Thursday, June 16, 2011

Vancouver June 15, 2011

I was born and raised in British Columbia and was a resident of Vancouver when I was a kid.  I have loved watching Canuck hockey since I was little and I am a Canuck fan and always will be.  Sure I would have loved it if the boys hoisted the cup yesterday, it would have topped off a stellar year.  But that didn't happen.  What did happen was as the Mayor of Vancouver Gregor Robertson put it "A small band of hooligans" created chaos and mayhem.  There was an element in the crowd that was going to act this way no matter who won or lost, these folks were using it as an excuse to commit criminal acts. 

THOSE WHO DID THIS WERE NOT TRUE FANSTrue Fans are those who took their kids home early or the ones who stayed and showed appreciation to their Canuck team and the players of  the Boston Bruins who won the cup.  True fans are the people who left peacefully and went home.  Those who tried to stop the chaos only to be injured.  These are true fans. 

As a result of the actions of a small percentage of people, we may never see family events like fan zones again, which is such a pity and injustice to the true fan.  We lost a large part of our dignity and respect yesterday, and that is what I grieve as a  TRUE Vancouver Canuck fan. 

As a fan I want to apologize to the Vancouver Canucks team, you didn't deserve this and thank you for the fantastic year you gave us. 

8 comments:

Keith - Circle Blue said...

It is so sad that these post championship/lost championship riots are becoming so commonplace.

The Canucks did have a good run. It is difficult to get so close and lose. I was hoping they would bring the cup to Vancouver.

~k

Dar said...

Keith Thank you. It is sad and it is ridiculous that so few can change things for so many.

SonjaM said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SonjaM said...

I second that. No fan, no Vancouverite and no true Canadian would do something like this. Bunch of Hooligans, I hope they get'em all through facebook or other media.
They give events like this and places like this a bad name.
The Canucks did great!

Dar said...

SonjaM. You are exactly right! The organized faction who started this should be branded as domestic terrorist, because that is what they truly are. They terrorized an entire city on Wednesday evening and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Parents have to do better too by really teaching their kids what's right and wrong, also what is expected of them as civilized human beings. Those who engaged in this activity the other night are very lucky they live where they do because the penalties and judgements would be swifter and much much harder.

Dar said...

There was fall-out for one dude who went down to the riot and was posting on FB how he thought it was great and other stupid comments. Only problem was he had his employer's name on his open FB page and customers started calling and emailing his boss about it. His boss called him and fired him. The kid said he didn't participate in the riot, but his boss said he had a negative impact on his company. It just goes to show you have to be a little more discerning in what you post and that reckless decisions have repercussions.

David Masse said...

We've had our fill of hockey riots here in Montreal as well.

The big difference for Vancouver's riot is all the photo records and social media posts that serve to identify the participants.

We truly are becoming a 'global village', and as in a village, anonimity may be a thing of the past.

I hope that many of those hooligans will get their comeupance.

Dar said...

I think the saddest story is the 17 year old boy who was headed towards high level water polo sports and full scholarships for university, because of his poor judgement he has blown his future because of 1 reckless stupid moment of very bad judgement.

We definitely are a smaller world and I think the pressure of capturing everything in the name of social networking has changed our society for the worst. Things we never would have been witness to we now are and I think it added fuel to the proverbial fire.