A story from the game last night...

[Krynn]

Im glad ur guy's are safe.no one should have to go thrw that

[Beninho]

Originally Posted by JT96912

The fans are usually great in Nashville. Never had this happen in the past. Probably one crazy fan in a million. It sucks that I will be forever aware from here on out and be on my guard because of this guy though.

Ya that sucks, I think if you’re going to away games it’s good to just be vigelent and know that if you’re wearing a Flames jersey that some drunk person could view you as a target. Sucks but this is the world we live in. I’m glad nothing violent happened in front of your wife and son

[JT96912]

Originally Posted by stazzy33

Man, that sucks that happened to you JT96912.

I would imagine this was one rotten apple out of the whole batch. I was at the Nashville-Calgary game on Oct 24 this season and I had an amazing, away fan, experiences at Bridgestone arena. Most people that we talked to were very friendly and were just excited to talk about how well the Preds did last season. They wanted to talk about hockey and their City to someone from out of town as the sport is pretty new in to most people in Tennessee. The in-arena stuff is pretty funny and even the "you suck" chant got a laugh out of everyone I was with (my parents and gf all decked out in Flames gear). Even though the game ended in a Flames SO win most of the Preds fans we saw after the game came up to give us high fives or say it was a really good game. We went out after the game on Broadway and ran into a bunch of other Flames fans in jerseys and had a few drinks and there we had no issues partying the rest of the night. Just wanted to show a perspective from the other side of things.

I would highly recommend going to Nashville for a game. The atmosphere is a blast and the City is really cool.

Looks like you took that pic on the third story of Tootsies. Looks like a great time! I really do love Nashville! I was just a little traumatized by the fact this encounter was with my family present. Just thought I'd share you can never tell where and when the crazy in people will come out nowadays. By no means is this a negative post about Nashville as a city.

[TheScorpion]

Every city has its crazies. I've seen a few fights outside the Saddledome. Not sure I'd be quick to paint any fanbase with a wide brush based off of one incident.

That being said, glad to hear that you managed to get out of that situation, OP. That could've turned out unfavourably for sure.

[JJFlash]

A little surprised that happened in Nashville of all places but it only takes one a-hole to taint an experience. As a Flames fan living in Edmonton I have seen it all. I remember taking my 5 year old daughter to her first hockey game which happened to be a Flames v Oilers game. In support of the Flames we wore our Flames Roots Jackets.

There was some friendly banter from some fans at the beginning but as the night wore on that turned into some rude comments aimed at my daughter....classy. You really can't win in a situation like that whether you try and take the high road or escalate the situation. Fifteen years later, my daughter still loves the Flames and hates the Oilers so the planets are back in alignment.

[GoJetsGo]

Originally Posted by Beninho

That’s fair, I’m sure 99% of the fans that go to their games aren’t looking to start trouble. I just think that type of atmosphere could incite that 1% of people do something stupid. Idk, maybe I’m talking out of my ass, but everytime I watch the Flames play in Nashville I always think that it must suck being an away fan in that arena.

Yea you're not making any sense. You could say the exact same thing about *any* event that has 10,000+ people and Alcohol. Watching an Nashville game on TV and jumping to that conclusion is unfair and silly.

[GoJetsGo]

Originally Posted by JT96912

Sounds like fun. I love doing accents! I guess the problem for me would be to calm down and think of it in the heat of the moment. When I get angry I guess my mind isn't thinking like that. I did walk away from him once. You're right though, I need to calm down and think of methods like this. Better for everyone and sets a more intelligent example for my son.

To be fair if I had family present and they looked intimidated I would have probably acted the same way you did. My comic relief was limited to times alone or out with buddies for sure.

[Sandman]

I attended a Flames game in Edmonton around 1998-1999, when the team really sucked. There was 3 of us all wearing Flames jerseys-I figured there would be a big portion of the crowd cheering for Calgary, but there was only a handful of red in the building-literally. At the first intermission we were standing in line at the concession, and Oiler fans were walking by threatening us, and calling us names that I can’t repeat on this forum-even in front of their children. I was shocked, as I had attended many Battle of Alberta games at the Dome and I had never seen the same behaviour at the Dome from our fans.
In the third, the Flames were down 7-2 or something, and Andrei Nazarov decided to drop the gloves and pound an Oiler into the ground. I stood up to cheer, and the whole section to the left of me (I don’t know how many hundreds of people) stood up and started screaming at me, and threatening my life if they saw me in the parking lot. With 10 minutes left in the game, we had to zip up our jackets and slip out. I was amazed at the kind of d-baggery I witnessed that night.

[AustinL_NHL]

Well many people do bump chests after a big win so you got that part down!

In all seriousness though, sounds like a s***** situation for your family to have to deal with. Glad everyone was safe in the end!

