Claude Giroux and the First Shift

And maybe just a little bit of gloating too. Suck it Penguins!

Greek soccer fans clash with police during a game.

“We dedicated several thousand personnel to policing the game and we faced, beginning two hours before the game started, escalating attacks,” police spokesman Athanassios Kokalakis said.

Fans of visiting Olympiakos were not allowed to attend the game in accordance with a league policy not to allow visiting fans due to fears of violence. Clashes between police and fans started before the game, when hundreds of youths without tickets tried to enter the stadium. The clashes forced the second half to start 35 minutes late.

The Greek league said Friday it fined Panathinaikos $334,360 and deducted three points. The club will also play four home games without spectators and will start next season two points down. Panathinaikos remains second in the standings, 10 points behind Olympiakos.

Read more:
Greek game abandoned due to fan, police clashes

During a 1st round match-up between 8th-seeded Kansas State and 9th-seeded Southern Miss on Thursday, Southern Miss band members starting chanting “Where’s your green card?” towards Kansas State guard Angel Rodriguez when he went to the foul line.

Apparently Southern Miss students don’t realize that Puerto Rico is a part of the United States. Angel Rodriguez happens to be from Puerto Rico.

Here’s a couple of tweets from reporters who were at the game:

Cole Manbeck: https://twitter.com/#!/Cole_Manbeck/status/180344765542432769

Rob Cassidy: https://twitter.com/#!/robcassidy22/status/180344372653588480

Update:
According to Deadspin (take that however you like) they got hold of an email from Southern Miss faculty that states that the band members who took up the chant were kicked off the band. Story here:

Southern Miss Pep Band Members Who Chanted “Where’s Your Green Card?” Have Been Kicked Off The Pep Band

Video from BuzzFeed:
March Madness: Southern Mississippi’s Racist Chant

A new bill proposed by Assemblyman Mike Gatto of California seeks to create the first ever “Ban List” that would prohibit violent sports fans from attending professional sporting events anywhere in the state.

Under Assembly Bill 2464, a judge could seek to have a violent offender placed onto a statewide “Ban List” for up to five years for a first offense and up to ten years for a second offense. After that the ban could increase to twenty-five years. The bill also includes legislation on extending sentences on offender’s prison terms. Offenders’ names and photos would be published on the Internet and sent to sports arenas, police agencies and ticket vendors by the attorney general’s office, which would maintain the list.

Things like verbal harassment or throwing beer or food is not covered under the bill but violent offenses such as assault with a deadly weapon, robbery or causing significant bodily harm are covered. The bill includes offenses inside and outside the stadium, while tailgating and watching, entering or leaving a stadium.

Of course there is the problem of an offender having someone else buy the tickets for them and getting by security, but the bill cover this too. If any offender who is on the list is caught at a game (by causing a commotion most likely) they could face a $10,000 fine and a 1-year jail sentence.

As of yet no professional sports team has taken a position on the bill but we’re sure to hear from them soon as the bill would charge each professional team $10,000 to maintain the list. There would also be a rewards fund for witnesses and if it falls below $180,000, teams would have to supplement the fund. The sports covered are professional baseball, basketball, football, hockey and soccer teams.

Italy and England have already enacted similar laws due to fan violence at soccer (football) games.

All this stems from recent incidents at professional games in California such as the near-death beating of Bryan Stow outside of Dodgers stadium last season, a stabbing outside at a Raiders-Chargers game, and multiple acts of violence at a pre-season 49ers-Raiders game.

It’s getting out of hand, particularly in California and whether you agree with it or not, at least someone is trying to do something about it. Likely the bill will get revised and changed before it is passed but I have no doubt it will get passed at some point. Let’s just hope it doesn’t get overly restrictive where people start getting banned for relatively harmless incidents.

Alan Horwitz has been a part of the Sixers family for a long time being a season ticket holder for about 35 years and has seen firsthand some of that futility. As a kid he used to come watch Hall-of-Famer Wilt Chamberlain play with the Philadelphia Warriors at Philadelphia Arena or the Civic-Center Convention Hall. In this video from CSN Philly and posted on The 700 Level, Mr. Horwitz is seen telling Kobe Bryant which way to go after Kobe was called for an offensive foul. The clip with Kobe is priceless in and of itself but it’s great to see a fan that gets so into the game and has the dedication that he does. In the video you can see him mingling with players and doing what his nickname of ‘Old Man Knees’ suggests, watching most of the game from his knees. It’s clear he loves his 76ers!

