Hey, it's time to leave Detroit alone

The Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 earlier this evening to win the Stanley Cup. Sadly, this night will be remembered for the way that Vancouver fans responded to the loss. In one of the most disgusting scenes that I have seen as a sports fans, hooligans took to the streets of downtown Vancouver and set fire to police vehicles, smashed business windows, looted and threw bottles and other objects at police officers trying to put an end to the violent behavior.

When watching the 2010 Winter Olympics last year, which took place in Vancouver, I could not believe how beautiful a city it was. I thought it was not only a beautiful city physically, I thought that the citizens there provided a fantastic atmosphere and showed the world how great of a city it was. However, after tonight, there is very little positive thoughts in regard to Vancouver. It's difficult to label an entire city based off of the act of one group, but this isn't a small crowd partaking in these acts. The group committing these acts is very large and full of immature people.

With what's happening in Vancouver tonight, it's time for people to lay off the city of Detroit and find a new city to bash.

Having spent my entire life in metro Detroit, I've grown sick and tired of listening to people who want to compare every negative issue to something that occurred in Detroit. This city will never be forgiven for the Palace Brawl in 2005, whether or not it was the Indiana players who went into the crowd and began the physical confrontation. Every riot will continue to be compared to the one that happened after the Detroit Tigers won the 1984 World Series. Finally, who could forget the Canadian reporter, Robert Tychkowski, who wrote an article in November that stated the forecast in Detroit was, "muggy with a chance of murder."

I'm never going to argue that Detroit doesn't have issues as a city, however, when it comes to sports, there is no doubt that this city and its fan base knows how to handle both winning and losing with class. There has been 11 professional and major University championships won in my lifetime here in Michigan and not once have we had any issues with fans behaving like we are seeing tonight in Vancouver. Detroit even lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 2009. Did we riot in the streets? Did we set cars on fire? Did we attack police officers with physical violence? To the surprise of many people, most of which have never spent any time in this city, the answer to all of those questions is no.

One thing that people need to remember, this is over a hockey game. This isn't an issue of life or death, it's not even an issue serious enough to warrant any of the behavior we are seeing tonight. This, folks, is a game. There is always going to be a winner and there is always going to be a loser. Sadly tonight, the Vancouver Canucks aren't going to be the biggest losers when all is said and done. It's going to be the city of Vancouver.

Step aside Detroit, there's a new whipping boy in town, and deservedly so.

*I want to thank CTV for the great coverage of tonight's events in Vancouver. Provided a great glimpse for those of us at home.

Photo courtesy of Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press