Alanah,

Perhaps you’re right: nobody has the right to define what exactly makes a “true” hockey fan. (I say this as someone who has brashly made this error in the past, and so yes, you may kindly tell me where to stick it.)

But I have to defend the spirit of such an exercise, if only because I’ve seen and read about numerous fans that sure have funny ways of showing that they love the game. Would you rather we made distinctions between “good” and “bad” hockey fans?

It might seem like a silly thing to discuss, but I can’t help but think it fair. One of the reasons I prefer reading Canucks blogs to newspaper articles is because you guys actually show a love for your team, even when you criticize them. And maybe it’d be wrong to say that Iain McIntyre, Brad Zeimer, and Jason Botchford are “false” hockey fans. But I sure wouldn’t call them “good” fans.

Posted by Frank from Moscow, ID on 01/26/09 at 03:18 PM ET

Hey Frank. 

Hmm. I think I understand what you’re saying, but isn’t it possible the issue is simply about whether one is a hockey fan or not, rather than about what degree they should be measured by?  “True” or not true, “good” or “bad”... these things seems arbitrary and elitist to me. (But maybe I’m also being arbitrary and elitist by disregarding the discussion! )

In the case of the work of journalists, I don’t think of the issue at all because their fandom (or lack thereof) has nothing to do with their job.  I think there are a number of good hockey journalists who are <u>not</u> hockey fans at all, while others love the game. But being a fan isn’t necessary to do their job, either.

However, I enjoy fan writings for the same reasons that you do—there is an emotional investment in the team, and it gives us a sense that “we’re all in this mess together.” 

Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 01/26/09 at 03:29 PM ET

re: bettman

my money is on the cocaine.

Posted by bitterguy from san francisco, ca on 01/26/09 at 03:31 PM ET

I think Bettman’s issue was paranoia.
How would you feel if you were in Montreal, home of the most rabid hockey fans on the planet, and you were the person destroying their sport.

I’m suprised Bettman wasn’t surrounded by body guards, sitting in a flak jacket, and soiling his undies in fear.

Posted by AvsRock from Littleton, Colorado on 01/26/09 at 03:37 PM ET

Alanah,

You’re probably right. And while I would like to think I’m never elitist, I know from experience that “degrees” of fandom are unimportant when it really count—there’s nothing like celebrating a goal with 18,000 other fans in GM Place.

I would still protest, however, that fans have something of a responsibility to be more than fairweather supporters. If you’re not willing to root for your team when they’re down or when they just plain suck, what does that say about you as a fan?

Which is really all that I’m getting at with the whole true/false/good/bad hockey fan thing. Because yes, we are in the mess together, thank God! 

Posted by Frank from Moscow, ID on 01/26/09 at 03:42 PM ET

I’m suprised Bettman wasn’t surrounded by body guards, sitting in a flak jacket, and soiling his undies in fear.

In other words, just another day at the office, huh?

Posted by YzermanZetterberg on 01/26/09 at 03:48 PM ET

Bitterguy— That made me laugh out loud (but man, I’m gonna get mail!)

AvsRock—Perhaps the security guards are just kept off-camera. As for the rest of it, I don’t wanna know…

Frank— “If you’re not willing to root for your team when they’re down or when they just plain suck, what does that say about you as a fan?”

Hey, they’re still fans…  but there’s no law that says some hockey fans aren’t also douchebags.

Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 01/26/09 at 03:50 PM ET

I must applaud you for calling out the jerks who make fun of new fans or people who may now know as much as them.  A “True Hockey Fan” is someone who enjoys Hockey and is out there having fun watching the stars.

I am a huge Red Wings fan and I have a story to share.  I was at a Wings vs Ducks game in Anaheim a couple of weeks back and the section I was in was almost all Wings fans.  A big red section.  However there were a few Ducks fans and two of them sat behind me.  Likely a couple as they were the only two ducks fans in the row, older and my guess was husband/wife.

