Canadian fans?

[nyr199435]

Jesus. It's not worth fighting back. There's so much off base here I wouldn't know where to start. When did I ever say I hate Canada as a country? Even the original post, admittedly done in anger, was in reference to Team Canada, not the country, which I guess was not made clear. People also keep saying one fan makes me hate a country, when anyone who watched the game last night would have seen the red jerseys in the crowd, and this stretches back as far as a few years ago: in other words as soon as the US became a threat. I won't bother to defend my intelligence either, because going down that path only leads to gloating.

People keep boiling down what I said to a handful of things: overreaction, Americans (myself specifically) are dumb, etc. Let me put it more simply: I went to Mike Richter's jersey retirement night. If memory serves, the Rangers were playing the Wild. There was one fan wearing a Brodeur jersey. Why was he there? Except in the case I'm talking about, it's not the one fan. For anyone who keeps saying one fan, or 200 fans, or whatever, just look in the crowd next USA game (I believe vs. Slovakia) and tell me what you see.

Summarized: I don't hate Canada, I think it's petty that a respectable number of fans show up at games simply for the sake of booing teenagers out of spite, when their team isn't even playing. I saw one fan booing the anthem. I don't consider that representative of Canada's populace, just representative of the point I'm trying to make. People accuse me of overreacting, they owe it to themselves to read their responses to my posts. The relative IQs of two countries really has no business in a hockey-based discussion.

 

[danishh]

in response to fans showing up just to 'boo teenagers when their team isnt even playing'

- these are still hockey fans. They will boo during the game, but they also enjoy watching high level hockey like this. They will just support the team opposing their rival like they support their own team in a game.

- many of these fans have ticket packages that left them with a number of non-canadian games. They had to buy these packages in order to get the canadian games and or the medal round games they wanted. This is why they are at these games. It's not like they're paying 75 bucks to go boo USA.

 

[mogs]

Summarized: I don't hate Canada, I think it's petty that a respectable number of fans show up at games simply for the sake of booing teenagers out of spite, when their team isn't even playing. I saw one fan booing the anthem. I don't consider that representative of Canada's populace, just representative of the point I'm trying to make. People accuse me of overreacting, they owe it to themselves to read their responses to my posts. The relative IQs of two countries really has no business in a hockey-based discussion.

You don't think it is possible that Canadians showed up at that game because we love hockey and we want to watch some high quality games at the World Juniors? I watched that game on TV and I found it to be more exciting than the Canada-Russia game. We are Team Canada fans, but we are also hockey fans and we like to go to games to see two good teams play, like Finland and the USA. Not to mention the fact that many fans figure if they are going to drive down to Buffalo, might as well see two games in one day (this is an assumption, but it makes sense).

Finally, if you don't like Canadian fans at USA games booing Team USA, perhaps you should encourage your fellow Americans to buy more tickets? I don't intend to take a shot at Americans here, but I was somewhat surprised that more team USA supporters did not attend the game.

 

[New User Name]

What's with this new-found hatred of the US? Once choice A-hole was booing during our national anthem. To show up at a game and root for any team that plays the US is nothing short of petty. Are they so threatened by us that they have to do things like that? Root for Finland? Last year they were even rooting for Russia. I think since we're their biggest competition they've come to despise us. It's really, really annoying. Talk about an inferiority complex.

This is not an attack on any Canadian fans on this board...I'm sure not everyone's like that, but I have gone from liking Canada to downright despising it. Grow the hell up and deal with having some competition for once. I guess if you do one thing well you had better be the best at it. Really the only word for it is petty, and it shows no degree of grace, civility, or sportsmanship. Awful showing by their fans.

well your anthem was based on a poem (Defence of Fort McHenry)
written in 1814, during a war, against............. Canada

Nevertheless, it is poor sportsmanship to boo anyone's anthem.

