Class is in session
Great article by Jay Onrait.
When fans at the HP Pavilion in San Jose booed the Canadian National Anthem before Game 5 between the Oilers and Sharks Sunday night, it was a pretty disappointing lack of class to say the least.
We're not talking about the majority of Sharks fans here. Fans who, by all accounts, have actually given their NHL franchise a tremendous amount of support since they became the 22nd expansion team.
What we are talking about are the "several hundred" fans who were apparently making their voices heard in retaliation, because they thought they heard Edmonton fans booing the American anthem in Game Four.
Thankfully, the fans at Edmonton's Rexall Place showed how it should be done.
The fans at Rexall, already earning a well-deserved reputation as the most fun loving bunch left in the NHL post-season (I'd like to see more Alberta beef on the ice actually) didn't boo the American anthem in retaliation. Instead, they cheered throughout Paul Lorieau's rendition as if they were 17,000 visiting Yanks on a bus tour.
Loudly.
With big bright smiles.
Kill 'em with kindness; it really does work every time. I was like a proud father watching them.
As Mark Purdy said in Wednesday's edition of the San Jose Mercury News:
"if the Canadian fans want to prove they are smarter than the people of Silicon Valley, they can do it very easily. They can stand up and applaud both anthems. Then they can sit down and watch hockey. Doesn't sound too hard, does it?"
Done and done. Actually, they cheered the American one so loud they drowned out Lorieau and then, as we all do, tried to sing the Canadian one. A pretty sweet sound indeed.
All of this ridiculousness has, incredibly, sparked a debate about the relevance of anthems in modern pro sports.
Look, if standing up and removing your hat for six minutes is too much for you, tell it to the family of Capt. Nichola Goddard, the Canadian soldier who was killed on Wednesday battling Taliban forces in Afghanistan while you and I were deciding whether to eat chips or nachos while watching the game. If singing my anthem (poorly) is all I am asked to do to acknowledge the men and women who actually put their lives on their line for my country everyday, I don't really think it's too much to ask.
Sorry, I'll jump off the soapbox now.
I guess I'm still a little stunned at what happened on the ice in Edmonton on Wednesday night after the anthems were over. The Oilers are a team you can't help but get behind, just like Calgary was during their playoff run in 2004.
For the past several years it seemed like the Oilers always had the talent to make the post-season, but to finish in the Final Four? Unheard of.
Think the lockout was worth it to Oiler fans?
Gary Bettman stood up at an Edmonton Chamber of Commerce meeting in the early stages of the lockout and promised the kind of CBA that would not only allow Edmonton to keep their NHL team, but to realistically compete for the Cup each year.
It all sounded great, but did anyone believe it at the time?
They believe it now.
Many of the players who have helped get Edmonton a Friday night date with Anaheim were there before the lockout: Ryan Smyth, Shawn Horcoff, Jason Smith, Steve Staois. But they alone could not have put Edmonton in the position they are in now.
The post-lockout world has leveled the playing field and allowed Kevin Lowe to afford contracts for Chris Pronger (rounding back into Norris form throughout the post-season) and Mike Peca (his opening goal in Game 6 may actually have been worth that $4 million he was paid this year) not to mention the additions of Sergei Samsonov (born to play in the Western Conference) and of course Dwayne Roloson (who is like the Sam Cassell of the NBA, absolutely turning it up in his contract year and earning more potential money with each save)
Roloson and Samsonov have given Oiler GM Kevin Lowe a kind of "nice" problem to deal with in the off-season. They've been so good in the playoffs, it's hard to imagine Lowe not making a big push to sign them this summer when they become unrestricted free agents. Roloson made Lowe look like he had picked the wrong goaltender at the trade deadline for much of his time with the Oilers during the regular season, but he's making Lowe look like a genius now.
Now we will be treated to a Western Conference Finals that by all indication should be as wide-open and entertaining as the last time Edmonton made it to the Western Finals, back when I was graduating high school.
A long time ago.
It's a just reward for the kind of hockey fans who deserve to see their team have some success, and not just because they cheered during the American anthem.
You stay classy, Edmonton.
