Canadian fans?

[Davebo*]

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.

We actually like the Finns style of play - they would be the first tto tell you that they copy some of our style of play - quite successfully.

S0 - we like them more than you. Big ****ing deal. Get over yourselves...

Awful showing by our fans? You know what's worse? Your fans not SHOWING UP AT ALL!

 

[Davebo*]

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.

They are showing up to watch a hockey game between elite players at that age group. Ever wonder how Canada is so good at and very knowledgeable about the sport? We take an interest in it! We don't surf the net for scores - we go out to the games and watch.

The fact that you can't understand that, and you're a professed hockey fan, speaks volumes. No wonder the stands at YOUR tournament - at your games - are full of my countrymen.

 

[Confucius]

The real problem here is the U S is embarassed that they are getting booed in their own country. Making it appear they have little support for the game. Something similar to Leaf fans outnumbering Sens fans at games in Ottawa. This tournament being broadcast to many countries, just amplifies the embarassment.

 

[wjhl2009fan]

The real problem here is the U S is embarassed that they are getting booed in their own country. Making it appear they have little support for the game. Something similar to Leaf fans outnumbering Sens fans at games in Ottawa. This tournament being broadcast to many countries, just amplifies the embarassment.

Part of the issue is not so much beeing booed but the amnount of tickets sold to canadians 60% that means you have a massive amount of people driving a fair distance to go to the games.In ottawa there

 

[aqsw]

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

The rest of the world must really hate us then. We let out Beiber!

 

[dookers9]

I used to cheer for Canada when they weren't playing us. The WJC a few years ago when the entire stadium booed our anthem started to change that and the continued rooting against us since that time and the arrogance ("our game") has made Hockey Canada enemy number one in international hockey for me.

I root against Canada no matter who they are playing and their fans active hatred for us makes beating them SO much sweeter than it would otherwise be. See, I get to be extremely proud of our kids and at the same time think, "Suck it Canada!"

Now before anyone gets their undies in a bind, this is the same way I feel towards Minnesota and North Dakota as a Badger fan and how I used to feel towards the North Stars as a Blackhawks fan. It's just rivalries and sports to me wouldn't be worthwhile without them.

I have lots of Canadian friends that I skate with and we all get along fine although the U.S. born players in our group are of course better. Funny thing is that they were pretty quiet after last year's WJC and only seemed relieved, not happy after the Olympics.

One final thought... 1996 still ranks as one of my all time favorite sporting events. People were already celebrating the gold and then Tony Amonte did his thing. Wish I could find that game on dvd...

Hope we win again, in part just so Canada can grip for another year.

Oh yeah and booing an anthem... C'mon. In Chicago, we always cheer (pretty decently no less) Oh Canada.

Seems to me that last year's WJH event wields a hell of a lot of power to have turned you against a nation. Going from cheering 'for' one moment and 'against' the next is a radical change based on one experience.

That said, you're right - rivalries are what it's all about. I'm an Oilers fan and won't be caught dead cheering for the Canucks or Flames. Ever. It's what brings passion and fuel to being a fan. Good stuff.

Careful, though, that you don't operate from the belief that its only been Canadians - as stupid and as misplaced their passions were at the time - that have booed an anthem. Again, as an Oilers fan, I recall several stops along the way to the Cup Final that saw O Canada booed. When you have that much passion and group mentality, it doesn't take much to step outside of the boundaries of good taste.

 

[doakacola*]

Okay, first thing I want to say is that booing a nation's anthem is a discraceful act. On this subject we agree. However, I think cheering for the opposition of your cheif rival is just good clean fun. Remember this is just sports after all. People pay their money and can pick their own allegiences or teams to hate on. Canada now does see the U.S. as it's chief rival and as was said in an earlier post, you should take it as a compliment. A decade ago we would have paid the U.S. no heed. Don't be offended by that statement as that's precisely what the States does to Canada every day about every other subject other than hockey.

I can tell you with 100% certainty that back in the Cold War US hockey fans always and I mean always supported Canada against Russia. I noticed back in the World Cup of 1996 when the US played Russia, in I think Hamilton/Ottawa, the crowd was rooting entirely for Russia. That was a bitter pill for me to swallow.

 

[nolan]

"I'm surprised each time I read of a US citizen seemingly mystified when they're treated disrespectfully in an international sporting arena. It might not be "right", but it "is"."

Are you surprised every time a black person complains about being treated unfairly based on the color of his skin as well?

I suppose that just "is." up there in Canada as well.

Maybe you're unaware but a fair portion of the 300 million+ people in the USA didn't ask to be born there, and when you're dealing with a sample size of 300 million its a lot more likely for another citizen of the world to encounter one that rubs them the wrong way in travel/etc.

As one of the few American fans at the Olympics I was horrified at the treatment of elderly/female/young American fans by groups of young Canadians and I saw it over and over again day after day. The days of the polite Canadian are long gone. I'm sure you guys can just go off blaming it on US media though.

Now I'm ranting too but I'm just sick and tired of uneducated, untraveled foreigners telling me why the rest of the world has the right to stereotype or judge a person from a nation of 300 million due to the actions of things far outside of their control. As a life long hockey fan living on the border I can personally attest to a greatly changing Canadian fan dynamic over the last 15 years.