 

[Boom King]

Although booing another country's national anthem is pretty disrespectful, booing another team that is considered your rival is just a part of sports. It happens. Don't lose sleep over it. Heck, even Jolly Ol' St. Nic was booed. Besides, Canadians boo the USA because of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party.

 

[Toydarian]

No matter what sport, I generally cheer for the under-dog (unless my preferred team is playing).

In regards to the United States they are rarely the under-dog, therefore I rarely cheer for them. I don't have any animosity towards the US, but I just don't like cheering for them (especially regarding hockey). I don't think that is childish or immature, it is merely a tendency.

I don't quite understand what you are so upset about, it's sports. Are you upset that Islanders fans don't cheer for the Rangers, or Canadiens fans not cheering for the Leafs?

 

[nyr199435]

Alright, before it gets any worse, I'll just agree to disagree. You can see my point of view...even if the fans are there because they bought packages and like watching hockey, what I saw was fans standing up like their own team scored when Finland did and admittedly, one guy, booing the anthem. The two combined in my head to make me believe that the primary motivation is booing the US, not enjoying good hockey. With Buffalo being so close to Canada, and being less popular in the US than it is in Canada, it makes sense that there were a lot of them. There were plenty US fans though, you could hear it in the U-S-A chants and when they scored.

 

[New User Name]

Alright, before it gets any worse, I'll just agree to disagree. You can see my point of view...even if the fans are there because they bought packages and like watching hockey, what I saw was fans standing up like their own team scored when Finland did and admittedly, one guy, booing the anthem. The two combined in my head to make me believe that the primary motivation is booing the US, not enjoying good hockey. With Buffalo being so close to Canada, and being less popular in the US than it is in Canada, it makes sense that there were a lot of them. There were plenty US fans though, you could hear it in the U-S-A chants and when they scored.

I know a group of 20 Canadians that chanted USA USA.

 

[nyr199435]

No matter what sport, I generally cheer for the under-dog (unless my preferred team is playing).

In regards to the United States they are rarely the under-dog, therefore I rarely cheer for them. I don't have any animosity towards the US, but I just don't like cheering for them (especially regarding hockey). I don't think that is childish or immature, it is merely a tendency.

I don't quite understand what you are so upset about, it's sports. Are you upset that Islanders fans don't cheer for the Rangers, or Canadiens fans not cheering for the Leafs?

No, but I would be somewhat confused if a Devils fan showed up at a Rangers/Islanders game just to boo the Rangers. I'm not saying root for the US, root for your country's team by all means. I was annoyed by the combo of seeing somebody booing the anthem, and Canadian fans cheering for Finland.

Oh, and I'm not exactly a Palin fan myself Boom King.

Edit: I should mention that anyone who saw the feed where Gary Thorne was doing the play-by-play should have heard him mention the Canadian fans rooting for Finland. I know he mentioned it, I believe it was in the 3rd period.

 

[Kekumba]

No, but I would be somewhat confused if a Devils fan showed up at a Rangers/Islanders game just to boo the Rangers.

Oh, you'd love the idiots we get here at Sens games.

 

[Habs Icing]

Edit: I should mention that anyone who saw the feed where Gary Thorne was doing the play-by-play should have heard him mention the Canadian fans rooting for Finland. I know he mentioned it, I believe it was in the 3rd period.

I guess this Gary Thorne is a psychic or maybe he asked for the passports of the rooting fans. Also, even if he is right, rooting for Finland is NOT booing the USA. It's simply rooting for Finland. Or are fans not allowed to do that with the Patriot Act?

 

[nyr199435]

I guess this Gary Thorne is a psychic or maybe he asked for the passports of the rooting fans. Also, even if he is right, rooting for Finland is NOT booing the USA. It's simply rooting for Finland. Or are fans not allowed to do that with the Patriot Act?

