"If Cena Wins, We Riot!!"

I recall a few years ago, watching a WWE-sponsored, ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) pay-per-view, in which WWE Superstar, John Cena was in the main event. I cannot, off-hand, recall who he was facing, but rest assured, it was an ECW Original, and the crowd, who at the best of times, have a great dislike for John Cena, were really showing some hate towards the fella that night.

So much so, was the hatred for the WWE star, that there were several signs in the crowd, being hoisted highly and with great pride, that read, "If Cena wins, we riot!!!" Well, if memory serves, John Cena did prevail that night, but the crowd did not riot as previously cited. I do not doubt that John Cena probably had some concerns in leaving the arena that night, but all in all, he survived to wrestle in the years since. No harm, no foul.

Fast forward to 2011. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. A city who just a year prior, gained worldwide praise in how it displayed nothing more than class and honour, when it hosted the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, became a primal beast when their beloved Stanley Cup hopefuls fell short of the ultimate prize, losing Game 7 of the finals to the Boston Bruins, by a score of 4 - 0.

As the distraught crowds emptied General Motors Place, and entered the streets, havoc and mayhem soon followed. At some point, when I, myself was making smart-ass remarks and jabs at the mammoth loss of the Canucks, adding a comment of "At least Canadians are classy in that they won't riot like Europeans do after a gay-ass soccer game!" I bet it was no more than 15 minutes that passed before I caught the first glimpse of I-Phone videos hitting the internet, disproving that very comment.

Did Vancouver deserve to lose the Cup? You bet your ass they did. They played like shit in the last few games. Did the Boston Bruins deserve to win Lord Stanley's Cup? You're god damned right they did. I'm not a Bruins fan, but I do respect athleticism, and they were the superior team. Hands down!

So was the riot a spur-of-the-moment bad decision for those who participated? Perhaps for some. But for others, it was premeditated. In many of the videos I've seen on television and in the media, there were rioters donning ski masks. Wool caps, pulled down over their faces to retain anonymity.

There are those who may argue that "It's Canada, and these people probably had the wool caps with them to keep warm." For those speculators, I say, "Grab a f*ckin' brain, and don't be stupid!!!" The southern border of Canada, is NOT lined with snow and ice, and despite Canada having the moniker, "The Great White North", we aren't actually. In fact, I don't think it even snows all that often in Vancouver, to tell the honest truth.

So that being said. It's June. It's warm in the evenings. And Joe Schmoe is wearing a f*cking ski mask. Any way you look at it, some shit is about to go down. Either someone's going to get robbed or there's going to be some shenanigans on the go.

In the end, a few dumb f*cks put a blemish on Canada's global image. On one hand, it's kinda nice to shed that "goody two-shoes" image that everyone thinks we have, but on the other hand, it sucks to have people the world over look at us as inbred retards!!!

For a moment or two, I lost all pride in what it is to be Canadian. That's something that I've been proud of for quite some time, and I lost it for a moment. But that moment has past and in my daily life now, through work, I have the opportunity to speak to many Americans, who this week, have all commented on the Vancouver riots. And best of all, I've been able to comment right along side of them, on the idiocy that it was.