Perhaps the worst kind of sports fan

"I can't believe they still boo Chara."

This was from one of my co-workers Thursday, the day after the Boston Bruins played the Montreal Canadiens in Montreal, where the fans apparently treated Zdeno Chara with the minimum high regard that they always do.

Without even getting into the fact that Chara is the captain of the Canadiens' hated rivals, I did remind her there was an incident a couple years back that might have colored fans' views of him.



Let us not forget that there was talk of prosecuting Chara for that hit.

My co-worker, her memory refreshed of Chara running Max Pacioretty head-first into a pole, could only reply with, "He didn't do it on purpose. They should just get over it!"

I don't think he did it on purpose, either, and told her so, but saying Montreal fans should "get over it" defies all logic.

The conversation caused me to think that my co-worker may be the worst kind of sports fan ... the one whose passion (and to be clear, she is a serious, serious Bruins fan) makes them not just a hypocrite (as all fans are), but blinds them to all logic so much that a rational conversation can be nearly impossible.

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.