Last night, I started thinking about hockey compared to other sports in North America. The obvious top four sports are definitely baseball, basketball, American football, and hockey. While soccer (or futbol for all the foreigners who read this blog) is starting to gain a little more interest in the States, it's still yet to qualify to be a top tier sport here in America.
But as I thought about the four sports combined, I started thinking about the fans of each sport. I started thinking about rivalries amongst those sports like the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry in baseball, or the Lakers/Celtics rivalry in basketball. But when I look at those rivalries, I just feel that most of them come short when it comes to hockey fan rivalries.
I can draw many parallels from my own experience as a hockey fan. Way back in the old days of high school, I started to get more in tune with hockey. Going to school in New Jersey and being a New York Rangers fan had its share of adversity, but I had some good support amongst my fellow fans. Every single time the Devils and Rangers met could have qualified for a pay-per-view event on HBO in my school, because the repercussions would follow you until the day the season ended, and would eventually be brought back up in the future when the two teams met again. There would be smack talk in the hallways, on the Internet, and on the phone every single time they met, and whoever won that game, the fans did not hesitate to rip apart the other fan base for their loss.
In my opinion, hockey fans are the most passionate about their sport. Along with that, hockey fans are much more coarse when it comes to interaction with other fans of hockey. Think about this: if a Charlotte Bobcats fan and an Orlando Magic fan sat down in a room together, would there be any tension between the two fans? Maybe a little tension, but for the most part, the two fans don't have any reason to not like each other because of their conflicting fan-ship. Now, if you were to take a Washington Capitals fan and put them in a room with a Pittsburgh Penguins fan, the tension would be ten times greater than the basketball fans. Now, I'm not saying that hockey fans cannot be civil human beings to one another, but I can almost guarantee that once those two fans find out that the other is a rival fan, they will automatically think less of that person right off the bat.
The thing that hockey brings out of people is their inner rage. You can feel the struggle of your team when they are down by one goal in the third period, and you can feel the hurt that comes from a cheap shot on one of your hometown players. Speaking from a Rangers fans perspective once again, back when the Rangers and Penguins met for the second time this season, Sidney Crosby (who is basically public enemy number one amongst fans in the league) slew foot Ryan Callahan, and Ryan Callahan got called for tripping. I was astounded at the call, and felt even more anger to the Penguins team, and Sidney Crosby. I wanted the Rangers to seek vengeance. I wanted Derek Boogaard to come lumbering out of the Rangers locker room, skate on the ice, and make Sidney Crosby wish he had never picked up a a hockey stick in his life.
And its not just throughout the Atlantic division either, although I do feel that it is the worst because the teams are so close together. If your family is full of Canadiens fans, and if a relative brought a Maple Leafs fan, or Bruins fan to a family dinner, there would be just a tiny bit of animosity. If your a Avalanche fan, and somebody in a Detroit Red Wings jersey catches your eye, you just saw one person you'd never want to talk to. And if your on either side if the "Battle of Ontario" (Senators and Maple Leafs) or the "Battle of Alberta" (Oilers and Flames), bad blood runs think among the rivalries.
In truth, not many other sports rivalries have the grit that hockey rivalries have. Sure, there are some rivalries amongst regional teams in other sports (i.e. San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders), but hockey rivalries stretch across the entire continent, and stick around for a very, VERY long time. Why else would Rangers fans still cheer "Potvin Sucks"? Passion, my friends.
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