Athens, Cairo...or Vancouver?

 

Based on recent events in Vancouver featuring burning cars, fan on fan violence, looting, police in riot gear, etc., I figured this little experiment would be fairly eye-opening.  It's called Guess Which City and it starts...right now.

First we have the aforementioned Vancouver, a once beautiful city in British Columbia now turned to ruin by a bunch of overzealous, angry, and immature hockey fans.  When the Nucks lost the Cup to the Bruins, Nucks fans...completely lost their shit.  Cars were flipped, fires were set, property was damaged, fans were attacked (by other fans).  It was complete pandemonium...over a hockey game.

Then we have Athens, Greece, a city known for its beauty and ancient architecture.  Riots have broken out this year over the ailing Greek economy and the new measures Greece must comply with in regards to the terms set by the 110 billion Euro bailout package. Major labor protests have occurred as Greece struggles to find a way out of bankruptcy. 

Finally, there's Cairo, Egypt, another beautiful city filled with history and antiquity.  The riots in January were part of a chain reaction initiated by Tunisia, about unsatisfactory social conditions and government oppression. High levels of unemployment were a heavily contributing factor. In Egypt, specifically, the government suppressed the Internet and cell phone communication of its citizens so that many details concerning the riots did not get transmitted onto web sites such as Yahoo! and Facebook.

Two cities in social unrest, another mired in the despair that comes with losing in the playoffs.  Can you guess which city is which?  Let's find out...

HIGHLIGHT CAPTIONS BELOW PHOTOS FOR ANSWER

Cairo

Vancouver

Athens

 

HIGHLIGHT CAPTIONS BELOW PHOTOS FOR ANSWER

Athens

Cairo

Vancouver

That's it folks.  Short game, I know but it really only takes two rounds to determine the magnitude one hockey game has on a city and its fans.  Unfortunately, when you're able to compare that event with serious social unrest...it's time to start asking some pretty heavy questions of a society at large...

I feel for you Nucks fans, I really do, but this is asinine.  Especially the fan-on-fan fighting.  Are you fucking kidding me?  You all fought together through an entire playoff run, urging your team on, and when it ends and you don't win, you turn on each other?  Does that make ANY sense? 

Disgusting.  Absolutely disgusting.

-Shaela

Oh Vancouver...

 

Crowd Attacks Man Attempting to Ward off Looters  - Awful...

B's Win! And it only took 39 years of waiting...

For an Avs fan (and therefore, Nucks hater by default), Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals could not have ended any better.  The Bruins won in a shut out.  Thomas got the Conn Smythe.  Everyone booed Bettman (again). Horton got to lift the Cup with his teammates..and now we all get to spend the next 110 days or so (in which hockey goes into hibernation) without the burden of hearing how fantastic Luongo and the Sedins are.

What happened up there in Vancouver last night?  It was as though Boston put their foot on the gas pedal and never let up, but Vancouver couldn't even get their car started. This was Game 7, Nucks.  This was "Lay it all on the line, win or go home, battle 'til the final whistle, don't look back" hockey.  And honestly, the only team to do that last night was Boston and as a result, they deserve every single moment they have with the Cup this summer...and the Nucks deserve to sit back and question everything they did wrong.

Life is good.  And so was this year's Final.

It really was a fantastic series with so many amazing story lines.  We all watched Tim Thomas, a 37-year old previously-discarded goalie become a puck-stopping maniac and playoff hero.  We all wondered if Luongo could rise above the pressure and the expectations of failure and pull out one final win on home ice.  We all took guesses on exactly how badly Ryan Kesler is injured.  We all teared up a bit (okay, maybe just me, but I have no shame) when Nathan Horton poured Boston water on Vancouver ice and then, later, actually got to skate out on said ice and lift the Cup with his team (after languishing away in Florida for six seasons, it was SO good to see what this kid can really do). 

We all watched this incredible series with the remarkable knowledge that it was always, until Game 7, a tale of two cities.  Had history repeated, this Nucks hater would be writing a much different blog today.  Instead, this morning, she's smiling, happy, elated.  The world seems as it should be (unless of course you happen to live anywhere near Rogers Arena.  Then your world is still potentially on fire...)

And so, we put hockey to bed for the season and begrudingly turn our focus to baseball.  Come quick, October; this will not be pretty.

-Shaela