The wife was just learning the game and the husband was patently explaining the rules when she asked questions.  I have played hockey since I was 3 or 4 years old and have followed the rule changes over the years.  However she is just getting into it.  Does that make me a better fan?  Hell no.  Just another fan yelling for my team.  Good for her coming out to watch the game.

My big problem was the red wing fan sitting two seats down from me.  He kept whispering rude remarks to his girlfriend about how stupid Anaheim fans are (“They are booing that call, how stupid”, “Don’t they even know what icing is?”, “That lady behind us just asked what the whistle was blown for, oh man this is rich!” ). 

Yes Ducks fans have not had a team for as long as Detroit, but who cares.  They are learning, faithful to their team, and best of all passionate about the game.  So they have a bit to learn, I think we do. 

I was so very happy when the jerk Wings fan left at the start of the 2nd period.  I think he went down to take some better seats from someone who did not come.

Posted by Geoff Baker from Canada on 01/26/09 at 04:41 PM ET

Great story, Geoff. Those are exactly the kind of fans I was thinking about… always so superior to everybody else. And they don’t make learning about hockey a fun thing for a new fan to discover.

Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 01/26/09 at 06:10 PM ET

I have to agree with you on every point you made.  In Pittsburgh, I’m seeing a lot of the “old school” fans harrassing the new fans who’ve gotten interested because of Crosby, Malkin, Fleury, etc.  Twenty years ago, I got into the Pens because of Lemieux.  You could have called me a fair weather fan back then, but I’ve gone through the ups and downs with the team since then. 

And thanks for getting Sid’s back.  I get tired of hearing all the trash talking about the kid.  He’s handled it great.  I give Crosby haters a little leeway, though, because I did the same thing when everyone was talking Gretzky while I was idolizing Lemieux.

Posted by Ed from Pittsburgh on 01/26/09 at 07:39 PM ET

Bettman has always had that ‘Parkinsons’ jitter. Most telling is when he gets out to present the Stanley Cup each year…

I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t being treated for that…I know a few people that have carried on their lives for years with the disease.

Posted by GZ Expat on 01/26/09 at 07:56 PM ET

I’ve noticed that jitteryness in Bettman, too - much as I hate him, I hope it’s just a horde of nervous tics and nothing serious.

I hate, hate, HATE the fans who think someone died and made them “hockey god and arbiter of all that is fandom.”  Fans are people who care about the sport and their team, who feel happier when their team wins, grumpy when they lose, and sometimes drag themselves in to work or class yawning because the game went late the night before and they couldn’t stop watching until the end.  I don’t care if someone is supposedly bandwagon or fair-weather or what - there are as many different ways of being a fan as there are fans, and the I’d like to tell the idiots who think otherwise and think they have the right to tell other people how valid their fandom is to stick it somewhere very uncomfortable and possibly anatomically impossible.  Jerks. 

It is strange about hockey fans, though.  No other sport that I’ve watched has had fans so quick to judge the depth and value of another’s devotion to the team and the sport, as though being a hockey fan is some kind of fraternity that anyone who wants to join needs to go through hazing.  It’s stupid - I always love it when someone is just getting into a sport and learning about it, because they are so excited and I remember when I was worried about looking stupid because I didn’t know as much as other people, and everyone needs some encouragement when they are learning something new.

With Crosby, I think it’s just reaction to the feeling that he is promoted so much that hockey fans are having Crosby-this and Crosby-that shoved down their throats, and they are sick of it.  I am, too - but that doesn’t mean I can’t admire the way he handles himself, for the most part.  He never asked to be the league’s golden boy and biggest marketing tool - he just does the best he can with the publicity stuff while he is trying to play hockey.  Actually this year he seems a bit more interesting of a story, and it’s mostly because of his odd fights - I suspect he hasn’t seen too much losing in his young career, and isn’t quite sure how to deal with it when he is the captain of the team and likely feels a responsibility to get them playing better.  I think he’ll be a lot better at captaining after he learns how to handle failure, and that only comes with experience.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 01/26/09 at 09:39 PM ET