( Hockey as she is... not usually played. )

From (before) the *last* game, but it's only now I decided to take a screengrab. Well, -grabs. To show the A+ camera work.

Granville Street tonight was filled with honking and cheers and blue flags lifted through sedan sunroofs, though of course it was nothing compared to when we knocked Chicago out of the playoffs (in Game 7, overtime, and a home game besides. And 19,000 people had to file somewhere).

But there was one moment in victory that made me kind of sad. After the game ended and Nashville and Vancouver met on the ice, you could hear shouting from the audience. The fans were still cheering. "Go, Predators, Go."

Could you imagine that happening if Vancouver lost the series in a home game? Because I cannot. When our goalie let in that near-disastrous tying goal in game 7 vs. Chicago, with less than two minutes on the clock...

Look, the second half of that series vs Chicago, I was walking around with a look of betrayal just like everyone. But people were booing their own team! And this was a game that we ended up *winning.* (Full disclosure, I yell things at the screen, usually variations on "GET BACK IN THE NET WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU ARE NOT A DEFENSEMAN." I actually found myself reflexively yelling the same thing at the Nashville goalie, before remembering that actually it was to our benefit if he wanted to leave the crease to battle for the puck.)

Vancouver hockey fans are entitled assholes, I guess is my central point. If the Canucks are *winning*, we support them, but it's a smug sort of support, like their victory is a thing we are due. But when they falter, we are fickle in our loyalty: indifferent and oftentimes vicious.

I don't know. I am still hoping my home city carries home the Cup, obviously. (After all, aren't we *due* one by now?) Just for a moment I was a bit sad.

Well, I have found the proper counteractant to the mood caused by boys being dumb.

It is going to a pub and watching your* team win not lose at Hockey for once! With beer and overtimes applied as necessary!

Now they only have to win two games in a row. That is a 25% chance of winning, assuming equal skill. (And that Edmonton magically picks up the ability to deal properly with power plays in either direction. Seriously. That other team had less people on ice, and they were putting *you* on the defensive. AGAIN?)

But! 25%! We could beat those odds!

*look, okay, if it was Vancouver vs Edmonton, I'd be wearing an *very different* colour of panties for superstitious reasons. But this is the Canadian team fighting for the Stanley Cup, right? Unlike the losers in the corner cheering for the entirely wrong team, I *know* where my loyalties ought to be.