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J U N I O R     S U R V E I L L A N C E - February 8, 2007 Forum Form All sports leagues have internet fan forums. But there is a distinct difference between the kind of posts written by fans of professional sports teams and those written by fans of junior hockey. The junior hockey fan forums tend to be rather juvenile. No matter how well meaning a topic may be posted, it quickly devolves into “my dad can beat up your dad” type of mentality. Allow me to demonstrate a typical thread: Topic Posted: The Blues beat the Flyers 3-2 last night. Blues Fan: Blues winger Joe Smith had a strong game last night. Response Comment: Are you saying that Smith normally has a weak game? I don’t see any of your so called stars racking up the points like Smith is. New Arrival: At least Smith can walk and chew gum at the same time. Your captain can hardly skate Blues Fan: Are you saying my mother is ugly? Newer Arrival: Our captain might not skate well, but at least he doesn’t skip school to get drunk like your best goalie does. Blues Fan: Your mother is no prize buddy. Newest Arrival: If I was a goalie I’d be drinking all the time too. Those pucks hurt. Moderator: You guys need to try and avoid the personal stuff on this forum First time poster: I agree with the ugly, stupid moderator Blues Fan: Speaking of ugly, did you see Johnson’s face after Hicks tuned him up in that third period fight? Johnson Fan: Get real buddy. Johnson won that fight easily. He had mercy on Hicks. Hicks couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag. He got speed-bagged. Blues Fan: Are you calling my sister a hooker? Home town booster: There’s no hooking allowed under the new rules Johnson Fan: I can understand why you called the moderator ugly, but there was no reason to call him stupid. I tell you what stupid is. It’s your coach. That’s stupid. …………..and on and on it goes. For the most part the people participating in these never ending threads are the ones who wear the team sweater to the home games, the road games, the practices, at church, in bed and in their casket upon death. Every penalty call against their team is a total outrage. It is assumed that the ref is deliberately trying to help the other team win. They remember a previous bad call by the same ref, even though it happened in 1977. Shots that go 2 feet over the crossbar are said to have gone in and out before the goal judge could notice. Shots that go right in the middle of their own net are said to have hit the post without crossing the line. And besides the entire play was clearly offside. If their team loses two games in a row, the coach is expected to resign or be fired. If they win two in a row they worry about losing their coach to the pro ranks. If they tie a game they decide to coach the team themselves. There’s nothing wrong with fanatical supporters. They buy the tickets that keep the franchise alive. Prior to the internet we assumed they didn’t have a life, but were otherwise quite normal. After reading these fan forums for a number of years it’s quite obvious to me that they need help. Then again anyone who has his own website known as Hockey Spy.com may be throwing stones while living in a glass house. Never mind. Send your story to hockspy@hotmail.com and we will pass them on to our readers in a future installment of Junior Hockey Surveillance.

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