It's all over!!

[Cousin Strawberry]

. I moped for days, wondering if I needed to start following footy in order to have some kind of sports discussion with people.

Dont do it man! I tried to watch that Origin crap and fell asleep all 3 times. I thought soccer was boring but my god rugby sucks! Dudes in short shorts, cow paddock sized fields and 3 steps then tackled. Repeat for 3 hours.
Good to see another fellow expatriate down under, although I'm heading back to Canada August 26

[LotusBlossom]

We were told to stay in the arena until it was ok to leave. It was an extra hour and half over the extended time we usually stay after a hockey game. The bar in our section closes usually an hour after the game, but we stayed up there for 2 1/2 hours after the Boston victory and they were in no hurry to usher anyone out of the building that night.

We were watching some of the chaos on the TVs in our section. Horrible stuff. Vancouver was up in smoke that night, and not in its usual manner.

We left after Bettman was booed the first time, not wanting to see the whole ceremony and the Bruins skating around with the Cup. (we were happy to stay long enough to boo Bettman, though )

We took a right turn and headed down to Pender, catching a bus to go around it all, when it was still pretty much restricted to where it had started.

We were home safe before the worst had begun, and we watched it all on TV.

Really sad.

You know what really pissed me off about the whole Bettman thing during the ceremony? In every other final he congratulated the losing team on a winning season. He didn't do that for Vancouver. Maybe perhaps we boo'ed him so loud and proud he didn't feel like he should, but that schmuck should have been diplomatic, done his job and been at least cordial to the Canucks.

That's when I felt the 'fix' was in. What an asshole. I'm sorry, as a commissioner of a professional sports league, you should have a little more subjectivity than that. Classless.

[the Dogsalmon]

bettman is a little prick...

[ODB]

bettman is a little prick...

[Farhan Lalji]

You know what really pissed me off about the whole Bettman thing during the ceremony? In every other final he congratulated the losing team on a winning season. He didn't do that for Vancouver. Maybe perhaps we boo'ed him so loud and proud he didn't feel like he should, but that schmuck should have been diplomatic, done his job and been at least cordial to the Canucks.

That's when I felt the 'fix' was in. What an asshole. I'm sorry, as a commissioner of a professional sports league, you should have a little more subjectivity than that. Classless.

I was thinking.....

Perhaps the Canucks should fully embrace the role of the "villain." Controversy sells, and controversy brings in revenue. Why not become the NBA's version of the Miami Heat? Or UFC's version of Brock Lesnar? Hell - if we play it right, maybe we can become the New York Yankees of the NHL if we string together a few championships.

In all of those examples - those teams/athletes create the highest ratings, fan interest, and revenue. Why couldn't we do the same? Hell - we were the only Canadian team in recent memory to NOT be cheered by the mass majority of Canadians.

Why not go full balls out and become a haven for guys that have been known to play dirty? Bring in Matt Cooke and Jarko Ruutu again. Bring in someone like Sean Avery.

p.s._____________Although I do think there was a "bias" when we played both Chicago and Boston, I think Boston beat us fair and square (although we were severely injured). Outside of Games 3, 4, and possibly a little bit of 5, I don't think the reffing during the finals was tilted. In Game 7, the refs let both teams play and Boston won fair and square. Against Chicago however - I do think that the outcome of the series was drastically altered as a result of the officiating. Canucks should have won that series in 4 or 5. Games 4, 5, and 6, in that series was some of the worst officiating that I had ever seen in my life.

[Cornuck]

We're not hated that much - it's a media thing for the most part (outside of Calgary).

Hockey fans that don't like us will usually point to the diving (guilty), the 'bite' (guilty) and Luongo's whining (guilty) and the fan base that keeps crying conspiracy every time we lose (guilty).

I rather see AV put an end to the whining and diving, then maybe we'll start getting some more calls go our way, which would help end the conspiracy theories.

We don't need dirty players taking up roster spots.

[SKYO]

We don't need dirty players taking up roster spots.

I disagree we NEED dirty playin' players, as playing dirty NHL hockey is the more acceptable play these days, the more you do the better, and the less the ref's will call as long as you keep doing it in a inconspicuous manner like the Bruins did, and Hawks before them did.

Burrows and to a lesser extent the twins who had to try to start diving/embellishing to get some calls, as the ref's weren't calling them anymore as the Bruins were tenacious with them, need to tone it down a bit I agree. We need to try to be the first one to initiate the dirty play in the first place, all the holding the stick, slashes, cheap shots etc. to piss the opposing players off.

And eventually if you do so much, the refs' will eventually just let it go, like they did with the Bruins, with a few key examples holding Kesler's stick when he was trying to go into full offense, slew foots, cheap shots to the mug, slashes etc.

[Cornuck]

Of course, the problem is that we have no idea what the "standard" will be for next year's playoffs.

[Per]

I'm sorry, as a commissioner of a professional sports league, you should have a little more subjectivity than that.

Really? I'd think objectivity would be better.

[the Dogsalmon]

bettman is a little prick...

[Narg CC]

I'm sorry, as a commissioner of a professional sports league, you should have a little more subjectivity than that.

Really? I'd think objectivity would be better.

[Arachnid]

I'm sorry, as a commissioner of a professional sports league, you should have a little more subjectivity than that.

Really? I'd think objectivity would be better.

[ODB]

I'm sorry, as a commissioner of a professional sports league, you should have a little more subjectivity than that.

Really? I'd think objectivity would be better.

[Farhan Lalji]

I'm sorry, as a commissioner of a professional sports league, you should have a little more subjectivity than that.

Really? I'd think objectivity would be better.

[Blob Mckenzie]

Really? I'd think objectivity would be better.