Thanks for showing some class, Edmonton...

[Goofball]

So some of you may have seen in the news that during Friday night's Oilers/Sharks game in San Jose, the idiot fans in San Jose decided it would be a good idea to boo and jeer the Canadian national anthem before the game.

Nice.

When the teams returned to play the final game in Edmonton last night, I was worried (hockey fans being hockey fans) that the Edmonton fans would decide that turnabout was fair play. But there was no booing during the Star Spangled Banner. What did the Edmonton fans do when the opening notes rang out?

They started cheering.

And continued cheering all the way through the song.

Well done Edmonton; thanks for taking the high road.

[drone]

Unfortunately, that's not the first time the Canadian anthem has been boo'ed at a hockey game in the US. It was nice to see the Oilers fans do the right thing (and winning the series was a nice reward as well).

There are 14 Canadians on the San Jose roster:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/teams/roster?team=san
Almost half the team. I wonder if their fans even had a clue.

[Don Corleone]

Hey, nobody ever accused American sports fans of having an over-abundance of high-mindedness. Canadians certainly shouldn't take it personally.

There's a particularly intense baseball rivalry between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Now mind you, these are two cities that are about 200 miles away (very close in American terms). Most people outside the Northeast cannot distinguish between a Bostonian and New Yorker. But, because they play in the same division, there is something of a blood feud there.

While up for a conference in Boston, I took a couple of coworkers to a Red Sox game several years back. Now, this was on a Thursday night, and they were actually playing the Kansas City Royals (this becomes relevant later in the story). This was April of 2002, roughly 6 months after 9/11. As we were walking into the game, hawkers are selling "Yankees Suck" t-shirts all over the streets (the Yankees were arriving on Friday for a 3 game series). My coworkers were surprised that a team that wasn't playing that night was actually occupying the majority of attention from the fans, more than the Red Sox themselves at that point.

During the traditional '7th inning stretch', which happened shortly after 9, the announcer came on to ask for a minute of silence at 9:11 exactly, in honor of the fallen. Well, the crowd made it about 12 seconds, before from Left field, we heard the drunken wail "The Yankees suck", soon joined by a (granted small) chorus. People were horrified! We all broke into "My Country, T'is of Thee" to drown it out. It was very embarrassing, especially with 3 southerners who had no idea what was going on in tow.

The moral is, nothing against Canadians, we just don't always show a lot of class at sporting events.

[drone]

This classic comes to mind...

[Referee skates over to Steve Carlson during the playing of the National Anthem]
Peterboro Referee: Got my eye on the three of you. You pull one thing, you're out of this game. I run a clean game here. I have any trouble here, I'll suspend ya.
Steve Hanson: I'm listening to the ******* song.

[Devastatin Dave]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/hoc...em_apology_ap/

Good for Edmonton. Maybe this there will be less booing on BOTH sides now.

[Hurin_Rules]

You should note the context of that episode you mention, where Montreal fans booed the US anthem.

Earlier, NY Islanders fans had booed the Canadian anthem and burned a Canadian flag, apparently in response to some hits in a previous game (and with Toronto, not Montreal).

After the Montreal fans booed the US anthem, the Montreal Canadiens management issued a formal apology and asked Jean Beliveau, one of the Canadiens' greatest retired players, to address the fans. He appealed for calm and asked them not to boo, but to cheer the US anthem. The next game, the Montreal fans cheered the US anthem.

[PanzerJaeger]

So some of you may have seen in the news that during Friday night's Oilers/Sharks game in San Jose, the idiot fans in San Jose decided it would be a good idea to boo and jeer the Canadian national anthem before the game.

Nice.

The horror! A national disgrace such as this is definitely worth a topic in the backroom. Heads must roll!

[Don Corleone]

Actually, I for one am pretty embarrassed. It's pretty poor behavior, especially given that we have had such a long standing friendship with Canada. The USA can be pretty thin-skinned with our own national symbols, and in light of that, perhaps a little more respect for those of our friends?

Not to mention, even if we had an issue with Canada... this just doesn't speak well of us.

[Ser Clegane]

Actually, I for one am pretty embarrassed. It's pretty poor behavior, especially given that we have had such a long standing friendship with Canada. The USA can be pretty thin-skinned with our own national symbols, and in light of that, perhaps a little more respect for those of our friends?

Well ... if it is any comfort to you - a lot of European football "fans" behave far worse

(I hope during the World Cup I will be proven wrong)

[Devastatin Dave]

Like I said, good for Edmonton for offering an olive leaf and maybe there will be less booing on BOTH side, Hurin.

