch of suburban-living beaurocrats to start a commotion, so let's not go there. that place is as quiet and as relatively dull as the senate chamber.

 

what actually struck me about the Americans that i met in Vancouver were how proud, supportive and gentlemanly they were. during one of the Canada-US games, a group of Americans had saddled up to a bar on Granville and enjoying the game in good company with Canadians. one of the Americans said something to the effect of "We're rooting for the U.S., but really, we understand how big this is for Canadians so ..."

of course, shortly after the game ended, one loutish Canadian elected to attempt to burn a plastic American flag just outside the bar. thankfully, he was an idiot as he couldn't get the thing lit. and fortunately, at least two Canadians then stopped him from having another try.

 

there used to be a difference between Canadians and Americans. and that was never a bad thing. it's good to be distinct. now all i see is too many Canadians who have turned into wannabe Americans ... and i apologize now for slandering Americans, because that wasn't my intention.

 

it's not the same country anymore. the mood's changed, grown as cold in some places as the north winds.

 

jw

Edited June 17, 2011 by john wawrow

[erynthered]

Kissing couple identified. Nice story.

 

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/The-identity-of-Vancouver-8217-s-famous-kissing?urn=nhl-wp7436

[Jauronimo]

Although it was a shameful display, I got a small kick out the riot in Vancouver since there seems to be a general attitude that violence, crime, gangs and the like are all an American phenomenon. Michael Moore certainly thought so. And so did a few otherwise very polite Canadians I met while (shameless plug) catching NIN and Jane's Addiction in Toronto a few summers ago, who took delight in letting me know how much they were "Afraid of Americans" during a song bearing that name.

[Heels20X6]

don't know about you, but hypocrisy don't fly in my book. canadians had a lot of gut-busting fun making jokes about americans and their sports antics, the USA, USA, USA baloney back in the 1990s. they were loud and they were ugly, canadians had said. and so once canadians turn around and pull the same arrogant schtick, some -- you -- refer it to as 'embracing a bit of patriotism.'

 

what hooey. canadians were patriotic and rooted for their teams politely and encouragingly for quite some time, which gained them a reputation for being polite if not boring sportsmen. but that's not enough in this day and age, where canadians must join the crowd of boorish, arrogant maple-leaf peddlars. what a bunch of baloney.

 

so yes, suddenly canadians have become obnoxious. not all of them, but enough. and really, ottawa? i wouldn't expect a bunch of suburban-living beaurocrats to start a commotion, so let's not go there. that place is as quiet and as relatively dull as the senate chamber.

 

what actually struck me about the Americans that i met in Vancouver were how proud, supportive and gentlemanly they were. during one of the Canada-US games, a group of Americans had saddled up to a bar on Granville and enjoying the game in good company with Canadians. one of the Americans said something to the effect of "We're rooting for the U.S., but really, we understand how big this is for Canadians so ..."

of course, shortly after the game ended, one loutish Canadian elected to attempt to burn a plastic American flag just outside the bar. thankfully, he was an idiot as he couldn't get the thing lit. and fortunately, at least two Canadians then stopped him from having another try.

 

there used to be a difference between Canadians and Americans. and that was never a bad thing. it's good to be distinct. now all i see is too many Canadians who have turned into wannabe Americans ... and i apologize now for slandering Americans, because that wasn't my intention.

 

it's not the same country anymore. the mood's changed, grown as cold in some places as the north winds.

 

jw

 

You're absolutely right John! People in Vancouver and Toronto are exactly the same type of "boorish, arrogant maple-leaf peddlars" as people from Regina, Saskatchewan and Flin Flon, Manitoba. Those two towns are full of rampant patriotism gone amuck!

 

Your comments about Ottawa absolutely wreak of the smug obnoxiousness that a Vancouverite possesses. It's the same level of nonsense the city of Buffalo has to put up with from "better" cities like New York. Just like the people of Buffalo don't give a rat's arse what New York thinks, we of Ottawa could care less how Vancouver views our "boring" "surbananite" RIOT-FREE city.

 

 

But carry on your need to present the "Ugly Canadian". Painting an entire nation with one fell stroke I guess is required these days to make the world a happy place.

[Delete This Account]

Want to take a wager on the proportion of suburbanites vs city dwellers in the rampage?

one suburbanite down. youth turns himself in to Burnaby RCMP. Burnaby is the first ring suburb of Vancouver.

 

jw

[Jauronimo]

You're absolutely right John! People in Vancouver and Toronto are exactly the same type of "boorish, arrogant maple-leaf peddlars" as people from Regina, Saskatchewan and Flin Flon, Manitoba. Those two towns are full of rampant patriotism gone amuck!

I'm calling BS on this one, those are not real places. I can make up places to prove my point too: New Kilttown, Moosejaw and North Boogerton, but thats not getting us anywhere, is it?

Edited June 17, 2011 by Jauronimo

[Delete This Account]

You're absolutely right John! People in Vancouver and Toronto are exactly the same type of "boorish, arrogant maple-leaf peddlars" as people from Regina, Saskatchewan and Flin Flon, Manitoba. Those two towns are full of rampant patriotism gone amuck!

 

Your comments about Ottawa absolutely wreak of the smug obnoxiousness that a Vancouverite possesses. It's the same level of nonsense the city of Buffalo has to put up with from "better" cities like New York. Just like the people of Buffalo don't give a rat's arse what New York thinks, we of Ottawa could care less how Vancouver views our "boring" "surbananite" RIOT-FREE city.

 

 

But carry on your need to present the "Ugly Canadian". Painting an entire nation with one fell stroke I guess is required these days to make the world a happy place.

that's my point, the world's a less happier place because Canadians have attained an over-bloated sense of ego, and gone all uber-patriotic. was a point in time in the nation's history when simply being Canadian was good enough, and the only time anyone really noticed is when Quebec scratched its separation itch.

now, Canadians are pretending like they were invited to big-league parties, and not simply crashing them. i think it all started with Mulroney, but it's definitely grown now that the loonie has strengthened.

it's bad enough the beer's so expensive, but now we've gotta listen about how great the country is.

 

follow Marv's motto: "act like you've been there" when it comes to success.

too many Canadians aren't.

 

as for riots, really, do you think there's enough people in the Prairies to hold one?

i spend a month in downtown Edmonton one cold Sunday night, and there weren't enough people around to play a round of euchre.

 

as for Ottawa, it's not a bad town. the tulip festival's kind of quaint, and the market used to be cool before the yuppies started cleaning it up. used to be a great bar down there called "Tramps" of all things.

as for riots, where were Ottawanians planning to hold one, given that their team plays half-way to Pembroke, and it's too pricey to live downtown. ... cul-de-sacs and riots don't generally go together, eh?

 

jw

 

p.s. i'll exlude the Maritimes from my sweeping generalition. those folks know how to drink, man.

[gumby]

I've no doubt JW is more clued in about Vancouver than me but it seems from an outsiders view than Vancouver has a penchant for rioting. They rioted after the '94 finals. They rioted during the '97 APEC meetings. They rioted during last years Olympic games (small compared to the others but still a few hundred people). Now there's the past riots from the '11 finals.

 

Could it be the culture there? I've read that there's a anarchist movement that's pretty strong there. Some are reporting the riots were organized by these groups others saying the opposite. What I'm NOT saying is that all those people where that, but it doesn't take many to whip a mob up into a frenzy.

 

Maybe I'm completely full of it but there seems to be something going on their that's more than Canada's version of being an "Ugly American". So any more insight JW can give I'd appreciate it.