More Fan Morony: Kathy Shaidle

More Fan Morony: Kathy Shaidle is a writer based in Toronto who is responsible for Relapsed Catholic, a blog that covers faith and culture news. Like any good resident of 'TO', she's a big Maple Leafs fan, and can understand how ice hockey can engender rabid passion in its fans.

What she can't understand, is why this passion can manifest itself in such unhealthy and anti-social ways -- one instance of which occurred in the Nassau Veterans Memorial Collesium parking lot before game 6 of the NHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinal between the Maple Leafs and the New York Islanders.

On that night, a Canadian graduate student who had travelled to Long Island to sing 'Oh Canada' before the game was accosted by a bunch of toughs who tore his Canadian flag from his car and set it ablaze.

This story pains me in more ways than I care to count. Just a few days ago, I wrote a long and impassioned note in response to a post by Steven Den Beste making the case that not all hockey fans were knuckle-dragging idiots.

I'm also a devotee of history, and consider myself to be the sort of American who knows a little bit more about Canada than most of his countrymen. When I think of Canada, I don't just think about ice hockey. I think about Roy Brown, the fighter pilot who shot the Red Baron from the skies in World War I.

I think about the Canadian troops waded ashore beside American Rangers at Dieppe during World War II. I think about the Canadian troops who served with distinction in Korea.

And yes, I think about the four members of Princess Patricia's rifles who died in Afghanistan after an American F-16 dropped a bomb on their position during a live fire exercise.

I think of all these things and wonder what the hell everyone from Labrador to Victoria Island thinks of antics such as these. And I shudder with shame.

But what may be most galling of all for me is the realization that this happened in the place that I know all too well. A place that until a few weeks before my 18th birthday I called home.

When I read this story, I couldn't help but see it all play out in my mind's eye. I've been in that parking lot more times than I can count, and I've cheered for the Islanders beside fans just like those who set that flag on fire.

Let's just say I know their kind. And come to think of it, I'm sure people everywhere else in North America know them too. They're the same sort of people who tore up Montreal when they found out Rocket Richard had been suspended from the Stanley Cup Finals. People who pour themselves into sports to fill an emptiness inside that they don't understand and that they can't describe.

All they know is that they are losers in life, and they'll take just about any opportunity to vent their frustrations on those they can easily bully.

So, to the people in Canada, know this: the vast majority of Americans deplore this behavior, and can't help but be embarassed by it. We're sorry it happened, and hope that it doesn't happen again. But with idiots like these, you never can tell.

But know this too: don't be too ready to paint all of us with the same broad brush. We have our bad apples just like you do, but not everybody from here turns out that way.

After all, the same neighborhoods that produced those thugs who burned your flag were also home to many of the firefighters, police officers, and emergency workers who died on 9/11. If anyone can square that circle, please let me know.

Eric 03:42 AM

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