Comments on: Safety is Our Primary Concern

By: Dan Saccardi

Dan Saccardi — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:03:20 +0000

To Karl Y, I just read your comment and let me say that i am a huge Caps fan and i hadn’t been to the bathroom all game. I thought it was a good time to go because it was a faceoff with only 15 seconds left on the power play and i thought we would clear the puck.

By: Karl Y

Karl Y — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:07:13 +0000

Ted, To I survived Wachovia…We here in DC don’t personally attack the opposing fans…that is a safety issue and we are not as “low” as other teams’ fans. We have friends who went to Philly for a for a football game and the team they supported won. There were 8 guys in the group, they went in to a bar, one guy wearing the opposing jersey, the other seven in regular clothes and they were asked to leave by the bar tender. They said they wanted a drink then they’d go. The bar tender told them to turn the jersey inside out. The guy said no. They called in management and management said, they would have to remove the jersey or leave, it was for their safety. Philly doesn’t like to lose.
We in DC are not Philly. We were go to Clydes after every game, win or lose and the opposing fans are arrogant, loud, “in your face” types. It is like they know they can walk into DC and not be messed with. That is good that they can be comfortable and safe. Put the shoe on the other foot and you have fans writing, I survived Wachovia. No one has ever said..”I survived DC” and we should be proud of that. Besides, I didn’t throw any thing on the ice, but how many people did it hurt physically? Was a couple of rock the red towels, and plastic beer bottles that harmful? Try taking your kid to the restroom during intermission and when a Caps fan calls to a group of Flyer fans and says Flyers Suck and the one of the girls in the group turns around and flips that guy the bird and says..”F*** YOU!” repeatedly. That shows real class. I was taken aback the father of the kid was upset and he wasn’t the one who said anything. I said to the dad, “Now thats Class.” his reply was, “Well that’s Philly for you”. We here in DC are not like that and never will, if you saw poor officiating in Philly in game seven and we had won, our fans over there would be in hospitals not bars enjoying themselves.

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:50:16 +0000

Ted: I know you mean well. But to my mind, the Caps are far too obsequious as an organization and get taken advantage of for it. No way you should be apologizing to a bunch like Philadelphia unless and until I get my apology for having beer thrown on me and spat on when I went up there to root for the Caps. And there are hundreds of Caps fans like me who are waiting for their apologies too. You and this Caps organization really needs to toughen up.

By: Grant

Grant — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:35:37 +0000

It is unacceptable throw stuff on the ice ever. No matter what. Period. The end.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:44:05 +0000

Hey Ted,
First of all, I want to say thank you for all that you do. I love this game and this organization. I have been a Caps fan since I started watching Hockey in the late 70′s. I became an STH this year and have already ordered for next year. There is no other sport that even compares to this one and I believe that Washington is the new Hockey Town USA. Now, for my thoughts. I have seen many occasion when a player has made a huge mental error and has been penalized and/or fined suspended etc;. I find it extremely odd though, that referees are not held accountable for their arbitrary actions. I am very annoyed that the NHL came out right away with the comment that the check made on Morrison that subsequently hit Huet was a clean check on the part of the Flyers player. It seems to me that the NHL had a hunch that they were going to hear some flack about this from everyone. We were robbed and we played clean hockey and out played the Flyers. It really does not seem fair. I have spent a lot of money following this sport and I know that you have too. But, the bottom line is that the officiating should not be so Arbitrary. Something must be done and Mr. Bettman should step up to the plate on this issue. At the very least, the refs should have gone upstairs with a review. I would have been satisfied with at least that. Anyway, I have gotten this off of my chest and maybe someone will hear us and finally do something. Regardless, I think that the boys did an awesome job. I am truly happy to be a Caps fan and I look forward to next year. Come on October!!!
Thanks for listening!

