We Americans live in a strange culture. Despite the fact we all know that not every person will get ahead and not everyone will win everything, we do our best to make sure that version of reality is as skewed as possible, especially at a young age. No one fails, no scores are kept, and everyone gets a trophy. My brother's girlfriend Beth teaches young kids and told me over Thanksgiving break that she is not allowed to give her students a grade lower than a 50 or fail them. Even if all they write for an assignment is "Hey teach, you suck," they still can't get lower than half credit and they will pass that class. It seems every youth league either declares every game a tie or just simply doesn't keep score. Well you know what folks, these kids are going to fail at something sometime in their lives. Their high school team won't make it to the championship game, that girl they like won't want to date them, and they will not get that job they want (anyone wanna tell me what that's like? I have no idea). It is definitely better to have them understand this aspect of life early so they can get used to it and learn how to cope with defeat when they get older. Or not.
See, I thought this nonsense was limited to children and that the adults in this country were able to handle disappointment themselves. I was wrong. After an embarrassing 7-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, a loss that in the dying seconds of a game in which the away team won the crowd was in a frenzy, the Columbus Blue Jackets management threw a hissy fit and instituted a dress code for fans of opposing teams who come to see the games. Apparently, the real travesty here was Penguins fans riding the Zamboni but you have to think they just didn't want their opponents to be cheered, especially after an embarrassing loss. The Blue Jackets have some of the worst attendance numbers in the league, they should just be happy people showed up and not worry that half were there to see the greatest player in the world. Worry about trying to find a center to play with Rick Nash, something they haven't come close to doing yet.
This scenario reminds me a lot of the New England Patriots during their (almost) perfect season a few years ago. So many teams complained about the Pats running up the score on them. Well, if you really don't want them to score, stop them. Quit your bitching, man up to your mistakes, and make sure it doesn't happen again. The Titans did then and the Blue Jackets should now. So here's an idea, instead of wasting their breath trying to keep opposing fans from cheering on their teams, something they have every right to do once they purchase their ticket, try putting a team together that won't lose such an embarrassing game on home ice. Defenses could have shut their mouths and put their energy into stopping Brady and Co., Blue Jackets management should do the same thing here.
So, to the Blue Jackets, get over yourselves and let the fans have their fun. They paid for the over priced tickets and not letting fans (most of which are kids anyway) ride the zamboni because of the sweater they are wearing only teaches them things that are different are bad and you should always get your way.
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