When fans at the HP Pavilion in San Jose booed the Canadian National Anthem before Game 5 between the Oilers and Sharks Sunday night, it was a pretty disappointing lack of class to say the least.
We're not talking about the majority of Sharks fans here. Fans who, by all accounts, have actually given their NHL franchise a tremendous amount of support since they became the 22nd expansion team.
What we are talking about are the "several hundred" fans who were apparently making their voices heard in retaliation, because they thought they heard Edmonton fans booing the American anthem in Game Four.
Thankfully, the fans at Edmonton's Rexall Place showed how it should be done.
The fans at Rexall, already earning a well-deserved reputation as the most fun loving bunch left in the NHL post-season (I'd like to see more Alberta beef on the ice actually) didn't boo the American anthem in retaliation. Instead, they cheered throughout Paul Lorieau's rendition as if they were 17,000 visiting Yanks on a bus tour.
Loudly.
With big bright smiles.
Kill 'em with kindness; it really does work every time. I was like a proud father watching them.
As Mark Purdy said in Wednesday's edition of the San Jose Mercury News:
"if the Canadian fans want to prove they are smarter than the people of Silicon Valley, they can do it very easily. They can stand up and applaud both anthems. Then they can sit down and watch hockey. Doesn't sound too hard, does it?"
Done and done. Actually, they cheered the American one so loud they drowned out Lorieau and then, as we all do, tried to sing the Canadian one. A pretty sweet sound indeed.
All of this ridiculousness has, incredibly, sparked a debate about the relevance of anthems in modern pro sports.
Look, if standing up and removing your hat for six minutes is too much for you, tell it to the family of Capt. Nichola Goddard, the Canadian soldier who was killed on Wednesday battling Taliban forces in Afghanistan while you and I were deciding whether to eat chips or nachos while watching the game. If singing my anthem (poorly) is all I am asked to do to acknowledge the men and women who actually put their lives on their line for my country everyday, I don't really think it's too much to ask.
Sorry, I'll jump off the soapbox now.
I guess I'm still a little stunned at what happened on the ice in Edmonton on Wednesday night after the anthems were over. The Oilers are a team you can't help but get behind, just like Calgary was during their playoff run in 2004.
For the past several years it seemed like the Oilers always had the talent to make the post-season, but to finish in the Final Four? Unheard of.
Think the lockout was worth it to Oiler fans?
Gary Bettman stood up at an Edmonton Chamber of Commerce meeting in the early stages of the lockout and promised the kind of CBA that would not only allow Edmonton to keep their NHL team, but to realistically compete for the Cup each year.
It all sounded great, but did anyone believe it at the time?
They believe it now.
Many of the players who have helped get Edmonton a Friday night date with Anaheim were there before the lockout: Ryan Smyth, Shawn Horcoff, Jason Smith, Steve Staois. But they alone could not have put Edmonton in the position they are in now.
The post-lockout world has leveled the playing field and allowed Kevin Lowe to afford contracts for Chris Pronger (rounding back into Norris form throughout the post-season) and Mike Peca (his opening goal in Game 6 may actually have been worth that $4 million he was paid this year) not to mention the additions of Sergei Samsonov (born to play in the Western Conference) and of course Dwayne Roloson (who is like the Sam Cassell of the NBA, absolutely turning it up in his contract year and earning more potential money with each save)
Roloson and Samsonov have given Oiler GM Kevin Lowe a kind of "nice" problem to deal with in the off-season. They've been so good in the playoffs, it's hard to imagine Lowe not making a big push to sign them this summer when they become unrestricted free agents. Roloson made Lowe look like he had picked the wrong goaltender at the trade deadline for much of his time with the Oilers during the regular season, but he's making Lowe look like a genius now.
Now we will be treated to a Western Conference Finals that by all indication should be as wide-open and entertaining as the last time Edmonton made it to the Western Finals, back when I was graduating high school.
A long time ago.
It's a just reward for the kind of hockey fans who deserve to see their team have some success, and not just because they cheered during the American anthem.
You stay classy, Edmonton.
, but hey....we're just glad you're not pushing up daisies.
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