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On Anthems and Booing
by Mike Chen on 04/21/09 at 12:08 PM ET
Comments (5)
James Mirtle captured a few of the responses (and Greg Wyshynski had a good follow up), both from American and Canadian media, regarding the booing of the Star Spangled Banner last night at the Bell Center. I obviously wasn’t there in person, so I don’t know if TV made it better or worse than it actually was. It’s hard to judge those things because most people are usually respectfully silent during an anthem, so the broadcast might make it seem worse than it actually is.
I think we’ve all seen reports from other playoff series over the years where the loud antics of a disrespectful few wind up misrepresenting the whole group. And firsthand, I was at a Toronto Rock game years ago where the people behind me loudly booed the Star Spangled Banner, and I’ve also seen alcohol-fueled idiots at HP Pavilion boo Oh Canada. It’s the same stupidity, just painted with a different flag, and I’m betting the masses stayed respectfully quiet, just like most of the Toronto fans did at that Rock game and most of the fans do at HP Pavilion (though a lot of Sharks fans tend to sing along with Oh Canada—hey, it’s a good song).
I get the feeling that Montreal fans don’t hate American Mike Komisarek just like those Sharks fans I saw years ago don’t hate the bevy of Canadian-born players in San Jose. And those same booing Montreal fans probably enjoy a vacation in New York City or Las Vegas as much the other guy. The lesson here? Alcohol mixed with testosterone can often lead to stupidity, and how that stupidity is expressed takes all sorts of creative shapes: booing anthems or starting incomprehensible screaming matches after a home loss.
It’s disrespectful, dumb, and just plain not cool. Is it unexpected? Unfortunately, no. I think as long as there are anthems sung at sporting events, you’re going to have at least a few bad apples ruining a city’s reputation for everyone else. Isn’t that always how it is?
Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Montreal+Canadiens,
Comments
Do we really need to fake outrage over this?
No, we don’t but I get the feeling that this will happen again next season, and either a Canadian paper or an American paper will be upset. I doubt throwing out “Is it unexpected? Unfortunately, no.” into the interwebs will help prevent that in the future, but hopefully it’ll get through to someone before they react rather than fuel the fire.
Posted by Mike Chen on 04/21/09 at 02:21 PM ET
It’s sad to see people be that classless. Folks died for these countries and I think any nation deserves a little respect.
That being said, yeah, living in any city will teach you that the median intelligence of our planet is, well, in pretty bad shape. Reminds me of the thesis of the movie Idiocracy; the doorknobs tend to procreate more than the smart folk.
Posted by Hippy Dave from Portland by way of Detroit on 04/21/09 at 02:57 PM ET
Reminds me of the thesis of the movie Idiocracy
It’s got electrolytes.
Posted by Mike Chen on 04/21/09 at 03:18 PM ET
I happened to hear a couple guys on Home Ice talking about this (I think it was the War Room), and I agree with their suggestion: Why bother doing the anthem of the other country? If it tends to lead to these sorts of situations then just axe it completely. It’s not like you’re honoring the nationalities of the players themselves.
The one instance I can see playing both is where I grew up, Buffalo. The city is right on the border and nearly half of the Sabre fans in the crowd come from over the bridge, so it makes sense to extend a warm welcome to them. And it’s no surprise that I’ve never heard (or heard about) the Canadian anthem being booed there. I would guess this would apply to Detroit as well. But as for any other market that doesn’t draw so equally, just do the one.
Posted by dave in Rocha on 04/22/09 at 07:28 PM ET
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The fact that a lot people are complete idiots should come as a surprise to no one except other idiots.
Do we really need to fake outrage over this?
Posted by Mandingo from The Garage on 04/21/09 at 02:07 PM ET