If This New Yorker Can Give Props To Boston, Surely World Peace Is Just Around The Corner

I don't like Boston teams. I love Massachusetts - love the coastline, the landscapes, the old New England architecture, and my family members who hail from there. But I hate their teams, and as a New Yorker who grew up a fan of the Rangers, Yankees, Knicks and Jets, that's not only a birthright, but damn near an obligation. But the Bruins' victory in Game 7 last night was... well, deserved. This series, for me at least, was not about what city each team came from, it wasn't about the Sux (ahem, I mean Sox), Patriots or Celtics, it wasn't about "Boston fans are assholes and would never root for the Rangers, so I'll never root for Boston." It was, for me, about something deeper and, fundamentally, much more important. 

Honestly, at the start of the series I was entirely apathetic. I didn't give a damn who won, and I sure as hell wasn't rooting for either team - Vancouver being the clear favorite (lawd, how I hate a favorite), and Boston being, well, Boston, made me decide at the beginning that it didn't matter in Amyland which of them took the prize. But Vancouver's play and actions throughout this series made it impossible for me as a hockey fan to want to see them win. And not being with them, I was consequently against them. Whether it's Alex Burrows biting Patrice Bergeron, Aaron Rome cheapshotting Nathan Horton, or Roberto Luongo smack-talking Tim Thomas (despite Thomas showing himself to be the better goaltender throughout the series), I can't respect that. Nor can I respect or comprehend the behavior of Canuck fans in response to their team's Game 7 loss. It's not about cities or rivalries or grudges - it's about the way the game I love above all others is represented. And the Canucks, as well as their fans, represented the game like shit. On top of that, Boston was clearly the better team on the ice throughout the majority of the series, despite Vancouver's league-best record in the regular season (maybe if they had four Sedins instead of just two, things would have turned out differently? Shame on Mrs. Sedin for not getting that egg to split once more in the womb).

Rivalries in sports are a given, and in some ways are both healthy and necessary. But there are times - in my estimation especially when it comes to hockey, which has throughout its history in the U.S. been misunderstood, unfairly judged, and dismissed as nothing but brutality and barbarism by anyone who doesn't truly know the game - when one has to know when to put the rivalry aside in the interest of what's fair, appropriate, and best for the game. Do I like the idea of rooting for a team from Boston, my home's biggest sports rival? Of course not. I hate those Massholes (sorry, cousins - you're exempt). But the alternative would be rooting for a team that employed dirty tactics - exactly what those people who don't watch, don't know, and disparage hockey expect - and who simply did not work as hard as their opponents. Rooting for Vancouver would have meant rooting for Luongo, who somehow had the balls to denigrate the skill level of Boston counterpart Thomas despite Luongo himself putting on a laughable performance in the entire series (that man's not really Italian, he's Swiss. You know, like the cheese - fulla holes). There's nothing wrong with a little smack talk... if you are prepared to back it up with your actions. Clearly Luongo was unable to do that, and that being the case, he should have kept his big stupid trap shut. It would have been rooting for Burrows, whose decision to go all Iron Mike on Bergeron in Game 1 was questionable at least, but in my estimation, bestial. (It remains to be seen whether Burrows will show up for training camp with a new tribal face tattoo.) It would have been rooting for those godawful Vancouver jerseys (OK, maybe that's a little trivial and nitpicky, but seriously, those things are ridiculous). It would have been rooting for all those fans in Vancouver who thought nothing of torching cars and fire trucks, beating senseless anyone wearing anything with a Bruins logo on it, assaulting police, stabbing Bruins fans, and in at least one case, (allegedly; I still haven't seen trustworthy confirmation) pushing someone from an overpass. Last I read, over 150 people had received injuries serious enough to require treatment at a hospital. Over a hockey game. Tell me, hockey fans: what do you suppose those who disparage our beloved sport think when they see such behavior? Do you think it makes it harder or easier for them to believe that hockey is actually a great game, its players and fans not all just sub-intelligent knuckle-draggers?

Yet make no mistake: those who asserted that they could under no circumstances root for Boston were instead, directly or indirectly, rooting for the reinforcement of that unfair stereotyping of both the game and those who love it. Most of them are also forgetting that when Boston took on Philadelphia in the 2nd round, they had no trouble rooting for the Massholes. While the Flyers are undoubtedly an even bigger rival of the Rangers' than Boston, being in the same division, the things I heard about that series being a different story, about Boston being "the lesser of two evils" in that case, are, ahem, utter bullshit. If we'd like to talk about "evil" as it relates to this Cup Final and the way these two teams conducted themselves throughout, it is quite clear that the more "evil" of the two was, by a fairly wide margin, the Canucks. For any number of reasons, Vancouver did not deserve to win the Stanley Cup, and who their opponent was is irrelevant. It wasn't about Baahston - it was aboot Vancouver, eh?

So... Tim Thomas, congrats on the Conn Smythe Trophy win - no one deserved it more. Enjoy that Vezina, too (you've got it in the bag, dude). Zdeno Chara, I have mad respect for you, you giant Slovakian freak. Mark Recchi, all the best in your retirement, old man; see ya in the Hall of Fame in a few years. And to the people of Boston - congratulations. I still hate your teams, I still despise you all as rival fans, but you deserved this one - whether the masses that make up Ranger Nation want to admit it or not. Enjoy it while it lasts, because in 109 days, the Rangers are gonna be on your asses, and next year we just might take the Cup from you, you stupid chowdaheads.