Sorry to write a novel, I don't even really have a point other than most "american-bashing" is done simply because it is just trendy now and not because anyone is actually more intelligent or aware or whatever other excuse they want to use to stereotype a massive population in whatever ridiculous fashion they deem fit.

 

[JD SabreFan]

They're just bitter that we have more professional hockey teams. Maybe they should respect us, if there was no U.S., there would be no NHL. Likewise with Canada, but I respect Canadians.. well, the non-ignorants at least.

 

[Rob]

In before the lock!

I have no problem with fellow Canadians cheering for the opposing team against the US. But some take it way too far. In particular the younger generation.

 

[oilerfanatic]

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.

what are you on about? the US is a good team now so expect to be booed..in fact, you should feel privileged to be booed by canadians because we only boo teams that have the ability to challenge us..

and what's with this "they're 18 year old kids blah blah blah" boo hoo, these kids are the cream of the crop and representing their countries in an international tournament. In the US this may be seen as some sort of kiddie tournament but this **** is serious in canada..forget other fans these kids are scrutinized by canadian media and criticized when they make mistakes..you don't see them crying.

 

[13 others]

You're our biggest rival it was bound to happen.

 

[oilerfanatic]

They're just bitter that we have more professional hockey teams. Maybe they should respect us, if there was no U.S., there would be no NHL. Likewise with Canada, but I respect Canadians.. well, the non-ignorants at least.

no, if there were no US, there would be an NHL where fans would actually show up to games.

 

[oilerfanatic]

Theres not even much of a difference between Americans and Canadians.We both love sports,most speak the same language,watch the same movies,listen to the same music.I dont think there are any countries as similar as ours.

no, we're not similar at all..but thanks for coming out.

 

[John Price]

The US is their biggest rival in the tournament, and a neighbor. Nothing wrong with a little trash talking against your neighbor to the south.

 

[canucksfan]

Canadians take hockey way too seriously.

 

[doakacola*]

no, we're not similar at all..but thanks for coming out.

Dude, get a grip there are tremendous similarities between us, don't be a tool.

 

[wjhl2009fan]

Canadians take hockey way too seriously.

Just as americans take college sports to seriously or uk fans taking soccer way to serious.

 

[IRON JELLY*]

The US is their biggest rival in the tournament, and a neighbor. Nothing wrong with a little trash talking against your neighbor to the south.

This is probably the biggest reason. There is always a huge rivalry between neighbouring countries, regardless of sport.

 

[dystemper]

canadian fans... without them, hsbc arena would be a very lonely place.

complain about them all you want -- they're the ones who shelled out the cash to buy 2/3rds of the tickets so far. they're injecting much needed money into the buffalo economy. considering how many there are crossing the border to watch these games, you can't seriously be that upset about a few bad apples unless you're the world's most uptight human being.

 

[Gurth]

Seems to me that last year's WJH event wields a hell of a lot of power to have turned you against a nation. Going from cheering 'for' one moment and 'against' the next is a radical change based on one experience.

That said, you're right - rivalries are what it's all about. I'm an Oilers fan and won't be caught dead cheering for the Canucks or Flames. Ever. It's what brings passion and fuel to being a fan. Good stuff.

Careful, though, that you don't operate from the belief that its only been Canadians - as stupid and as misplaced their passions were at the time - that have booed an anthem. Again, as an Oilers fan, I recall several stops along the way to the Cup Final that saw O Canada booed. When you have that much passion and group mentality, it doesn't take much to step outside of the boundaries of good taste.

It wasn't last year's WJC that I was referring to. It was about 5 years ago when our team had Jack and Eric Johnson and it was in Western Canada. I could look it up, but just don't have time as I'm off to my kid's hockey practice.

And I haven't turned against a nation, just a national hockey program and their fans when they're being fans. Like I said, I have a bunch of friends from north of the border and like another poster said, we're really quite similar as human beings.

Oh yeah and to whomever said that Canadians take hockey too seriously, I would say that it's not possible top take hockey too seriously. Nationalism can go too far though...

I would never boo your anthem and I think it's one of the better ones out there. Always loved hearing it at the old Chicago Stadium as a kid as it seemed to make hockey this different sport and somehow almost exotic compared to our other sports down here.

 

[oilerfanatic]

Dude, get a grip there are tremendous similarities between us, don't be a tool.

we're only similar on the surface..don't make me make this a political thread..

 

[Mr Forever]

disagree with booing the anthem, but in hockey USA and Russia are both huge rivals for us. We will boo your team and cheer against you. The only hockey power we're ambivalent towards is sweden.

This is so true.
It's very difficult to dislike Sweden. Seeing them excel, you just want to say good for you!

 

[SlowShot]

It wasn't last year's WJC that I was referring to. It was about 5 years ago when our team had Jack and Eric Johnson and it was in Western Canada. I could look it up, but just don't have time as I'm off to my kid's hockey practice.

I think you that you are talking about the one in Vancouver. They booed a few things during those games. I remember during the Norway verse America game some 10 year old kids were shooting for some prize during the period. They announced one kid from B.C everyone started to cheer. Than when they announced the other two where from Calgary and Toronto a large portion of the crowd started booing.

 

[Dr Awesome]

1 fan = entire Canada obviously.

his name is Steve, you know all Canadians males are named Steve.