Well, You Are

Dear Vancouver:  Is it okay to say “You’re welcome” now?  

What exactly is Vancouver thanking you for?

Well, I didn't do anything.  But, the person in charge of the Los Angeles Kings' official Twitter account did.  We'll begin with a brief rant.

Yay!  People like those!

We live in a very strange age.  An age where corporate profits are of more importance than just about anything else, an information age, and an age of total wussification.  (Normally, I call it "The Wussification Of America," but today, we'll be talking about Canada.)  Sometimes, all of these things intersect and people just go nutty.  For instance, last week.  

The Los Angeles Kings were set to take on the #1 seed Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference Quarterfinals (This is hockey, BTW).  This is all well and good, except when you factor in that outside of Vancouver, the Canucks are one of the most hated NHL teams outside of Philadelphia.  Their fans have a reputation (deserved or otherwise) of being uninformed, overly biased, spoiled homers.  This is further exacerbated by the game announcers on their local TV feeds who exhibit many of the same traits.  On top of this, the players themselves have a reputation for being spoiled, whiny, prissy, and dirty, with some even getting Called Out In The Media about their antics. Some of the players did nothing to change people's opinion of them, Some Even Made It Worse.  

After the Kings' victory in Game 1 of this series, the folks in charge of the LA Twitter account jumped the gun a bit in talking a little smack by posting, "To everyone in Canada outside of BC, you're welcome."  Vancouver fans were quick to jump all over this saying, and rightfully so, that one game does not a series make.  However, it did not end there.  

Since the 24-hour news networks have fill about 23 1/2 hours per day of stuff that's not actual news, and they employ far fewer actual reporters than they used to, the folks in the newsroom have taken to scouring the internet for what might be passable as interesting.  Some reporters alit upon this (It bothers me that the spell checker on the Blag here doesn't recognize the word "Alit") and turned the Kings' Twitter into a News Item.  This is pretty sad.  

In addition to the sorry state of journalism at play here, we have another black mark on the NHL.  This playoff season has been pretty rough and there have been a number of large penalties and suspensions meted out for dangerous play, and that, along with somebody's Twitter feed, is what has dominated the headlines.  This LA/Vancouver series featured some of the best stories the NHL had to offer, with some highlight-reel goals, fast-paced action, hard hitting, and three of the best goaltenders in the league.  So, to all fans of hockey who got to watch this series and didn't pay attention to the lousy media coverage, "You're Welcome."