12/21/24
March 18, 2004
When rivalries get official: Blue and White legislated out of Ottawa.: The city council has passed a resolution banning from the Ottawa Senators' home arena the wearing of Toronto Maple Leafs jerseys. Is there any precedent for this move—local government dropping the gloves against a rival?
posted by DrJohnEvans to hockey at 08:48 AM - 10 comments
While it does seem true that Leafs fans make up a very vocal (and sometimes very sizable - refer to the roar after Toronto's OT goal in Buffalo on Monday) minority of fans at Leafs games in Montreal, Ottawa and Buffalo wouldn't the best solution for the Sens to be.... to have their own stinkin' fans fill the place? ie sell more season's tickets? Start off the season by selling non season tickets to Leafs games only as part of 6 game packages and then opening them up to the other (ie Leafs) fans later in the season as single game tickets? It seems kind of petty even if it is done in jest. Anything for a rivalry I guess. and welcome to Dr E (good one grum)
posted by gspm at 09:04 AM on March 18, 2004
it would be even cooler if they enforced the rule on the players That'd be great. Of course, Mats Sundin would have to donate soup instead of beans. And Darcy Tucker would have to donate nuts. But I digress. It's a neat move. It's tough to restructure hockey loyalties, especially in the middle of Ontario. Coming from an Ottawa family who's still mostly split between Leafs and Habs, I'm impressed with the number of converts that Ottawa's won over in the past ten years.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 09:11 AM on March 18, 2004
gspm: Yeah, it's kind of petty, but it's, well, pretty much reflective of the rivalry. It's slightly different than Montréal or Buffalo: Buffalo has had 30+ years to clear out its Leafs fans (plus has the international border), and Montréal hasn't ever had any to speak of.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 09:20 AM on March 18, 2004
Why don't they just enforce a ban like they do at Fenway and Yankee Stadium, with mob justice and threats of violence?
posted by Jugwine at 09:44 AM on March 18, 2004
Whoa whoa whoa. Let's leave the mob justice and threats of violence ON the ice.
posted by gspm at 10:29 AM on March 18, 2004
It's just a jab by Ottawa city council, in good humour. They've stoked the rivalry before. I'm thinking of two years ago when they officially declared the Corel Centre a "no-whine zone" or something like that, mocking the Leafs' post-game tirades. The team has been shite recently so maybe they're trying to generate a bit more buzz around town. And since the bylaw-happy city council is positively loathed by hockey fans (due to some utterly asinine legislation), they're doing this out of a desperate need for good press. End of story. There's some serious TO-hatred in Ottawa though, trust me on that. Little things, mostly. A friend of mine wore a Leafs hat onto a bus and was ordered by the driver to remove it. And I remember going into a sporting goods store where they had 29 of the 30 NHL teams' jerseys for sale.
posted by Succa at 10:44 AM on March 18, 2004
Succa: it works both ways. I can walk into a Yonge St NHL licensee and pick up Buffalo, Montreal, even Pittsburgh jerseys, but no Ottawa in sight. eBay had to save the day for me.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 10:55 AM on March 18, 2004
Don't forget a few years ago during the playoffs when the Senators refused to sell tickets through ticketmaster to buyers in the 416 area code (Toronto). Anyway, if these cities get upset about there being too many Leaf fans in the crowd, then they're focusing on the wrong things. Maybe they should ask: why aren't there more local fans? Hell, if anything, for a lot of the smaller market cities it's a good thing for their revenues when the Leafs play.
posted by mkn at 11:12 AM on March 18, 2004
I don't see a downside here. It's something to talk about, Leafs fans going to the game'll ignore it, it gives someone the opportunity to be big about it later on (Sundin or someone could make a hefty donation, or the Ottawa City Council could make a special dispensation or something), and it'll stoke the fires or rivalry in case they meet in the second or third round (which is extremely possible). Yes, Ottawa should be selling more tickets locally. But with 8 games left in a largely successful (so far) season, this is kind of cute.
posted by chicobangs at 03:28 PM on March 18, 2004
Just from reading the front page post, I was ready to begin laughing my ass off at the sad little Ottawa fans. Then I read the article and decided that they actually DO have a sense of humour. Good on them. If anything, this'll draw even MORE Leaf jerseys to the game (hence adding to the food bank total). Of course, it would be even cooler if they enforced the rule on the players and had them drop a can of beans into a bag as they skate on to the ice for the warm up.