[Note: This post has little to do with movies or music, apart from the fact that the carnage that occurred in Vancouver, BC last night after the Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals was broadcast on the news. However, seeing as this is my blog, and sports are a form of entertainment, I felt compelled to make this post.]
What occurred last night inside of Rogers Arena was a thing of beauty. Maybe not from the perspective of the saddened Canucks fans who watched as their opponents, the Boston Bruins, hoisted Lord Stanley's Cup over their heads, tears of elation running down their cheeks. To those of us watching, however, we saw two things:
1. A team that worked hard to win, coming back from an early 2-0 series deficit to win the ultimate prize on the road.
2. Vancouver fans, dejected though they may have been, respectfully applauding their opponents, especially those of goaltender Tim Thomas.
Most of the boos were reserved - rightly so - for NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, and apart from a handful of thrown bottles, nobody littered the ice with trash in a poor display of sportsmanship.
Outside of the arena, however, something awful was stirring. Cars, both pedestrian and police, were overturned, stomped on, and set on fire. Storefronts were smashed and people ran out with whatever they could grab and carry. The unruly crowd fought the undersized police presence and themselves, with reports of four stabbings and images of people falling on broken glass or attempting to jump burning cars were shown live on television.
It was an ugly display, a digusting reminder of the depths of human behavior, and it wasn't the first time Vancouver has had to endure and suffer through it. Similar rioting broke out in 1994 after another Canucks loss, but after the 2010 Winter Olympics passed without incident, Vancouver appeared to be a changed city.
