Thanks for showing some class, Edmonton...

[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.

[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

[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?