The Two Faces of Vancouver, Canada

Just like the 18.6 million Canadians and 29.2 million Americans, my family watched the final game of the Stanley Cup Series this last Wednesday evening. As were on the West Coast the game started at 5pm our time. By 4:45 pm everything was finished on the BBQ and we were all gathering in the "family rec room" with the big screen warming up looking forward to a great game.

Now in our house, everyone but me was born and raised on the coast and had moderate cases of "Canuck Fever", while I'm an old timer, and if my team isn't in it ( Calgary Flames ) I immediately turn to whatever "Original Six Team" is in and cheer my heart out for them.

To me the people that rioted are despicable thugs that know nothing about sports and embarass their city and real fans. I was in Calgary when the Flames lost in seven games. Thousands met their players at the airport when they arrived home in the middle of the night after losing, and cheered them with abandon. Then met a few days later to have a "Thank Your Flames" party downtown. Not one, look it up, not one arrest was made. They were TRUE sports fans.

Then months later it happened again in Edmonton when the Oilers lost in game 7. Incredible sadness and disappointment, but the fans gathered at the airport to greet and thank their team. No arrest recorded. Look it up. Now I have never cheered for any Vancouver Team, especially the "Canucks", because I was here in 1994, watched them lose to New York in game seven, and had to sneak out of the Downtown area, because I was wearing a Rangers jersey and really feared for my life as I witnessed mobs of drunks attack anyone wearing Rangers colors let alone a jersey.

Fast Forward To 2011!

Sitting in our rec room, my family watched Boston take Vancouver apart on the ice and win Lord Stanleys Cup. Within five minutes all the television stations redirected their focus from the victory celebration on the ice for the Boston Bruins to the streets of Vancouver and the mayhem occuring. I was shocked! Then I was very ANGRY!

As I talked to my family about what we were watching, I tried to stress these "are not fans, they are THUGS" trying to destroy the inner city. But as my family kept pointing out, 9 out of every 10 person involved in the rioting was wearing a "Canucks" jersey and they were beating everyone wearing a Boston Bruins jersey. When they couldn't find anymore Boston fans, they began torching cars and looting businesses.

My family went to bed disgusted, embarrassed and worried about friends and family who had gone to the downtown celebrations expecting a win and a party.

Fast Forward To The Next Day!

We woke to Vancouver Police Department Chief Chu holding a press conference. Among his many comments about what happened, two comments really hit home to me as Managing Director of Street Smart Kidz of Canada.

1) of the 100,000 people downtown in the riot zone, 40,000 participated in the destruction in some way, most of the 40,000 quickly realized they were caught up in a "mob mentality" and got out

2) about 1% or 1,000 were kids under 16, and he asked " where were the parents, do you know where your kids were, did they arrive home smelling like booze or gasoline"?

Fast Forward To The "Brilliant Shining Light"

We are a community and we are responsible for for that community! I imagine only half the kids got the message that Thursday morning. In the years to come, the other half will get it. Some of the kids at the end of their clean up duty signed the boards covering the windows of the trashed businesses, trying to explain how they felt about being told they were cleaning up the mess idiots made the day before.

I hope the civic leaders keep those boards on display somewhere, somehow. To the parents who said "eat your breakfast, we have work to do" I want to express my complete and total admiration for your parenting skills. Your children learned more in 4 hours than most kids learned in the last week!

I cheer for Vancouver parents all day long! Not for the ones who didn't know where their kids were, but for the ones who took a horrible situation and turned it into the BEST LEARNING EXPERIENCE possible.

STEVEN