Boston Bruins Fans Should Be Ashamed

P.K. Subban
(Icon SMI)

Early Friday morning, PK Subban clinched Game One for the Montreal Canadiens with a power play goal in double overtime. It really was a fantastic and exciting game, but of course that was all ruined shortly after Subban rifled one past Rask.

After the game, numerous racist tweets, ones that I cannot repeat on here, were directed at PK Subban. It was an embarrassing display by Boston Bruins fans. Of course, this is nothing new with Boston fans. In 2012, numerous racist tweets were directed toward the Washington Capitals’ Joel Ward after he scored the series clinching goal in an upset victory over Boston.

This display of racism by Bruins fans is upsetting and really doesn’t make much sense. People forget that PK’s younger brother, Malcolm, is a goaltender in the Boston Bruins system, one of the Bruins’ best players, Jarome Iginla, is black, and Willie O’Ree was the first black man to play in the NHL and he did it with the Boston Bruins. The Boston Bruins have a great history when it comes to blacks and minorities in hockey, but why don’t Bruin fans realize this?

After Subban scored the game winner, a Bruins “fan” threw a water bottle at him on the ice.

He was booed almost every time he touched the puck. Subban really has become Boston Public Enemy #1. It’s all fine and well to have a villain, I mean what would Superman be without Lex Luthor or Batman without The Joker. Teams need to have villains and that’s what makes rivalries so great. However, there is a line and some Bruins fans crossed it tonight with racist comments and throwing objects on the ice at the direction of Subban.

Not all Boston fans speak for those that tweeted racist remarks towards Subban and Montreal fans have decried these comments. There was an outpouring of support towards Subban and not condoning the horrible comments.

https://twitter.com/Aj_anderson15/status/462093320786046976

The city of Boston already has a stigma of being a racist city attached to it and last night didn’t exactly disprove it. Not all Boston fans are racist, in fact I’d say just a small fraction are, but when they come out, they come out full force.

After what happened this week with Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and his racist comments, every racist sports view is that much more magnified and this display tonight makes Boston look pretty awful. I grew up and still live in New England, the heart of Bruins country, and Bruins fans really are good people. You are better than this. You are better than the terrible display at sportsmanship in Game 1. I truly believe this.

For those of you spouting off racial diatribe towards Subban, please stop following the Boston Bruins and the game of hockey, there’s no place for you here. Boo and jeer PK Subban all you like, but please stop the racism and the foreign objects off the ice. You are Boston. You are better than this.

What did you think about the Bruins fans vs. PK Subban? Comment below or send me a Tweet, @MarkWGraham

17 thoughts on “Boston Bruins Fans Should Be Ashamed”

  1. • The Boston Busing Crisis of 1974 resulted in police violence and riots, including an incident in which, “Charlestown youth literally speared a black attorney with a flag pole adorned with the Stars and Stripes at City Hall Plaza.”
    • The Boston Red Sox were the last major league baseball team to integrate their roster.
    • Bruin fans taunted Washington Capitals winger Joel Ward (who is black) with numerous racist taunts over Twitter in April 2012.
    • Celtic legend Bill Russell was racially blackballed by Boston sportswriters and once had has house broken into and his bed shat on. BOSTON STRONG!!!

  2. To those racist, bottle-hurling so-called Boston Bruins “fans” …… thanks so much, you pretty much just guaranteed a Canadiens playoff Series victory. Those deeply offensive remarks are going to unite this Montreal team like ten men, and hopefully, it will be P.K. Subban who will once again knock the water bottle clear off Rask’s net, directly into the stands, while delivering yet another winning goal ….. only this time, a Series-winning goal!! You just messed with the wrong guy, boys. Canadiens in 6 ….. again, thank you.

  3. It’s pretty sad that I as a Bruins fan have to be painted with the same brush as all of the idiots that took to Twitter. However, don’t rule out the notion that some of these people may not even be Bruins fans but rather just racists disguising themselves as such. If I know the REAL BRUINS fans as I think I do, Subban will be greeted with a standing ovation on Saturday afternoon. It won’t erase what the morons did but it would show the rest of the world that all of us are not such losers!

  4. Not only is this a good article but it’s relevant given the Sterling scandal. I also grew up listening to the racist rumors of Boston sports fans. I believe in the 80’s people accused the Celtics of being racist. Every city has racists and Boston isn’t the only city where fans tweet racist nonsense.

    With articles like this, the message does get out to hockey fans that racism is wrong!

  5. Joel Ward, Subban…who’s next? Iginla and Malcolm subban? Bruin fans are SCUM. You use that ‘bostonstrong’ nonsense to win sympathy but people see your true colors. Bostonians are the most racist in the US. Uneducated redneck teabaggers.

  6. “BRUINS FANS SHOULD BE ASHAMED”??? WTF??? WHY SHOULD I BE ASHAMED?

    give me a fucking break. what did I, as a BRUINS FAN, do to be ashamed?

  7. The fact of the matter is that a large number of Bruins fans are idiots. you don’t like PK Subban for some of his antics but that snake Marchand is somehow a good classy player in your eyes. I would not allow any fans to be in the building for the next game in Boston. Play with no fans to teach all the scumbags a lesson.

  8. Using the hash tag #bostonstrong attached to these racist tweets, the people of boston dapper in a territory of ignorance, and seem like a bunch of un-educated, backward, sore losers. Not only dare they make racist remarks, but they associate them with a tragic event that took place just a year ago. Booing the best player from another team seems to be a ridiculous hockey tradition, however its just that, a tradition, that probably fuels more cockiness in the player being booed than the effect the fans are trying to obtain. However throwing garbage at the end of the game, precisely at the person who scored the game-winning goal? Who is the loser in this situation? This will add more fuel to Habs in a positive way for the Habs while the Booins, sorry I mean Bruins, look like the farmers and sore losers they are. Who in this millennium is still racist? Honestly, not even worth it to keep defending the Habs and PK because these Bruins fans are so backwards, they don’t deserve the attention. They are truly just disgusting.

  9. Seriously. You wrote an article about this. It’s been one game and I’m already sick of hearing about this.

    I am a Bruins fan. I have nothing to be ashamed of. I would never in my entire life make a racist comment about PK no matter how much I hate him. Just because some people stoop to that level and are all around idiots does not mean the rest of us are.

    Good job just writing whatever it takes to get views to your page.

    • It was more than a few people and garbage was thrown at the guy. why shouldn’t this be written about. If you were PK, wouldn’t you want the media to tell America about the racism?

      I find it disgusting that someone would criticize a writer for advocating against racism and the racist behavior of some fans,

  10. Good post but let’s be honest: this title could have been “Sports Fans Should be Ashamed.” Yes, the Bruins fans have been front and center of this as of late, but we all remember the Wayne Simmonds fiasco and, more recently, the few idiots who have come out in support of Donald Sterling.

    People just need to stop resorting to this level. It sets us back as a society and, until things change, stupid people like this will have their voice heard louder than the majority of people who don’t resort to racism. Talk about Subban’s nasty play on the ice or his chatty nature all you want, but don’t bring the color of his skin into it.

    I strongly dislike Kanye West but I have never resorted to making it a racial thing. Some people just can’t make their qualms about the issues; they have to see in terms of color. Doesn’t make any sense to me.

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