Stay Classy Vancouver

First of all I want to send a Congrats to the Boston Bruins for winning the Stanley Cup! Tim Thomas is a native from Flint, Michigan and he played amazing and deserved the Conn Smythe trophy! After Game 7 which was played in Vancouver, the Canucks fans were rioting and burning police cars. Words cannot express how upsetting this was. The fans should be respectful and shows some sportsmanship. The Vancouver Canucks have never won the Stanley Cup that doesn’t give them any reason to riot. Not only is it an embarrassment to the fans, it makes the National Hockey League look bad. In 2005 the NHL had a lockout because of dispute between the Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA. In the United States NFL, NBA, and MLB are the more popular sports. The NHL has had to work on marketing to get a greater fan base. Now everyone knows hockey is my favorite sport, the NHL doesn’t need fans rioting or other unsportsmanlike activities. This was unacceptable what the Canucks fans did!

Rainn Wilson made a comment, “Vancouver is now the Detroit of Canada.” This is a horrible analogy. Why compare the two cities? Detroit isn’t the only city that has had riots. I did graduate from Michigan State and will use the city of East Lansing as an example. When Michigan State won the national championship for basketball the students rioted around campus. My senior year of college in the spring Cedar Village celebrates CedarFest. That year students set fireworks on police cars and rioted. I actually went home that weekend because I knew the party would get broken up by the police anyway. If you look at past history many cities have had riots or other major incidents than just Detroit. I hate that people have this stereotype of Detroit being the most dangerous city in the world. Most recently, the most dangerous cities were polled in the United States and Camden, NJ was #1 on the list. Detroit was on the list. There are some parts of the city of Detroit that are not safe to walk around alone, it should be common sense that people should be aware of their surroundings at all times.

In 2008 the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup and beat the Pittsburgh Penguins. Like most fans, I will always dislike Sidney Crosby. My reasons would take a whole blog entry on it’s own. In 2009, the Detroit Red Wings made it to the Stanley Cup finals and met a familiar foe, the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins won the cup that year and Detroit did NOT riot because they lost in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Detroit Red Wings fans would never do that ever!

I’m not happy with what Kilpatrick did to the city and I know in the 1960s there were riots but for different reasons. (that would just open another can of worms if I talked about that) I’m not excusing the city for that, but it wasn’t for losing in a sports event. In the 1980s the Detroit Tigers won the championship and fans did overly celebrate.

I have worked in Detroit since 2009 and haven’t had any problems. I’m still careful when I work there. The city of Detroit has a lot to offer. For the sports lovers: The Detroit Red Wings play at Joe Louis Arena, the Detroit Tigers play at Comerica Park, the Detroit Lions play at Ford Field, and Joe Louis fist historical landmark. Every year the North American International Auto Show is at Cobo Hall. For the gamblers there are a few casinos: Greektown, Motorcity, and MGM. For a good cultural experience there are plays at Detroit Opera House, The Second City, and Fox Theatre. For country music fans in May there is the Downtown Hoedown at Hart Plaza, it’s a three day concert that is free to the public. If someone just wanted to take a nice walk there is the Belle Isle Nature Zoo and Detroit RiverFrontWalk. There are a ton of places to explore and now that its summer I plan to hit the town. They have some great bars too. They have yoga in the park on Saturdays, I might head down a few times. I will always support Detroit.

Sports are entertainment and it’s for people to watch not take so seriously. To burn down a police car, destroy property, or hurt other fans because your team lost is pathetic. It’s not the end of the world if a team loses. There is always next season they can get another chance to win the championship.

It’s terrible to compare Detroit to Vancouver, they are different in so many ways. I know Detroit has it’s problems it will get better!

2011 SCF

The last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup was 2003 (Montreal Canadiens won). This season Vancouver and Boston are facing off in the finals. Right now the Vancouver Canucks are leading the series 3-2 over the Boston Bruins. The Canucks are on the verge of winning the Stanley Cup. Vancouver has made it to the Stanley Cup finals before but have never won. Both teams have a Michigan born teammate: Ryan Kessler (VAN)from Livonia, MI and Tim Thomas (BOS) from Flint, MI. Ryan Kessler played collegiate hockey for The Ohio State University. Tim Thomas played for the University of Vermont during his collegiate years.

Game 1 and 2 went to Vancouver with a nail bitter ending. In Game 3, Rome did a dirty hit on Nathan Horton, he was taken off the ice by a stretcher. Horton will be out for the rest of the series, the NHL did suspend Rome for four games. This propelled the Bruins to an 8-1 win. Game 4 was 4-0 win and the Bruins tied the series 2-2. Game 5, the Canucks took the game 1-0.

Game 6 is on Monday June 13th at 8pm on NBC, CBC and RDS.