What's a Little Racism among NHL Fans, eh?

The NHL Playoffs are in full swing. Some incredibly interesting moments, like an event that has now only happened four times in NHL history: as the San Jose Sharks went up 3-0 in their best-of-7 series with the LA Kings. The Kings proceeded to win the next four games and eliminate the Sharks.

And then there’s what happened in Boston…

The Bruins hosted the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday for the first game of their second round series. The rivalry between Boston and Montreal is long and storied. Anyone with even a beginner’s knowledge of the NHL knows that Boston and Montreal do not get along on the ice. Meeting in the playoffs amplifies the animosity. Going to overtime in the playoffs drives the animosity even higher.

So Thursday night the Bruins-Canadiens game went not only to overtime, but it went to double overtime. The Canadiens won on a P. K. Subban shot five minutes into the second overtime period. An overtime playoff loss in hockey is heartbreaking, so disappointed home fans were expected. Boston is a city that is enamored with its sports teams. After dealing with the tragedy of the Boston Marathon bombing, the sporting world helped Boston recover.

The fans rise and fall with their team. They celebrate victories and the sulk in defeat. But not this time...no, this time something far more insidious and revolting occurred. With the saturation of social media in the activities of modern society, it is easier than ever to get your own opinions out in the public sphere. The Boston angry took that opportunity.

Twitter lit up, to the point that a particular hashtag was trending on the site, after the game. (There will be a lot of asterisks in the remainder of this blog post.)

·         “F*** PK Subban. F******* N*****. Wish he got sold.”

·         “Once Again, Subban stop being a n*****”

·         “F*** you Subban you f****** a** n*****”

·         “That stupid n***** doesn’t belong in hockey #whitesonly”

The hashtag “#N*****” was trending in Boston. I guess you’d call this irony, since (in my experience) it’s more often the people of a northern persuasion calling those of us in the south “racists.” You’d think that the entirety of the northeast corridor was enlightened to the point that no one even considered another person’s skin color. But Boston, and more specifically the few Bruins fans incapable of seeing Subban as a hockey player and not as a racial epithet, has proved that theory wrong.

Loa Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was banned from the NBA for life and will likely be forced to sell his franchise, for recorded comments that, while vile and demeaning, were nowhere near as racially charged and despicable as those from the Bruins fans on Twitter. So much for “Boston Strong.”