The NHL Lockout

Thank Goodness that the NHL is on lockout….

I am not a “Canuck”… though I am a proud British Columbian, I am no Canuck.  I don’t watch pro-sports… but MOSTLY I don’t like hockey.  I may be the only person in BC willing to share this information, but I completely detest the sport.  I don’t care if you want to watch it, go nuts, have at’er…. I just can’t be bothered.

I used to be a fan, honestly speaking I was a bandwagon fan… yup I said it, it’s out there…. I jump on the wagon… but no more I tell you, no more!  You see, if I am a Canuck fan, there is a riot… its true!  I have THAT much power over hockey and everyone in Vancouver who is a hockey fan.  You doubt this, but I am the #1 most wanted in the riot.  Not that I was there or anything, honestly, I didn’t even know that they were rioting until things got UGLY… I had other things to do, other things on my mind and frankly, I didn’t give a damn that they were in the play offs. 

In 1994 I was 19 years old, just married (stupid I know, but that is a different topic completely…. But I digress) and my husband was a hockey fan…. I don’t know what is more confusing for some of you, the fact that I married a man or the fact that no one stopped me from marrying that particular man at that particular time in my life…. Where was I?  RIGHT!  Like a diligent wife (from this point forward to be referred to as “moron”) I watched the Canucks… (I’ll let you in on a little secret…. I was a die-hard oilers fan all through my childhood and though many people don’t talk about it, when Gretsky was on the Oilers, I thought he was dreamy…. It might have been the shiny skates, cuz God only knows why else…. Seriously)… I watched every damn game, I listened to my husband, and everyone else in the apartment building, screaming at their TV’s, I heard the horns honking and I cheered right along with it (pausing sporadically to ask why we were cheering)…. Right up to the last game of the play offs…. We were ALL on the edge of our seats… you could hear a pin drop in the middle of the street that June day in 1994… we all sat, breaths held, waiting to watch our beloved Canucks WIN THE CUP….. only… it didn’t happen…  What did happen afterwards can only really be called ridiculous… we lost…. How is that the city’s fault people???? 

The day after the riot I vowed I would never watch the canucks again and I have kept to my word…. Until last year….

You see, last year I was once again, dating a Canucks fan… Green and Blue and hockey sticks flying, game day, stopping to watch in pubs as we walked down the street… I was forced… out of love for another, to watch the hockey season…. I admit it, I got into it… I enjoyed the games and I got to a place where I thought I would actually spend my spare time, though short and not frequent, watching the games… I mean, it was great watching Canada kick America’s ass at the Olympics… so why not…. I caught myself turning the radio on to the sports channel, purposely stopping to ask the score.. I had become an actual fan…. Again!

With all the fan fare, with the games being broadcast on giant screens, the atmosphere was reminisce of all the happy red gloves, the cheers as we all became one city, one group, with one goal, WINNING!!!!  The closer we got to the cup finals, the more I watched… I even texted the score to people because I was really into it….. and then… it happened…. A FREAKING RIOT!!!!  What the hell?!?!?!  Everyone wanted to know, what happened?  I mean, these youth being asses in public, setting fires, starting fights… being all around rowdy… so OBVIOUSLY this was not the same people (though Captain Vancouver was at both)…. These were young people, AGAIN… rioting…. For months afterwards scientists did studies, people compared the riots, wondering how this happened, how, ONCE AGAIN, Vancouver has a black eye for rioting over hockey…. The gov’t should have saved their money…. There was one commonality between these two riots….

I, ME, I watched the play offs……. And so, once again I vow…… Sorry Canucks… sorry cute girls who love the Canucks, sorry kids who want to watch hockey in my house…. I mean it this time!!!!!

NEVER AGAIN!!!!