Canadiens de Montréal

[MTLskyline]

Philly's fans almost as bad as ours

 

"A fine line between supporting a team and criminal behaviour."

 

By PAT HICKEY, The Gazette

May 18, 2010

 

 

This is supposed to be the City of Brotherly Love, but the citizenry has strayed from the ideals espoused by its founder, William Penn.

 

Over the years, the city's sports fans have earned a reputation as boorish fanatics. These are the folks who booed Santa Claus and pelted him with snowballs at an Eagles game.

 

"Why do people keep bringing that up?" asked John Monaghan, who was dispensing drinks Sunday night at Kelly Monaghan's in neighbouring Essington, Pa.

 

Probably because some Philadelphia fans - not unlike fans in other cities including Montreal - have never learned that there's a fine line between supporting a team and criminal behaviour.

 

I was disgusted by the latest riot in Montreal following a Canadiens victory over Pittsburgh. While Premier Jean Charest assured us that the miscreants weren't Canadiens fans, former colleague Michael Farber asked the question: "Who do they root for? Are they Penguins fans? Colorado fans?"

 

There was certainly an element that took advantage of an opportunity to do some after-hours shopping at the SAQ and Foot Locker, but I saw dozens of photographs in which the out-of-control revellers were wearing Canadiens jerseys. And, while the team won't admit it, the decision not to show the first two games of the Philadelphia series on the giant screen at the Bell Centre was made with an eye toward avoiding more trouble.

 

There were several incidents at Game 1 of the Flyers-Canadiens series here Sunday night. I saw fans in Canadiens jerseys heckled, which is fair game. I also saw several of them being bumped around, which isn't acceptable.

 

Some vandals pulled the plug on a pregame telecast by Radio-Canada and another Canadian TV crew was harassed.

 

I found myself the unwanted centre of attraction when I went to my car after the game. One tire was flat, the bug deflector had been ripped from the hood, a hubcap had been snapped in two and the trunk and roof of the car were littered with beer cans. The windows were covered with beer and soda.

 

These were minor inconveniences. I bought a new tire and took a run through a car wash. And when you have 565,000 kilometres on a 1999 Honda Accord, you don't worry about a bug deflector.

 

But my biggest concern was that some yahoo tore off my license plate. I spent three hours yesterday, shuttling between police stations before I was able to fill out a report on the theft. I'm hoping that the report will help me clear Customs tomorrow.

 

The attitude of some Philly fans - I have a lot of friends in the city and made some new ones on this trip - was in stark contrast to the fans in Washington and Pittsburgh, who were gracious throughout the first two rounds of the series and far more civil than the Montreal fans who booed the U.S. anthem.

 

Prior to Game 1, the Flyers passed out T-shirts with the legend: Relentless in the pursuit of history.

 

Relentless in the pursuit of idiocy would be a better slogan for a city whose history includes abusing Santa Claus.

 

phickey@thegazette.canwest.com

© Copyright © The Montreal Gazette

 

http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/Philly+fans+almost+ours/3040412/story.html

[Road Warrior]

http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/Philly+fans+almost+ours/3040412/story.html

 

Ha! that last line of the article is clearly an attack on the city of Philadelphia. So we have a fan war started by them chanting our Olé Olé and now, a media name calling war? My zen side hopes not, but my more realistic side can't wait to see the crossborder verbal bashing between journalists...

[MontréalYul]

C'est le match le plus FRUSTRANT que j'ai vu depuis longtemps. Les Flyers sont super agressifs et laissent AUCUN espace aux joueurs du Canadien.

[Habsfan]

Aucun but en deux match contre un gardien poche...je ne vois pas comment nos p'tit gars peuvent revenir dans cette serie!

[jesseps]

I am flying the Habs flag upside down.

[Cataclaw]

Law of averages continues to be defied. This is highly unusual and probabilistically the odds of it continuing for a 3rd game are nearly zero.

 

When the Habs score a goal it will be huge and a turning point in this series.

 

Called it!

Modifié 21 mai 2010 par Cataclaw

[pedepy]

a mon avis, voila ce qui decrit bien le canadien: une belle petite equipe au talent offensif certain, capable de s'exprimer lorsquil y a de l'espace. malheureusement, elle est incapable de creer cet espace elle meme.

 

washington le leur ont donné, pittsburgh aussi. philadelphie ne leur laisse pas un pouce. pire encore car ils reussissent a marquer en premier. si montreal trouve le moyen d'ouvrir le score jeudi, ils forceront peut etre les flyers a ouvrir le jeu et ainsi donner a montreal un style de hockey dans lequel ils sont beaucoup plus confortable.

 

le probleme cest que leighton et ses defenseurs sont carrement dans la tete des attaquants du ch, qui a mesure que le temps passe sont clairement rendu a improviser toute sorte de jeux improbables ou desesperés pour essayer de marquer.

 

a moins d'une deconfiture totale, on gagnera pas 4 matchs de suite contre cette equipe gonflée a bloc. la serie devra donc encore se finir en 7 si montreal veux passer, et ca doit commencer par deux victoires au centre bell pour les games 3 & 4. esperon que nos glorieux et ses fantomes sauront encore confondre les experts et sceptique pour une autre fois encore ce printemps. !

[LindbergMTL]

Les canadiens ne sont pas assez dans la face du gardien des Flyers.

[Ornello Mastrocola]

I too am frustrated, but all it takes is an ugly goal and the chances will head our way. The Flyers in my opinion weren't better than us, they just capitalized on their limited scoring chances...sound familiar, it's the Canadiens in the two series against the Caps and Pens. Leighton simply outplayed Halak and the Flyers scored on Powerplay chances. The fact that the Habs are now playing against bruising Flyer defence is an adjustment for our small players. We had the chances but weren't lucky enough to get one past Leighton.

There's only one thing that's bothering me and that's when the Flyers have the puck the Canadiens try to take it away; however, when the Canadiens have the puck, the Flyers try to ram them to the next hemisphere.

I find the Canadiens a little to pacifistic, perhaps a bit scared against the flyers. Let's hope this changes at the Bell Centre.

[LED]

I too am frustrated, but all it takes is an ugly goal and the chances will head our way. The Flyers in my opinion weren't better than us, they just capitalized on their limited scoring chances...sound familiar, it's the Canadiens in the two series against the Caps and Pens. Leighton simply outplayed Halak and the Flyers scored on Powerplay chances. The fact that the Habs are now playing against bruising Flyer defence is an adjustment for our small players. We had the chances but weren't lucky enough to get one past Leighton.

There's only one thing that's bothering me and that's when the Flyers have the puck the Canadiens try to take it away; however, when the Canadiens have the puck, the Flyers try to ram them to the next hemisphere.

I find the Canadiens a little to pacifistic, perhaps a bit scared against the flyers. Let's hope this changes at the Bell Centre.

 

Exactement, en battant Pittsburgh et Washington, on est devenu les favoris alors on joue en favoris. On domine et ils sont oportunistes. La dernière fois c'est aussi comme ça que les Flyers nous ont battu en deuxième ronde.