Tuesday, April 06, 2004

It's a riot

I remember in 1994 how the ESPN idiots anticipated rioting, looting and mayhem if the Rangers were to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in 54 years. This was just a few years after Detroit and Chicago had started the championship-rioting trend after the Pistons (1989, 1990) and Bulls (1991-93) won the NBA titles. Naturally, the assumption was that in crime-ridden NYC (a fallacious notion in itself) a crime wave would follow a title. Didn't happen. The Rangers fans conducted themselves with great decorum; but in peaceful, clean, safe Canada, the Vancouver fans rioted thoughout that city after the Rangers defeated the Canucks in game 7. Yankees fans in '96, '98, '99 and 2000 were peaceful but exultant; Lakers fans in "laid-back" LA rioted each year the Lakers won in the Phil Jackson era.

Meanwhile, in Connecticut (richest state in the US), some of the future doctors-and-lawyers that Uconn will produce rioted after the Huskies' national title win over Georgia Tech last night.

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