Yet again, another completely irrelevant topic brought in to the discussion. I think it was enough for Gary that they were wearing Team Canada jerseys. Watch the goal replays, I'm sure you'll see them stand up. Whatever, people seem to be missing the point entirely. Mods, feel free to remove this thread.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

Inferiority complex. It's big north of the 54th parallel. Lots of American jokes. I actually respect you guys.

 

[seanlinden]

Booing the Anthem is a no-no.... but cheering for Finland is something you should take as a compliment. Teams boo their biggest rivals, most Canadians want to see Canada win this tournament no matter what, and most Canadians would rather see the Americans lose so they have an easier path to Gold.

Also, what do you really expect? Some 4000 tickets went unsold to USA-Finland, if Americans as a collective cared, they would've shown up and drowned out the 5000 or so Canadians who showed up to that game. Speaking as one of the fans cheering for Finland last night, It's also not like we go out of our way to invade the game and boo the USA.

Canadians burn a ton of dollars and time on gas driving to buffalo. We sit at the border for an hour waiting to get in. We pay $10 to park (or at least I did, not sure if that's a good deal or not)..... might aswell stick around to watch another high level hockey game, and at that high level hockey game, we're sure as heck going to cheer for the team that is playing our biggest rival. When people watch hockey, they want to get involved.

The other thing to consider, Canadian jerseys definitely outnumbered american jerseys at that game, yet the Americans were obviously the louder contingent.

 

[jamz]

What's with this new-found hatred of the US? Once choice A-hole was booing during our national anthem. To show up at a game and root for any team that plays the US is nothing short of petty. Are they so threatened by us that they have to do things like that? Root for Finland? Last year they were even rooting for Russia. I think since we're their biggest competition they've come to despise us. It's really, really annoying. Talk about an inferiority complex.

This is not an attack on any Canadian fans on this board...I'm sure not everyone's like that, but I have gone from liking Canada to downright despising it. Grow the hell up and deal with having some competition for once. I guess if you do one thing well you had better be the best at it. Really the only word for it is petty, and it shows no degree of grace, civility, or sportsmanship. Awful showing by their fans.

The anthem booing was during the Iraqi invasion to show these people didn't support USA's foreign policies. Not hatred towards the USA.

Cheering the opposition of your rival is done in every sport. If there was a World Cup in England and Portugal was playing France, people in the stands would cheer for Portugal.

 

[Rob]

Oh Man, it will be such a shame if Canada and the US don't play each other.

 

[Ward Cornell]

among the general hockey-fan population, sweden doesnt seem to invoke the same hatred that team USA or team Russia invoke.

I hated Sweden ever since they allowed ABBA out of their country!

 

[SMoneyMonkey]

Hate to point out the elephant in the room. But, USA just isn't liked, and I'm not talking about hockey. There are quite a few very valid reasons to boo the US anthem. I don't, I live in the US, too.

Hate the fact that politics seeps into our wonderful sport, but it does.

 

[bshaw]

why dont you get some american fans to show up, of the probably ten thousand if that at the USA game i bet atleast half, probably more were wearing canada jerseys/shirts, try and get some fans to the games..

 

[joshjull]

wow, if someone changes their mind about the people of a nation because of ONE idiot, the world is in some serious trouble.

Booing an anthem is rude, and shows the lack of class of that individual.

That is all.



And like others said, take the animosity toward the US team as a complement. Canadians see the US team as their biggest threat, not Russia anymore, that's why our fans hate your teams, not Russia's anymore.

If the US team was marginal every year like Slovakia, we'd probably cheer for you.

One person?

The hate level at the Finland/USA game from Canadian fans was palpable. The actions of a large segment of Canadian fans was disgusting. Friends of mine sitting a few rows up left with their kids in the 2nd due to the asshats in our section. I finally had it by the end of the 2nd and get into a bit with some of them. I could care less if they cheer for Finland and want the US to lose. I actually expect that. But the language and vitriolic screaming all game was ridiculous. I was there with my 12 year old daugther.


