Who could have forseen this coming?:
The post-game stabbing of two men marred celebration of an Edmonton Oilers playoff victory.
Both were stabbed around 11:30 p.m. MDT Friday at a Whyte Avenue bar.
The avenue has become known as the Blue Mile during hockey playoffs, as thousands of young fans of the NHL club have gathered there after wins.
While I don't mind the ribbing about actually being glad to see the demise of the Red Mile if it means I can afford to go on vacation this year, not to mention a decline in hooliganism which occurs in my own neighbourhood, I can't say I understood the motivation of Sacamano when he attempts to belittle my sentiments. Here we have an Oiler fan -- a guy who rips 'er up during the playoffs by, well, sitting in front of his computer and "getting electric" with his fellow wild-child bloggers -- whipping it out on the table and suggesting that I -- someone who actually goes to home playoff games, is out in the pubs during road trips, racks up the Visa and parties every night for the team as if it's the last night on earth, win or lose -- am less of a fan than he is. I am many things, but at least I have enough pride to leave the house and physically show support to my team when they're doing their job.
Secondly, and more to the point of my post, is that I love my team and I love the playoffs, but I don't love mindless vandalism, violence and hooliganism. This year's edition of the Red Mile didn't start off as a spontaneous jubilation of fans pouring into the street and celebrating their team as in 2004; it was a confrontational atmosphere from the start, with police and idiot drunken teenagers setting to square off if the team made it into the later rounds. But even during the final rounds of 2004, things were already getting out of hand. I've mentioned before how the party began to turn nasty after the Detroit series, of how young women were coerced into doffing their tops to have their goods displayed for the whole world to leer, of how drunken louts were causing trouble with the cops and innocent citizens, and how Calgary was lucky someone wasn't seriously hurt -- or killed -- during the two months of playoff ruckus. It would not have taken much to have made the situation much worse.
And, obviously, the fans in Edmonton are simply proving my point. What they lack in originality with their celebratory styings, from the Blue Mile to silver pom-poms in the rink, they make up with stupidity. In June of 2004, over 60,000 people were on 17th Ave during every game night and I can't recall a stabbing incident. The Oilers haven't even completed the second round and two men were shivved in a crowd of 15,000. If you didn't know better, you'd almost think it was Canada Day.
I suppose this is still a step below that of the city of Boston, which had a young person killed after both the Patriots' Super Bowl and the BoSox World Series.
But if the Oilers defy the odds and win it all and the city of Edmonton beats the death toll in Boston, would that make them a "first-rate sports town"? Or would the death of a young celebrant be what it takes for Edmontonians to realize that they don't have to go completely overboard in this latest attempt to show themselves up to Calgary?
For me, I'll continue to cheer on my Flames from here on out. However, if it takes the team to occasionally bow out early in exchange for a drop in vandalism and violence in my neighbourhood, I'm not going to be completly disappointed.
I like to think that there are still some Edmonton fans who feel the same way.
