A couple days ago a video appeared showing two men being swarmed and beaten by a crowd of people in Montreal. Varying reports have come in since, some saying the two men were near death, others like that linked saying the men suffered cuts and bruises and were able to avoid hospitalization. Of course wanting to avoid hospitalization may speak to the two men's own guilt in the matter, with differing reports saying that racial taunts may have incited the violent attack. In reality, there's no place for either behaviour.
Then, after last night's Montreal Canadiens win to advance in the playoffs, the fans decided to honour the win and celebrate the pride in their home team in their own way, by looting stores and burning police cars in their home town. I have never understood the reasoning behind rioting over a sporting event. We get it, you're excited that your team won, but why trash the store of a fellow citizen who him or herself is likely a fan of the same damned team. Why endanger the lives of police officers who, were they not out watching over your dumb asses, would likely be home watching the game and celebrating as well.
Sure there are those cases where there are two clubs from the same city, New York, LA, Chicago have their sports with multiple teams, along with cities all over Europe, where they are even more accustomed to witnessing rioting like this.
I've been reminded that the same thing happened when the Oilers went deep in the playoffs a few years back. Not that the magnitude of the event in any way justifies this kind of behaviour, but this was a first round win. The Senators fans last year at least had it right, and the Flames fans tonight have a chance to show that this isn't a growing tradition that needs to be continued. If this kind of thing continues in Montreal, they won't deserve to have the first Canadian team to win the Cup since they won it in 1993.