Video from:
That Guy Kneeling Next to the Sixers Bench Gets Much-Deserved TV Profile

A member of the Vancouver Canucks ice crew scoops up the salmon thrown onto the ice at Rogers Arena.

Garrett Paquette, Roger’s son, was going to attend a much anticipated game between his beloved Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vancouver Canucks and wanted to give his Maple Leafs a bit of a boost by tossing a BC Salmon onto the ice. Unfortunately in an ATV accident in November Garrett died and his friend Joey Smith, who helped carry out the prank, was injured. His father planned the trip and the stunt in memory of his late son with three of Garrett’s friends who each volunteered to strap a five-pound salmon to their stomach and smuggle it in.

“Roger brought three fish with him. He had these wild ideas in his head and was committed to doing it and Garrett was the same way,” Smith said.

“My only thought was that I hope I don’t get patted down,” he said. “I was just going to say I was hungry if I got caught with it.”

The three friends used a combination of heavy perfume and vacuum wrap to hide the smell of the salmon from security and neighboring fans.

“We were prepared,” Roger told the Nanaimo Daily News. “The fish even had a special perfume bath beforehand.”

According to the Nanaimo Daily News, Paquette had been inspired by his father who also threw a fish onto the ice last season after seeing the tradition in Detroit where they throw an octopus.

Paquette’s father hoped the team would “get inspired” by a BC Salmon, the symbol of strength and speed. He kept the fish underneath his jersey for nearly three periods before throwing it. With four minutes left in the third period, a five-pound salmon was tossed from the lower bowl onto the ice during a stoppage in play by Roger. He was quickly caught by Roger’s Arena security and escorted out.

He said he hopes the tribute will evolve into a salmon-tossing tradition during home games. Gotta love it!

Graffiti on the St. Archangel Michael Serbian Orthodox Church

On the side of the St. Archangel Michael Serbian Orthodox Church the words “Fuck Lucic” and “Go Canuks Go” were written with black spray-paint along with a poorly drawn rendition of male genitalia.

“This is DISGUSTING!” Carnegie wrote. “Punks did this to Milan beloved church! So disgusted!”

If you’re going to go to these lengths to let a player know how badly you hate him, at least spell the name of your own team right.

It’s articles and posts like this that really get under my skin and many other normal Philadelphia fans. Here we have a professional sports media outlet such as NBC Sports with talented writers and we have yet another story that draws on the cliche of Philadelphia sports fan. It’s unfortunate because there’s very little story here at all. The article does talk about Moose being received well by Cowboys fans in other cities but the main focus was clearly meant to try to get people reading and commenting by playing on emotions, fandom and using a reputation perpetuated by the American media.

Just take a look at the comments on this post. There’s 44 of them (as of the time of this post) on a story that quite honestly, isn’t very interesting without the Philadelphia mention (even with it, it’s not that interesting). Many are people jumping on the bandwagon of saying how bad Philadelphia fans are. And when Philadelphia fans step up to defend the vast majority who don’t act like idiots, they are countered by statements like these: “Philadelphia has earned that reputation” or “there’s more incidents in Philadelphia than anywhere else.”

Perhaps there are more ‘incidents’ in Philadelphia than in any other particular city, but you can’t deny that the media creates this perception that these things only happen in Philadelphia. Four fans were shot at 49ers games this past season, but how many people actually talked about it? I don’t remember seeing anything about it until I did some digging. You also have to consider that Philadelphia is one of twelve cities that can boast professional teams in each of the four major sports. Philadelphia is also one of the biggest media markets in the US, particularly for sports (last I checked Philly was ranked #4). This equates to more games, more fans and a greater possibility of an incident occurring and when something does happen it’s much more likely to become national news.

