Outwardly, I'm not a terribly emotional sports fan. Watch me watch a hockey or baseball game in person, and you might think I was watching a Powerpoint presentation. Seasons are long, I need to conserve the emotional energy.
On the way to the hockey game tonight, I was saying that with an 8:00 faceoff, I'd likely be asleep by the second period. But a funny thing happened on the way to the arena.
The place was packed with Buffalo fans. As a Washingtonian, I've grown used to the fact that we will always have more than a fair share of fans for the visiting teams...people from elsewhere do live here in large numbers. (And they bitch about how much they hate it, too, which mystifies me, but that's another post.) Tonight, though, we had Sabre fans in Pittsburgh-like abundance...and with Pittsburgh-like obnoxiousness.
We had Sabre fans in front of, behind, and to my left, and I think beyond the little girl in the Caps jersey and her dad sitting to our right were still more people from Buffalo. When the Caps took the ice, the fans in front of us stood and booed, loudly. I hate booing, regardless of who is doing it. Cheer your team, don't denegrate the opponent. Poor sportsmanship.
Then during the National Anthem, which was being sung by a grade school chorus, the guy behind me starts yelling "Go Sabres, woo!" It irks me when people aren't respectful during the anthem, too.
So before the puck even dropped I was on the edge of my seat, wishing, hoping against hope, really, that we could shut those assholes up.
Wow.
Ovechkin Is Ejected In Capitals' Big Win; Capitals 7, Sabres 4
(By the way, the hit? I didn't see it live because it happened behind the play, which had me thinking that it wasn't exactly clean. And yeah, it wasn't. I've seen dirtier plays, but we can't be pulling that kind of crap. Last thing we need is a reputation as a cheap-shot team.)
But back to the fun part, like the two quick goals inside the first three minutes and the slow-motion empty-netter. It didn't quiet the Buffalo fans as much as I'd have liked, but it made me more animated than usual. Like I said...you don't boo the other team, you cheer your own. So I made sure to jump high and cheer loudly.
Posted by Nic at December 3, 2006 01:31 AM | TrackBackThat was quite the game, eh? I usually have the game on in the background while I do something else, but when I turned it on it was already Caps up by 2!
Ovechkin's hit was wrong, but it wasn't a cheap shot or dirty. You could tell he immediately knew it was a mistake too. If Brier would have been in open ice or if he'd have known Ovechkin was there, it wouldn't have been more than two minutes. Bad decision by Ovechkin, and he's smart enough to learn from it.
Who was the third player tossed, Mair? I'm still trying to figure out what the hell he was thinking. Pointless fight, unless he thought he was going to fire up the Sabres or something.
Posted by: Ted at December 3, 2006 08:49 AMAs a Washingtonian, I've grown used to the fact that we will always have more than a fair share of fans for the visiting teams
Worst I've ever seen in person was Game 4 against Detroit; the place was at least 2/3s Wings fans and they could teach Penguin or Flyer fans volumes about being obnoxious.
I guess you get that way when you're team is about to sweep their opponents for The Cup.
Eff the octopii.
It's probably just luck of the draw, but most of the Red Wings fans I've encountered have been pretty hockey-knowledgable and not that obnoxious. A lot of the Flyer & Penguins fans seem more intent on being loud, crude, and in-your-face than paying attention to the game (a function, perhaps, of the time on the charter bus spent drinking.)
FWIW, though, the one time I actually went to Guest Services and requested a seat change because I wanted to strangle the loud & obnoxious jackass behind me, it was a Caps fan.
I've spent way too much time this morning reading the message boards on the other NHL web sites, and wow, people are making it out like AO was headhunting. It was a bad hit...watching the replay on Youtube, it looks like Alex had time to let up after Briere had passed the puck. Finishing the check from behind was a dumb, dangerous move. (The sort of thing an exciteable 21-year-old might do. If he ends up sitting out a game, it might remind him to play with more discipline. And I think the whole team is going to need that discipline, or we'll be goaded into taking stupid penalties, which will snowball into more goading-retaliation-goon-y play. That's why I was so angry after the Thrashers game...that macho bonding can bite you later.)
Posted by: nic at December 3, 2006 11:38 AMI acquired my cover and interestingly enough I was thankful I journeyed a size up. The cover is gorgeous but it surely does work tiny.
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