Boston Bruins Fans Lose Sleep, Will To Live Following Worst. Loss. Evah!
Lifelong fan of both the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Celtics, I am not, and never will be, a fan of the Boston Bruins. Wanna know why? Read on!
Feb 26, 2014; Buffalo, NY, USA; Buffalo Sabres right wing Matt D
As I was gathering research for my Boston Bruins: Behind Enemy Lines post prior to last night’s thrilling Buffalo Sabres victory over the Bruins, I stumbled into enemy territory and found too many cocky, arrogant, “Buffalo has no chance to win this game” articles and fan comments to count. Granted, I essentially wrote the same thing in my post – but dammit, I’m a Sabres fan! I’m allowed to say that Buffalo has no chance to win! I’d rather be facetiously humble than overly-arrogant, a la Boston Bruins’ fans and sports writers. Granted, some of the people who follow the Bruins at least TRIED to sound like they thought the Sabres (who do still play in the NHL, last time I checked) might have a chance to win this game, like the writer of this little bit of uncertain optimism over at Stanley Cup of Chowder:
"The Sabres no longer have Bruins killer Thomas Vanek, so ideally this should be a cakewalk??But they do have Matt Moulson, so maybe not?"
Of course, this writer also decided to share a video detailing Brett Hull‘s Cup-clinching goal in the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals, for no reason other than the fact that Bruins fans are clearly Satan’s spawn. But still, at least she played nice by including the question marks when declaring the game a cakewalk, right?
Meanwhile, other writers made no attempt to disguise their over-confidence, with titles such as “Bruins Should Easily Defeat The Buffalo Sabres” and “The NHL Has Already Awarded The Boston Bruins Two Points In Advance Of Tonight’s Tilt Against The Buffalo Sabres” (okay, I may have made that one up), synonyms such as “hapless” and “ineffective” being bandied about in Buffalo’s direction, and writers calling this game “as close to a gimme as the B’s will get” and a game that Boston would lose only if the team was to “skate horribly and basically give up possession on purpose.”
Sadly for Bruins fans everywhere, the NHL actually made the teams play last night . . . and gosh darn it if the Sabres decided to play like an NHL team and win that pesky gimme in overtime.
The fallout was devastating, as you can imagine. One writer was so stunned, his post game recap literally said this:
"I don’t even know what’s going on. Overtime? really?"
Poor guy – the loss literally sent him into shock, as he clearly forgot they do, indeed, play overtime in the NHL if regulation ends in a tie.
Some writers tried to make sense of the loss, blaming anyone they could rather than simply doling out credit to the Sabres: “The Sabres (and the refs) beat Boston in Buffalo 5-4.” Now, maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention, but was Ted Nolan ballsy enough to actually throw the refs out there on a line or two? If so, kudos to him!
Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
And then there were the distraught fans sharing heir reactions in the comments sections of web sites and on Twitter, calling the team “sluggish,” blaming “rust” and (again) the refs – one reader over at Hockey Buzz called one ref a “franking joke” – for the loss. And I’m pretty sure I ran across a Tweet by someone using the handle @suicidalBruinsfan that claimed he was going to drown himself in a bowl of clam chowder while watching Cam Neely highlights on You Tube.
Did I make that last part up? Maybe. Am I guilty of over-exaggerating? Nah. The arrogance of Bruins fans, as well as their refusal to admit that New York is, in fact, one of the 50 United States, has been well documented. That’s okay though – karma, she’s a bitch, and she bit fans of the Bs on the butt last night, all of which makes that hard-fought, well-earned victory on the part of the Sabres that much more sweet to savor!