The riots in Vancouver after the city’s Stanley Cup loss are indeed tragic.
Big sporting events just give certain unruly thugs, often young adults, many who may not even care about sports, an excuse to vent their anger and frustration out on the rest of the community, by looting, setting things on fire, smashing windows and overturning cars. They give legitimate sports fans a bad name.
Vancouver shouldn’t feel bad though, as similar riots after sporting events, usually after a championship win instead of a loss, have happened in several cities in recent years, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, New York, Detroit, Montreal and Boston.
And no sport seems to be able to escape such unfortunate riots, as it has happened not only in hockey, but football, baseball, basketball and soccer.
The bad thing is that there is usually only a small number of people involved in the riots, but they do a tremendous amount of damage.
It is difficult to prevent such riots from occurring, but prohibiting alcohol sales on a night a championship can be clinched, issuing a citywide curfew, breaking up loitering crowds into manageable numbers and a large police presence with strict enforcement of the law could help.
— Kenneth L. Zimmerman, Huntington Beach, Calif.