[dino7c]

That sucks...some people need to realize it's a ####ing game.

[CaptainCrunch]

I am glad that nothing happened that was too overtly bad.

Usually I find that the drunk, mouthy overly threatening people aren't much of a problem.

1) They're all bluster and they back completely down when confronted.
2) Even if they fight, they're god awful terrible at it, and they embarrass themselves in front of hundreds of people.

Its usually those quiet types that jump in to defend their friends that you have to worry about, or the person that comes out of nowhere.

I still remember when I was a teenager and my cousin came to town, and I took him to a Flames game because he was a "Superfan". Anyways he was putting the beer away like no tomorrow, and becoming mouthy, like stupid mouthy, and finally after hearing enough F-Bombs out of him, I basically told him that we were leaving.

So on the way out, he decided to up the anti, and started yelling at a bunch of fans of the other team (Canucks). Then when they start coming towards us, he turns to me and has the audacity to turn to me and grin and say "I'm glad you've got my back" cause he was a little turd and back then I was the um big turd.

Anyways, I'm looking at these Canucks fans and they're looking at me and him and starting to ramp up, and I say loudly "I've got this"

And then I turned to my cousin and told him to shut the F up, or I'd beat him to death myself.

That satisfied the Canuck fans, and the other good news is I never had to take my idiot cousin to another game.

What's the moral of the story? Faithful readers. Out of a crowd of 18,000 fans at a sporting event, there are maybe 25 jerks. If you're friends with one of them, its your job to beat him down if he gets out of line.

Its your civic duty.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by calgarywinning

Would be nice for the NHL app to incorporate an Arena map and allow patrons to summon security if they feel threatened like this. Or even in app texting to local security that can investigate the threat a bit quicker. Seems like the incident just kept going and escalating for too long a period. Normally I would head right to security. Was there a lack thereof present?

FWIW, they have this at the Panthers games. You text "RED" to a number and security comes rushing to wherever you are.

Not that it ever comes up. Panthers fans are notoriously relaxed. It's usually a-hole fans from visiting teams that make a scene.

[tvp2003]

Can’t help but notice the irony considering (a) the OP is actually American, and (b) there are a half dozen Canadians on the Nashville roster (including some of their best players). Heck, one of their owners is a Calgarian.

PS thanks to the OP for supporting the team — I’d be curious why the Flames?

[DuffMan]

Sporting events aside, a couple of years ago,some guy selling bus tours in Hollywood told me to vote for someone when I declined his bus tour. I asked who it was and he said some name, and added “a conservative”, told him I’m from Canada but wouldn’t vote for a conservative even if I could.
He says, “Canada? Where no one works and every one gets free school and healthcare”.
We got into an argument after that, but point being, some of them have weird ideas about us.

[bubbsy]

That Sucks, especially your kid having to experience such idiocy.

How'd you guys become flames fans btw?

[JT96912]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

That Sucks, especially your kid having to experience such idiocy.

How'd you guys become flames fans btw?

Hockey night in Canada, Don Cherry and CBC. I started playing as a kid in the 70s. When the 80s rolled around I was a teenager with a brand new shiny 13" color TV for my bedroom. CBC was a local channel, on channel 4 out of 13 back then. The driveway for our house was 5 miles to the Cornwall border crossing, so we lived literally right on the border.

Staying up to watch the BOA games and Flames/Canucks games as a kid, I Loved the Flames jerseys. Then 89 happened and I was forever a fan. Everyone around me was a Habs fan, so that cup was extra special. That whole playoffs was amazing, from Vancouver to Montreal. What a time to be a Flames fan!!

[Locke]

As a Canadian I've been called a lot of things. A 'Fascist' is not one of those things.

I think if someone were to call me a Fascist due solely to me being Canadian I would be inclined to disregard anything else that individual had to say on the grounds of straight-up insanity.

[oldschoolcalgary]

i've heard Canadians called "communists" before but "fascists" is a new one...

anyways, sorry to hear that put a damper on your night... there are bad fans in all cities, most limit it to a few drunken insults and that's that...

Nashville, from all other accounts is a great city and has a heckuva hockey fanbase... would love to check out a game there one day

[vanisleflamesfan]

I was on the subway in NY once coming back from a Flames/ Rangers game and a bunch of teenage morons started in on me. I didn't respond until one of them said "yeah and we saved your Canadian asses in WW2". At that point I politely suggested that he pick up a history book and several other people on the train jumped in to tell them to just shut up.

[IGGYFORMVP]

If that bugs you never wear a Flames jersey to Edmonton. I do it for fun, but you will definitely have that same experience all night long. I have heard some really really inventive cuss words though! I must say it is hard to take people in sweatpants and good shoes seriously.