NHL playoffs are a pretty intense time. However, that does not by any means excuse the classless behavior by some Bruins “fans”. I use the word fans loosely because the Bruins have some of the best fans and this is not a reflection on their fan base.
After last night’s Bruins-Canadiens game, these fans sent out some very hateful and ignorant tweets to Montreal’s defenseman P.K. Subban. Subban scored two goals in last night’s double overtime victory, including the winning goal. That is when the racist tweets started being sent out. This is especially sad that it was just days ago the audio tapes were leaked showing disgraced Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling engaging in his own racist rant.
Bruins president Cam Neely heard about what these fans were doing and immediately issued a statement denouncing their horrific actions. “The racist, classless views expressed by an ignorant group of individuals following Thursday’s game via digital media are in no way a reflection of anyone associated with the Bruins organization,” Neely said.
Boston head coach Claude Julien issued similar sentiments in his own statement. “I share the thoughts of Cam and our organization,” coach Claude Julien said Friday. “It’s poor judgment, poor taste and we don’t associate ourselves with people like that. People who think that way are not what we call our fans. They may think they are, but we certainly don’t support that at all. There are a lot of good fans out there, and that’s the sad part about it. Your good fans get tarnished because of a couple of comments like that from people who don’t belong in that same group,” he said.
It is sad to see that racism is still alive and well. However, sports are always played a pivotal role in breaking the color barrier. Hopefully, by the Bruins taking a stand against these comments, it will show others that it is not cool to hurt others and there is no place for it in sports. More importantly, there is no place for it in society.