[Kongamato]

A couple of years ago, the Montreal fans were booing the US anthem, and I believe that the Boston fans beginning to cheer "O Canada" and a rant by Don Cherry resulted in the ceasing of hostilities. As for this year, I thought I heard fans from a Canadian team(possibly Edmonton) booing the US anthem before one of the games. Again, my memory is not certain about that.

[Mount Suribachi]

I seem to remember booing the US anthem was de riguer in Canada in 2003 as some kind of protest over the war in Iraq. Or how about Vancouver fans throwing beer bottles & trash on the ice when Detroit scored a goal in the 2002 playoff series? There's more examples but the point is - Canadians, stop trying to occupy some moral high ground here. There's a long history of ******-ness on both sides of the border.

(Language - Beirut)

[Goofball]

There's more examples but the point is - Canadians, stop trying to occupy some moral high ground here.

We don't have to try to occupy the high ground; you guys seem all too eager to hand it to us at every opportunity.

This thread is case and point.

I started it to congratulate a group of sports fans in a specific city during a specific game for actions that I thought were admirable under the specific circumstances.

I made no comment about Americans or Canadians in general, but rather about how pleasantly surprised I was that a bunch of hockey fans (a group not normally known for their good manners) actually took the high road in this case.

What followed for the most part were a bunch of responses trying to point either how the San Jose fans were justified in booing because Edmonton had "started it," or how Canadians are just as bad as Americans.

Well done.

[BHCWarman88]

So some of you may have seen in the news that during Friday night's Oilers/Sharks game in San Jose, the idiot fans in San Jose decided it would be a good idea to boo and jeer the Canadian national anthem before the game.

Nice.

When the teams returned to play the final game in Edmonton last night, I was worried (hockey fans being hockey fans) that the Edmonton fans would decide that turnabout was fair play. But there was no booing during the Star Spangled Banner. What did the Edmonton fans do when the opening notes rang out?

They started cheering.

And continued cheering all the way through the song.

Well done Edmonton; thanks for taking the high road.

that only makes us looks bad..

[drone]

What followed for the most part were a bunch of responses trying to point either how the San Jose fans were justified in booing because Edmonton had "started it," or how Canadians are just as bad as Americans.

Well done.

You have 3000+ posts, quite a few of them in the Backroom, and you expected something different?

[Hurin_Rules]

I seem to remember booing the US anthem was de riguer in Canada in 2003 as some kind of protest over the war in Iraq. Or how about Vancouver fans throwing beer bottles & trash on the ice when Detroit scored a goal in the 2002 playoff series? There's more examples but the point is - Canadians, stop trying to occupy some moral high ground here. There's a long history of ******-ness on both sides of the border.

(Language - Beirut)

Well, I'm Canadian, of course, but I did expect Canadian and American fans to be about equal in their boorishness. In remembering and researching the specific incidents about hockey games, however, I've found it hard to find an incident in which Americans showed much more class than Canadians. Is it perhaps because Canadians aren't quite so touchy (or maybe the Amercans would say, patriotic?) about our national symbols? (You can burn a Canadian flag in Canada without raising as much stink as in America, it seems). Perhaps there is something after all to the stereotype of the excessively polite Canadian. Anyway, I'm fully willing to accept your assertion that both are equally bad, Mount Suribachi.... but first you have to provide some specific incidents relating to hockey games in which Canadians were clearly more responsible for the fracas than Americans. Throwing bottles and trash on the ice--which happens all the time--doesn't seem to me to be quite the same as burning a nation's flag or booing its national anthem.

[Devastatin Dave]

--doesn't seem to me to be quite the same as burning a nation's flag or booing its national anthem.

Ummmm, I don't seem to remember that Canadian flags were burned during this game? Maybe YOU could provide us with some "specific events" as well. Or are you just climbing on Goofy's back while he's riding his high horse?

[Hurin_Rules]

Ummmm, I don't seem to remember that Canadian flags were burned during this game? Maybe YOU could provide us with some "specific events" as well. Or are you just climbing on Goofy's back while he's riding his high horse?

Not during that game-- during the earlier one I mentioned in the post above, when NY Islanders fans burned the Canadian Flag. The fans tore the anthem-singer's Toronto Maple Leafs and Canadian flags from his car and burned them in the parking lot in front of him. There's a writeup about it from the Canadian newspaper the National post here:

http://www.canadian-tv.com/forums/sh...b=6&o=&fpart=1

[Goofball]

Not during that game-- during the earlier one I mentioned in the post above, when NY Islanders fans burned the Canadian Flag. There's a writeup about it from the Canadian newspaper the National post here:

http://www.canadian-tv.com/forums/sh...b=6&o=&fpart=1

Or how about when the USMC Honor (and I use the term "honor" very loosely in this case) Guard carried the Canadian flag out onto the field upside down before a World Series game?

