Thats it, im officially done with hockey, i never was much of a sports fan to begin with but after seeing that fans cant deal with a loss in a civilized way i am not watching any games next year
Watching the riots in Van tonight might be the 1st time I been excited that shopping in Prince Rupert sucks. Nothing here worth looting.
I agree I never was a big fan but this year I was south early on during the first series… I enjoyed a game at a bar and went on to really enjoy the canucks plays offs, what occured in Boston was sad, but nothing can compare to what has occured in Vancouver very sad. I am done with hockey and won’t be attending any thing in Vancouver except the Airport to connect in and out of there…
Agreed. The rioting was pathetic. Idiots!!
I agree what happened was pathatic but to blame the Canucks is pathatic they didn’t ask for this, infact they really hated what happened, it was a group of people who win or lose decided to to this, they had cocktails actually ready and I hate that people say that we need to get rid of hockey because of those small few, but with the camereas and such they will be caught and I hope our justive system makes them pay because even though our Canucks were 2nd place it was still something to celebrate because it took them 17 years to get there and we will always remember what they did, all of the Canuacks, they for abit brought us together and win or lose i will remember that so TO THE CANUCKS, YOU WERE AWESOME THIS SEASON, SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!
No one can blame the canucks or hockey for what has happened, but I will always be afraid of this occurring again. It is not worth it to watch a game concluded this way…
Soon as the game was over, I turned the TV off. Wasn’t aware of the riots until I turned it on again about 9:30.
Stupid people are everywhere! Look at me Mom, I’m an idiot! First time ever I was rooting for the riot squad, those ppl waving to the camera deserve to be jailed.
And the number with cell phones glued to their heads! Can’t even riot without blabbing nonstop.
Even some of the cops had video cameras out… Guess they’ve decided to use the rioters’ favorite post-arrest weapon against them.
I love the facebook group. Especially the picture of the guy lighting the cop car on fire. So rad that his face was caught on camera nice and clear. someones going to jail.
funny …
I think the captions placed on the photos at the below link, are admirable:
canuckshallofshame.com/picture-gallery.php
“If you can identify any of these people e-mail: robbery@vpd.ca or contact the VPD by phone!”
[quote=“zerocool”]Best photo from the riot:
kellyoxford.tumblr.com/post/6588 … -vancouver[/quote]
make love not war… 
From one of the comments.
[quote]I have a different take on the riots. They stem from the mass hysteria built up over the Stanley Cup Finals by the mass media, which stems in turn from the elite’s need to provide distraction, and the masses’ need to fill the gaping spiritual vacuum in their lives by identifying with a cause. When the Vancouver Canucks were ignominiously defeated, their fans were deprived of necessary validation and the whole empty sham was exposed. Staring their own vacuity in the face, they exploded in violence.
H. Makow[/quote]
I have thought the same thing. I am not convinced that his last two sentences are necessarily correct. The people who started the riot did it for their own purposes. But without the hype and the crowds that gathered because of the hype I am not sure that anything would have happened. Perhaps we do get too attached to a sports team which in the end really doesn’t change anything about who we are and how we live or will live our lives regardless of the game’s outcome.
Vancouver had an awesome season and came up 1 game short of winning the cup. They are a talented team and will be back. But as for the riot it had nothing to do with the game, they would have rioted even if they won. This was just an excuse for a large group of individuals to cause mayhem and destruction. They were not there for any other reason but to do that. Its to bad that others got caught up in this, hopefully the ones that caused the most damage will be caught and that the justice system will do right for a change. People need to stop blaming the team and REAL fans for what happened.
Well in this case, some fans decided to show what they really were and left the rest of British Columbians and alot of canadians outraged and ashamed of how we live our lives.
Vancouver was the pride of the country a little over a year ago and now, well, I won’t go there! However, I think the whole country, and some americans, saw how the fans in Rogers arena showed class by really cheering the Bruins (except for Boychuk) when they had the cup. The placed stayed packed even though these fans must have been distraught about the Canucks loss.
But what I’m really curious about is what could be done to really prevent this and teach those who took part in the riot that they could choose to act in a civil manner and not join in these stupid acts? So basically, how do we prevent mob mentality?
I think there is some evidence that points to the fact that some of these “canucks fans” were in fact hooligans disguised as fans who came prepared for violence. I am not excusing the violent acts merely pointing out that some of these cretins came prepared to loot businesses.
I tend to think this is all more of a reflection on the state of humanity itself, rather than on the City of Vancouver. How quickly people forget the “riot” we had a few years ago on Fifth and McBride when a house party was broken up.
It seems, to me anyways, that more people are wanting to, and taking pride in, ransacking and destroying property. There are little “security” cameras everywhere. Which was evident in the Vancouver riot. Cameras are everywhere, you ARE being watched. As paranoid as that sounds. But people seem to get more violent, and riled up, when put in front of a camera. It just seems sick to me.
I’m far more ashamed that the people I share this world with, could be so violent and evil. Than I ever will be that my favorite hockey team lost…
[quote=“BigThumb”]
I didn’t phrase my last sentence well. I was not criticizing the fans. I was criticizing the hype. Professional sport loyalty is so very strange. We (and I put myself in that category although as I age I have mellowed) expend a lot of emotion supporting and identifying with a group of athletes who are really nothing more than a distraction.
That is the starting point.
The media then use that loyalty to sell stories. I have nothing to base this on, but I am guessing that over the past couple of weeks, the News Hour spent more time on hockey each night than they spent on the Japan earthquake or the events in Libya or Egypt or the federal election at the height of those stories.
And then the encouragement of large crowds in a downtown area which I really don’t understand. All these thousands of people were not all there as fans of the Canucks or hockey. (Ask some of the bandwagon jumping fans to name players on the Canucks and see how far they get.) They were there for the party or for some sense of group identification or for a group hug. I don’t know. A crowd like that would be the last place you would find me even if I knew my team would win and the events would be totally peaceful.
And on top of that there were probably hundreds there who were not looking to cause trouble but to be witnesses to trouble. Those are the people who give troublemakers an audience and the courage to taunt police. Those “innocent” bystanders get in the way of the police doing their job. The police may not want to use extreme measures when 'Innocent" bystanders could get hurt. If they just have to deal with looters, the police can quickly do the job that needs to be done.
And then we had the false sense of security from the Olympics. Why wasn’t there any trouble on any of those nights. Well, I think it helped that it was treated as a celebration from the beginning. And the sporting events took place during the day so the parties weren’t centred around the outcome of a single event or even the watching of that event. And of course the whole world was there and we responded with our best behaviour.
Last Wednesday had none of those factors.
I am not sure if there is a single answer to Big Thumb’s question.
Going back to my original point though. Hyping a professional sporting event is more likely to cause problems than to solve them.[/quote]