# Canadiens Fans are classless jerks **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 21, 2003, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084 "2003-03-21T13:50:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/21 "2003-03-21T18:04:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Phelan \* > The fans in New York booed the Canadian national anthem last year, but I’m pretty sure that Toronto fans never returned the favor. The Leafs vs. Islanders playoff series last year was particularly nasty, brutish, and emotional. The fans in New York started booing the Canadian anthem after the Leafs’ Darcy Tucker took out Mike Peca with a devastating (but legal, IMHO) hip check. Sadly, Toronto fans reciprocated by booing the US anthem. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Barbarian \* > That is so far off base it’s not funny **Cranky**. I might be misremembering this, but I seem to recall the _Canadian_ anthem being booed in Montreal around the time of the last Quebec referendum. Unfortunately, I can’t find a cite so I apologize if I’m mistaken. > [@](#): > > I’m just gonna say that you have to look at the people who booed-- morons dumb enough to plunk down a day’s pay to watch a pathetic team play a pathetic sport. **Barbarian** , is also apparently a philistine. ---
**Author:** ![Zoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6de8d8/32.png) [@Zoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoff)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/22 "2003-03-21T18:08:11Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by badmama_ > How is this different from americans renaming their fried foods? I see americans calling the french “surrender monkeys” how classy is that? You’re missing the point. Some fans acted boorishly and pretty much everybody in the thread has taken pains to note that you can’t blame Canada for the actions of a few. You then come bursting through the door and say “but Americans are jerks, too.” ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/23 "2003-03-21T18:34:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jarbabyj \* > \*\*I don’t think she’s that far off base. My company does about 56% of our work with Canada, and only MONTREAL clients call me and specifically ask me NOT to write CANADA on their mailing labels as they find it ‘insulting’. > > Certainly they don’t represent ALL of Montreal, but Cranky’s statement is certainly true of a lot of Montrealians \*\* **jar** , you know I like you bunches, but please trust the people who actually live here on this. It is so unbelievably simplistic to state that Montrealers don’t like Canada. Would you like some stats of Montreal as compared to, say Quebec City? Trois-Rivières? Whatever. This is silly for me to be getting upset over. One Montrealer who loves being Canadian and who, while respecting the US, does get tired of slights sometimes checking in. ---
**Author:** ![Mith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mith)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/24 "2003-03-21T18:47:32Z")
At the same time that Canadian soldiers died “by friendly fire” at the hands of careless American pilots…the Canadian Anthem was booed at NBA and NHL games. I don’t think a fare share of sports fans have class. Don’t think it’s just Canadians or hockey fans ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/25 "2003-03-21T20:19:49Z")
**Hodge** , I’m the anti-philistine, since I’m definitely not “guided by materialism and is usually disdainful of intellectual or artistic values” I’m just not a fan of a ‘sport’ where attacking people who try to play a game is sanctioned and encouraged. If I want to watch a fight, I’ll watch boxing. If I want to watch athletics in action, I’ll watch any other sport. But hockey? Those rich morons take pride in losing teeth. And I seem to recall being stuck in the middle of a million people rallying for Canada during the last referendum… ---
**Author:** ![Phelan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Phelan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phelan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/26 "2003-03-21T20:29:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hodge \* > \*\*The Leafs vs. Islanders playoff series last year was particularly nasty, brutish, and emotional. The fans in New York started booing the Canadian anthem after the Leafs’ Darcy Tucker took out Mike Peca with a devastating (but legal, IMHO) hip check. Sadly, Toronto fans reciprocated by booing the US anthem. The Toronto fans at both Raptors and Leafs games responded by cheering the American national anthem, after the Canadian anthem was booed 2-3 times in New York and once in Detroit. I also remember hearing both national anthems sung particularly well that year by Michael Burgess one night, and The Bare Naked Ladies another. Cite: [http://www.canoe.ca/Slam020427/nba\_tor-cp.html](http://www.canoe.ca/Slam020427/nba_tor-cp.html) ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/27 "2003-03-21T20:32:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Barbarian \* > \*\* > But hockey? Those rich morons take pride in losing teeth. > > \*\* With your username I thought that would be right up your alley. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/28 "2003-03-21T20:48:49Z")
**Barbarian** , we’ll just have to agree to disagree on the merits of the elegant game of shinny. Although, I must admit, the caliber of Olympic Hockey played last winter has kind of spoiled my taste for the current, watered down NHL version. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Phelan \* > **The Toronto fans at both Raptors and Leafs games responded by cheering the American national anthem, after the Canadian anthem was booed 2-3 times in New York and once in Detroit. > I also remember hearing both national anthems sung particularly well that year by Michael Burgess one night, and The Bare Naked Ladies another.** I stand corrected. I might have been thinking of the Vancouver fans during the Canucks vs. Red Wings series. ---
**Author:** ![Aguecheek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Aguecheek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aguecheek)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/29 "2003-03-21T21:28:54Z")
What I just sent my wife, who told me about the above incident: “Regardless of whether you’re American or Canadian, whether it’s initiation or retaliation, dumbassery like that makes you look friggin’ childish and petty. Nothing else.” Gad, I hate people sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/30 "2003-03-21T22:55:39Z")
Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![Zoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6de8d8/32.png) [@Zoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoff)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/31 "2003-03-22T00:22:53Z")
My compliments to your wife, **Aguecheek**. A good sentiment and excellent use of “dumbassery” as well. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/32 "2003-03-22T05:33:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hodge \* > \*\*The Leafs vs. Islanders playoff series last year was particularly nasty, brutish, and emotional. The fans in New York started booing the Canadian anthem after the Leafs’ Darcy Tucker took out Mike Peca with a devastating (but legal, IMHO) hip check. Sadly, Toronto fans reciprocated by booing the US anthem.I might be misremembering this, but I seem to recall the _Canadian_ anthem being booed in Montreal around the time of the last Quebec referendum. Unfortunately, I can’t find a cite so I apologize if I’m mistaken. **Barbarian** , is also apparently a philistine. \*\* Oh, hell, Detroit fans booed “O Canada” in the first game of the Pistons’ series agains the Raptors. That was BEFORE THE PLAYOFFS HAD EVEN STARTED. (I was at the first game of that series played in Toronto; not a soul booed “The Star-Spangled Banner.”) In 1985, Yankee fans booed “O Canada” during regular season games against the Blue Jays, with whom they were in a pennant race. Forgive me if I’m not enormously busted up over this. It’s boorish and stupid to boo an anthem, they acted like jerks, c’est la vie. We’ve been listening to American fans in various cities boo our anthem for decades, and when we don’t hear it it’s often because U.S. networks like to cut to a commercial while it’s playing. (Yes, they really do that.) ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/33 "2003-03-22T06:00:40Z")
Maybe they were just all saying “Boo-urns!” ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/34 "2003-03-22T08:41:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RickJay \* > \*\*We’ve been listening to American fans in various cities boo our anthem for decades, and when we don’t hear it it’s often because U.S. networks like to cut to a commercial while it’s playing. (Yes, they really do that.) \*\* Of course they do. They do it to the Star Spangled Banner, too. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/35 "2003-03-22T09:04:41Z")
Let’s raise thier rent! ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/36 "2003-03-22T15:04:44Z")
We were at the Atlanta Thrashers vs. Ottawa Senators hockey game last night. Fans started booing when they announced the Canadian national anthem. (I wasn’t aware of the booing of the Star-Spangled Banner that happened at another game though.) I don’t usually sing the anthems, but I stood up and sang both anthems extra-loud last night. At least one American there was going to be honoring the anthems of both countries. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/37 "2003-03-24T20:16:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*With your username I thought that would be right up your alley. \*\* Nah, I leave mindless violence to civilized people. And the Olympic hockey was really good-- mostly 'cos it was very clean… ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/38 "2003-03-24T20:29:02Z")
In the next game, the Habs brought out hockey legend Jean Béliveau to request respect from the fans. IIRC, they complied. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/39 "2003-03-24T20:39:02Z")
On the bright side, it’s only a matter of time before les Habs go broke and move to a Sun Belt city in the U.S. Oh, won’t it be great when the Frogs have to travel South to Houston Canadiens games, whenever the urge to boo “The Star-Spangled Banner” gets played? ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084/40 "2003-03-24T22:44:56Z")
Here’s a thread from last May about NY hockey fans burning a Canadian flag: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=113014](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=113014) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadiens-fans-are-classless-jerks/163084.md?page=3)