> >> Attend any Gopher home game and
> >> you'll hear the Canadian players being verbally insulted by the
> >fans.
> >
> >Yes, the Canadian players for the other teams are in danger
> >of being verbally insulted by the fans.  But no more so than
> >the Minnesotan (or other US) players.  And no more so in
> >Mariucci than they are in, say, Dane County.  Sure,
> >there've been "USA" and "Where's your Green Card?" chants,
> >but if it weren't about that, the fans would just be making
> >fun of something else.
How can you compare regular hockey jests by fans to chants directed at the
ethnic background of players???  I find a big difference here.  Yelling
"seive" at him is one thing.  Taunting and chanting at a player BECAUSE
of his background is entirely different.  I don't think the Gopher fans
chant "USA" or "Where's your Green Card" to taunt the opposing American
players.  How you would feel if you played in Canada and Europe, and you
were constantly taunted because you were an American?  I hardly see this
ethnic taunting by Gopher fans as just "a little fun" (See Pam's comments
below).  I really can't see the foreign players enjoying it either.
 
> >I think pretty much all of us do.  We DO have a little fun
> >with it.  (See my reference to the "USA!" and "Where's your
> >Green Card!" chants above.)
 
>>  Almost all "complaints" seem
> >to be put into our mouths by others.
> >> It is also interesting that this belief by the Gopher faithful
> >is also
> >> the first thing that is brought up every time they lose a game.
> >
> >You must be hanging around different Gopher hockey fans than
> >I have been.  I've never heard that mentioned as an excuse
> >at Mariucci Arena.  It seems to pop up in the papers every
> >year or two, but that's hardly "every time they lose a game."
 
I didn't make this up off the top of my head.  I was a Gopher fan for
many years and used this excuse myself.  The reason?  Everybody did!  If
you don't make complaints like that, that's great.  But I've been a
Gopher fan, known many Gopher fans, been to Gopher games, and if you
honestly say I'm making this up then we both must have very selective
listening.
 
One last bit.  I distinctly remember Pam Sweeney making a comment on
hockey-l a couple years ago after UMD beat UM in a game.  It went
something like "At least we don't use Canadians".
 
Paul Thalacker
Go Bulldogs!
Au Canada!!!!!
 
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