Ironically enough I was also at the Russia/Canada game with my 11 year old daughter and had a very enjoyable experience.

 

[SabresSharks]

Hate to point out the elephant in the room. But, USA just isn't liked, and I'm not talking about hockey. There are quite a few very valid reasons to boo the US anthem. I don't, I live in the US, too.

Hate the fact that politics seeps into our wonderful sport, but it does.

Might want to think that one through.

 

[SabresSharks]

The US has pretty much closed the gap with Canada in recent years. Olympic and WJC results prove it.

Booing the US team and/or cheering the US opponent is actually recognition of that fact. Americans who feel insulted should think of it as a grudging compliment, because that's what it is.

 

[SMoneyMonkey]

Might want to think that one through.

I love the US, I'm just not ignorant of all the reasons not to. I'm not condoning the booing. But, it's silly to think hockey has much to do with it.

 

[Canada4Gold]

It's quite obvious to me why there were so many Canadians in the crowd, they bought ticket packages so they could watch the games they wanted and were left with tickets for other game(such as USA/Finland) so they decided to go, same reason the Germany/Switzerland game had such a big crowd, they weren't there to boo the Germans. Second of all, many of these fans like to watch hockey, they came down to watch Canada, and stayed to watch the other game because they wanted to watch some hockey, nothing wrong with that. So now that we've covered why there were so many Canadians in the crowd, lets tackle why they were cheering for the Fins. First of all, the Americans are probably our biggest rival in this tournament, they are co-favorites, and Canadians fans would love to see the Americans face some adversity and a loss early on. 2nd of all, when fans are neutral towards both teams they often root for the underdog, it happens in every sport, they went to the game to see some good hockey and started cheering for the underdog, I was doing it last night watching the game on TSN 2. If the Fins were the co-favorite and the Americans had the weaker team, then I probably would have been cheering for them, it's as simple as that. Don't take it too seriously, if Canada was hosting a Baseball tournament close to the border, and were playing the Netherlands, South Africa or some other weak team, 1 hours after the Americans playing in the same venue there would most likely be Americans in the crowd and they probably would be rooting against Canada. As for the booing, that's just some jerk being a jerk, shouldn't happen but it does, there are people like that in every country. Don't judge 8000 Canadian fans who were at the game based on 1 person booing the American anthem

 

[bruinsfan46]

Fair points. I'm not trying to start a squabble or anything, I'm just wondering what that's about. I mean, Russia is the last team I thought I'd ever see Canadians rooting for, but sure enough they were doing it when they played the US last year. I'm not asking them to cheer for the US, and by all means cheer for Canada when they play against the US, who wouldn't cheer for their country's team? But showing up at a game your country isn't even playing in simply for the sake of booing your biggest threat? That doesn't strike anyone else as a little silly?

I know a few select fans aren't representative of a whole fan-base. Hell, I know a Flyers fan who is actually quite respectful and quiet when he's at the Garden, which is a miracle given Philly fans' reputation. I'm just wondering what this new fad is about among Canadian fans. I used to have no problem with Team Canada, even at the Olympics I figured if the US is gonna lose why not root for our neighbors? But they've managed to turn me in to an anti-fan.

If I'm driving close to four hours with the border how it was and I can buy a day pass and get an entire day of hockey and not just one game, I'm doing it. Who the hell are you to tell me who to cheer for? Yes I wanted Finland to win, yes I was vocal about it with my fellow Canadian fans. But guess what, I'm a paying customer, I'm sure USA hockey is glad there were so many Canadian paying customers. Otherwise the crowd would have looked like something that belongs at a Phoenix Coyotes game. And if we're paying customers we have a right to cheer for whoever the hell we want and there's nothing silly or lame about it, we paid good money (money so good, not a whole lot of Americans were willing to pay it) and sporting events are always more enjoyable when you have somebody to cheer for. Cheering against the Americans comes much more naturally than cheering against the Fins.