Clearly the post has served its purpose, making something out of nothing. Instead of focusing on Moose talking about how the Dallas Cowboys have a loyal fanbase spread across the country, author Michael David Smith instead places more focus on how Moose still gets the finger from Philly fans. He even entitles his post “Moose Johnston says Philly fans still give him the finger”. I guess this is what sportswriters do to keep readers interested during the off-season.

On Wednesday the two teams squared off at the Bell Centre (Centre Bell) in Montreal. During the game, Tomas Plekanec attempted to clear the puck out of the Montreal zone and accidentally hit Zdeno Chara in the face (or throat by some accounts). Chara went down immediately and lay on the ice bleeding as the following video shows:

While Chara lay on the ice, a fair number of Montreal fans (certainly not all) cheered the fallen Chara as you can clearly hear in the video. Many called it a classless and deplorable act and some even said it was ‘typical Montreal’. I’m sure a number of Montreal fans justify the cheering as revenge for an incident that occurred last season when Chara checked Max Pacioretty into a stanchion between the benches. Pacioretty suffered a concussion and a broken vertebrae in his neck.

It was definitely a brutal check but not everyone agrees on whether or not there was intent to cause an injury. Chara was given a major penalty and game misconduct on the play but no suspension was handed out by the NHL, which infuriated Canadiens fans. Montreal Police even opened an investigation into the incident and Air Canada threatened to remove their sponsorship of the league if action wasn’t taken. Here’s the video of that hit:

Do I agree with cheering an injured player? Absolutely not. But looking at the other side of it, I can somewhat understand some Montreal fans being caught up in the heat of the moment, remembering the Pacioretty incident. To Canadiens fans Chara is a villain and a dirty player for that hit and he’ll always be a hated player in Montreal.

Further Reading:
B’s infuriated over Montreal fans cheering Chara’s injury

Zdeno Chara bleeds, Canadiens fans cheer, everyone lectures on ‘staying classy’

In honor of Valentine’s Day and so many marriage proposals happening today I put together a list of some of my favorite marriage proposals from fans who popped the question at a sporting event. Enjoy!

Pops the question at a Minnesota Swarm lacrosse match: This guy was prepared with a speech and everything and it just so happens that their first date was to a Minnesota Swarm game.

Rejected at Center Court: Brutal. Poor guy gets rejected at a Houston/Sacremento NBA game during one of the breaks. The crowd voiced their displeasure but at least someone bought the guy a beer and hands it to him as he walks off. He’s going to need it. T-Mac feels for the guy too.

Rejected (embedding the video was disabled).

Fenway Park Proposal: she got him Red Sox tickets for his birthday, so he decided to turn it around and propose with help from the people at Fenway. Nicely done!

Donte Green from the Sacremento Kings helps out a fan with his proposal:

The Proposal – Turducken Day 2011 from Jason Wise.

Yankee Stadium Proposal: I like how he caught her reaction firsthand. Some idiot can be heard yelling in the background saying, “Don’t do it!”, but it doesn’t ruin the moment.

Rejected at a Spurs game. Blame the Coyote: he had it all setup to have the coyote pick his girlfriend out of the crowd to assist with a stunt and be there waiting with the ring. It didn’t turn out so well.

She was looking for money, not a marriage proposal: At a Washington Wizards halftime show, a fan was pulled out of the stands to try and win some money but her boyfriend set it up so he was the guy in the outfit (whatever that is).

Olympic swimmer proposes at a swim meet: Ok, so this isn’t a fan proposing but it’s still one of my favorites.

Another contest turned into a proposal: 22-year-old MuggleNet.com founder proposed to his girlfriend Gaby Montero in front of 22,000 people at the United Center on 4/9/2009. This time the girl says “Yes”!

Rangers fan gets harshly rejected: This video is pretty popular and like you’ve already seen it but I included it because it actually happens on Valentine’s Day.

UCLA basketball proposal fail: this video has made the rounds on lots of blogs and websites as it’s pretty recent and I’m sure a lot of people have seen it already. Unfortunately it’s also fake and was a setup for a promotion.

I’d like to offer some advice for any guy who is thinking of doing this to their girl. Be absolutely positive she is going to say yes or you’ll end up on thousands of websites, like this one.