[PanzerJaeger]

Or how about when the USMC Honor (and I use the term "honor" very loosely in this case) Guard carried the Canadian flag out onto the field upside down before a World Series game

?




Did they really??

Hoorahhh

[Goofball]

?




Did they really??

Hoorahhh

Case and point.

[Devastatin Dave]

Not during that game-- during the earlier one I mentioned in the post above, when NY Islanders fans burned the Canadian Flag. The fans tore the anthem-singer's Toronto Maple Leafs and Canadian flags from his car and burned them in the parking lot in front of him. There's a writeup about it from the Canadian newspaper the National post here:

http://www.canadian-tv.com/forums/sh...b=6&o=&fpart=1

Thanks for posting the article. Like I said AGAIN, good for Edmonton for offering an olive leaf and maybe there will be less booing on BOTH sides.

[Hurin_Rules]

Thanks for posting the article. Like I said AGAIN, good for Edmonton for offering an olive leaf and maybe there will be less booing on BOTH sides.

On that we can agree.

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Even though I HATE Edmonton for what they did to my Red Wings (who by the way are still the best team in my mind. You know. They just wanted a break from the playoffs every year), I'll still congratulate them for the class they showed.

Good going Oilers...

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Hey, screw Boston!

Uh. Wait. Scratch that.

Seriously, good job, Canada. You win this one. Well, you know what? We're gonna give you the state of New Hampshire at the next US vs Canada game just to show you we can beat you at being gracious! Take that!

Uh, scratch that too.

Fans who take it too far just stink.

[Beirut]

Oh... bummer. For a moment there I was really looking forward to New Hampshire. Would have been nice.

Live free or die

[Mount Suribachi]

Perhaps there is something after all to the stereotype of the excessively polite Canadian. Anyway, I'm fully willing to accept your assertion that both are equally bad, Mount Suribachi.... but first you have to provide some specific incidents relating to hockey games in which Canadians were clearly more responsible for the fracas than Americans.

Like I said, 2003 Iraq war, it happened more than once at games in Canada. I remember Montreal specifically (playing Boston maybe?) booing the US anthem. I remember that one because I saw a post by a Canadiens fan at the game saying that he (and a few others) were trying to cheer the anthem, but they were drowned out by the boos. IIRC at the next game in the US the home fans made a point of cheering the Canadian anthem.

Thing is, I hang around on a Hockey forum, I've seen this every summer for the past 5 or so years, and its always the same tit for tat with both Canadians and Americans practicing selective amnesia.

The worst thing is the lack of respect shown by Canadian hockey fans for Americans, the old "Americans are stoopid" line, when the truth of the matter is that American hockey fans are 10 times as knowledgable about Canada and its culture than the average American. That really saddens me.

And please remember, I'm English not American, so I have no side to cheer for here. But just to prove that I can pick on both sides, I remember back when the Redwings had the old "Russian 5", playing a game at San Jose (those guys again?) Scotty Bowman put them all on the ice during a power play. The entire Sharks crowd was stood up chanting USA!! USA!! USA!! Konstantinov, Fetisov, Kozlov, Larionov and Fedorov worked the puck around at will and scored a beautiful goal that sure shut the crowd up. It was sweet Oh, and who can forget John LeClair being picked up on the effects mike during game 1 of the '97 finals calling Sergei Fedorov a ****** Commie ******* ?

(Language - Beirut)

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Oh, and who can forget John LeClair being picked up on the effects mike during game 1 of the '97 finals calling Sergei Fedorov a ****ing Commie ******* ?

[Hurin_Rules]

Like I said, 2003 Iraq war, it happened more than once at games in Canada. I remember Montreal specifically (playing Boston maybe?) booing the US anthem. I remember that one because I saw a post by a Canadiens fan at the game saying that he (and a few others) were trying to cheer the anthem, but they were drowned out by the boos. IIRC at the next game in the US the home fans made a point of cheering the Canadian anthem.

If you could provide a link so we can all understand the context?

[Fragony]

So some of you may have seen in the news that during Friday night's Oilers/Sharks game in San Jose, the idiot fans in San Jose decided it would be a good idea to boo and jeer the Canadian national anthem before the game.

Nice.

Dear god and that upsets you? Don't ever come to Europe mia muca