Monday, February 27, 2006

Hockey Fans (Knoxville IceBears)


I took my kids to "family night" last week so they could get enjoy an evening out and see a medium-sized sporting event. I was a little worried since I have always thought hockey fans are pretty rude and really only go to see the fights. I was completely wrong about the fighting, in fact, the family in front of me was so engrossed with the game they completely ignored their two 6 year old girls. The girls tapped me on the knees and legs all night asking questions about this and that, and when they tried to ask their parents to go to the bathroom they had to wait for an intermission. I was right about the rudeness, even on family night when an opposing player was introduced everyone would yell "SUCKS!" after his name was announced; classy. After every goal a rousing rendition of Gary Glitter's rock n' roll part II would kick up only to have a chant kick up at the end that went " We're gonna beat the hell outta you...." That's stuff I guess I just need to expect around something like that but the worst thing was the complete lack of fair play and respect for an opponent. At one point the opposing team clearly scored a goal that was not awarded to them. When the officials reviewed the play and gave them the point the place erupted in profanity and shrieking. That's the worst display of sportsmanship I have ever seen. Yes, you should want to win and compete very hard. No, you should not want to win at the expense of fair play.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with you to some extent but I have really enjoyed the few games that I have been to. As far as rudeness goes, go to any Vols game and then an Ice Bears game will seem like church. No matter how you weigh it out, it is still east Tennessee.

Captain Dude said...

I did enjoy the game, and I agree about maybe Vols football. Crying shame we can blame it on geography.