If we think we're better than Montreal fans, maybe we're not

I was listening to the best sports talk show in Boston, and they were talking about Zdeno Chara getting hit in the face last night in Montreal, and the crowd cheering for it.


As you might expect, Felger and Mazz were ripping the Montreal fans, and they deserved it. It was classless.

But before we all get on our high horses, be honest. If it was someone you hated, on the team you hated, a guy who injured one of your players and wasn't punished ...


 ... wouldn't you cheer? Maybe you'd realize later on that you were being an ignoramus, but in the moment ... there's a darn good chance you'd cheer.

Greg Wyshynski understands. (I was getting ready to write this post when I read this, and he and I pretty much the same mind on this one.)

We cheer fights in which one player is leveled with a right hook, the cathartic adrenaline rush filling the arena. Jay Beagle was injured quite badly in that fight with Arron Asham last year. Looking back, the reaction from the crowd and the player might seem abhorrent. In the moment — at a sporting event — it's everyone reacting to the entertainment programming they're paying to watch, and are emotionally invested in watching.
With hindsight, rational thought and human consideration will weigh on the minds of the fans that cheered Chara's injury Wednesday night. (And let's reiterate here that it was some fans in Montreal, and certainly not the majority.) If I cheer an injured player and he ends up really, really injured, I feel terrible about it. Like, "where do I send the flowers and the apology card" terrible.
But in the moment it's a different story. In the moment … sorry, I can't morally object to Montreal Canadiens fans cheering a Zdeno Chara injury, given their history and given their rivalry.

I can morally object, but I can also tell you what happened last night in Montreal would have happened almost anywhere else. And believe me, I probably cheered for each of these.