By: Roger Mattioli

Roger Mattioli — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:20:23 +0000

I agree with Chris Hersl. I actually had an usher come tell me to sit down when I was standing up IN THE LAST ROW of the 200 section. There was nobody behind me (the luxury boxes are elevated). When I pointed out to the usher that EVERYBODY in the 100 section was standing, and that I was cheering — well, let’s just say, he wasn’t impressed. Whatever. Ted, you’re a class act for issuing this statement and apology. Can’t wait for next year. The Flyers will get theirs. They are already complaining about how the refs jobbed them in Game 1. Let’s Go Caps!

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:34:29 +0000

Ted,

If it is true that the person who posted on the message boards boasting that they threw the bottle that hit Jeff Carter is in fact an STH they should lose their STH privileges and never be allowed inside Verizon Center again.

I don’t condone what the ‘fans’ did. I didn’t throw anything except a few harsh words directed at the officials. I hope the few idiots that caused a problem don’t ruin the experience for the rest of us.

By: RobMonroe

RobMonroe — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:44:12 +0000

Thanks for sending apologies to Philly, Ted. There is absolutely no excuse. There should never be a comment like “it would have been worse in…” because DC is not any place else. Any true hockey fans know that this is disrespectful to both teams, and ownership. Who knows when they throw a bottle that it is going to hit their target? It could very well have been Alex that caught a skate on a coin.

By: Capital Spirit

Capital Spirit — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:00:43 +0000

If you’re that worried about debris on the ice, you might want to tell the Dunkin Donuts at Verizon Center to stand down next time Don Koharski is the ref. The guy might end up getting pelted with Boston Kremes next time he sets a skate on the ice at the Phone Booth.

I’m jesting, of course: please keep that Dunkin open. (Love their coffee.) But when the home team loses an overtime game 7, to a team the fans hate, and with controversial officiating thrown in for good measure, there are going to be a few fans who take their anger too far.

I hope that justice is done to those individuals, and ONLY to those individuals. Punishing every fan for the misbehavior of a few–misbehavior done in the heat of intense negative emotion–will take some of the joy out of future games for the vast majority of sincere, good-spirited fans.

By all means, punish the hooligans to the fullest extent of the law. But please, I entreat, don’t wreck it for the thousands of good-faith fans who took the loss as best they could, and who did not resort to violence.

By: Karl Y

Karl Y — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:12:14 +0000

One more note…Ted, now that you have Caps fans spending gobs of money, wouldn’t you want them to stay with hockey? This poor officiating can leave a bad taste in a possible season ticket holders’ mouth, and how about the fan who that was the first time seeing the game and cheering for the Caps and THEY see the poor officiating. They will never watch another game if it looks fixed. I work at a Title 1 School in Maryland and I have made a big impact on the majority of the teaching staff and a lot of the students in all three middle school grades. Kids I didn’t even know(African Americans) were walking up to me the next day and telling me they watched a hockey game for the first time and thought the caps were robbed and NHL refs suck. You want to talk about speechless. What do you say to someone who reaches out to a culture they are not accustomed to and see it for what it was. So much for bringing in ticket sales from the TV viewers who would’ve seen a great game and a great team advance, seen the passion of the DC fans, thought about purchasing tickets to the Verizon Center, seeing how easy it was to get to the game and realizing they would probably enjoy going to a Wizards game or even a Mystics game, and “look at all the cool stuff in the stores…” Well Ted, the officiating cost you some major coin and you don’t even realize it. We as fans did our job, we came, we spent, we cheered, we spent some more and we spread the word of a great hockey team, we covered our work area with caps memorabilia, we stuck up for the team when they were down and we talked them up when they were rolling. Even today, my administrator, (Af. Am. female) came to my room and said, “horrible calls, great game, next year right?” Now come on Ted, how much more can we endure? Those people who were so put off about the trash on the ice, though I don’t agree with doing that, I understand it, how much did those people spend in time, travel, money for tickets, money for merchandise, putting up with out of town fans laughing at us in our local bars when we lose and get drunk and try to start stuff when we win? If you DON’T FEEL like throwing something maybe you should go back to your golf show on TV and leave hockey to the real fans with passion. Again I didn’t throw anything but I thought about it.