Way To Blow Our Reputation With That Riot, You Drunken Prats

And so it's done. The NHL playoffs are over for another year, and the Stanley Cup has been awarded to the Boston Bruins. They played better, they wanted it more. A bit of a disappointment, but nothing to get mad about, right?

Right?

Maybe the tipping point for the Canucks was the bad luck charm of that buffoon tyrant in the Prime Minister's office turning up to attend one of the games...

Things happen. The home team loses. Life goes on.

Then again.... some people apparently went to the final game with other things in mind....

A riot, over hockey, in the streets of Vancouver, even before the Canucks lost the final game. It started with cars being torched. It progressed to drunken idiots going on a damage and looting spree among thousands of people. It left the city and the country with a black eye. Nice going, geniuses. Really.

At least someone was having fun during the riot....

The police and mayor believe a small group of anarchists started the whole thing to incite a riot. There might be something to that; it's a bit hard to set a car on fire if you haven't brought accelerents. From there, it just got worse as drunken, angry fans went on a tear, looting and causing damage for some hours. Many of them were cheered by onlookers, who while not quite dumb enough to loot, obviously lacked the sense to at least try to intervene. Not everyone, of course. There were people who stood up against the looters and got hurt for it. There were others who asked the angry, accusing question: What are you doing? This is our city, and you're trashing it. Obviously, I applaud the latter, and am disgusted with the former.

So, here we are. Riots break out, a mob of drunken asses go on a spree of destruction and get cheered for it, and the police have to wade through a crowd of thousands to break it all up. We get our reputation trashed (as if it wasn't trashed enough these days). To the Boston Bruins and the fans of the team, I apologize, since the drunkards obviously won't. Not all of us are as profoundly stupid as the rioters.

To the drunkards and the people who set it all in motion: are you proud of yourselves, you useless prats?

Well, what's done is done. It'll take awhile before Vancouver moves on past this. Its reputation particularly has taken a big hit, though many of its citizens expressed the same disgust as I feel at the actions of the rioters, and showed their true colors by coming out in force to help in the cleanup.

The hockey season is over, on a low note. And across the land, hockey fans have come out from their homes to experience summer for the first time. And it's only until September, then the game will be gearing up for another season. And predictably, the fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs will, once again, proclaim that this is the year the team wins the Cup. You'll have to forgive them for their mass delusions. It's a terminal condition.