Well said.
This idea that teams need to “earn” a championship by sucking for years is utterly absurd and created entirely in the minds of bitter opposing fans. The Kings sucking for 40 years until a championship is not some codified rule.
Vegas, the players, have earned every inch of ice out there. They’ve handily beaten every western team thrown in front of them. What are they supposed to do? Throw games because they’re an expansion team and “expansion teams are supposed to suck”? Listen to yourselves.
Every good team brings its share of obnoxious bandwagoners, including Vegas, including LA, including everyone.
Life ain’t fair. Sometimes people win the lottery. Sometimes people struggle for decades until they retire. Likening the Vegas fanbase to “trailer trash,” frankly, is much more obnoxious than anything the Vegas fanbase has done or said. All I’ve seen from the local fanbase in Vegas is pure wonder and joy at what the Knights have accomplished, how they’ve immediately immersed themselves in the community, and how hungry we all were for a franchise to call our own.
I’ve been following this game for 30 years. I live, love and breathe Kings hockey. I cheered for them OVER Vegas in round one. But I’ll be damned if I don’t admit that the Knights haven’t been a beautiful addition to the city, and one of the most astounding sports stories I’ve ever seen unfold.
Everything else, all the insults and dismissal from other fanbases, is pure sour grapes. And I don’t blame some fans for that. I understand that pain. I’m a Kings fan after all. I suffered with everyone else here up until 2012. I get it. But it’s a poor excuse to **** on Knights fans. They’re not breaking any rules. They’re just overjoyed with their team.
A new hockey fan should never be ostracized. We should all be fans of the game more than fans of a team. If not, pro sports are reduced to nothing more than vicarious mongoloid tribalism.
I'm not saying their fans are trailer trash, it is just a "new money" analogy and not a description of the citizens of Vegas which, obviously, you would take offense to.
I'm all for them having success since it is good for the game of hockey and the NHL, in particular. Winning the division was already enough success for a first year team insofar as galvanizing a fan base in a new market. Going on to win one and then two series was easily more than enough with a trip to the SCF being a huge deal. The Kings just making it in 1993 was a big deal for hockey in the area and the team had already been here for 25 years. The Kinghts don't even have to win the thing at this point as they are already a runaway freight train of success so I can hope for them to be swept while also not rooting against the sport itself.
I dislike several of the players on the team; however, nobody is saying they should throw games or lose just because they are an expansion team so maybe take a step back on that one. The fans of Vegas didn't choose to have their team win but that doesn't matter: I don't want them to be able to experience a Stanley Cup win in their first year of existence. I already said I'm being petty but that's perfectly fine because that's what being a sports fan is about when it comes to teams and fan bases you dislike. I don't want the Ducks to ever win another regular season game, let alone another Cup.
As far as I'm concerned, Vegas is a rival in our division and the fans that have represented them in the games at Staples this year have generally sucked. I know they weren't elected to represent the Knight's entire fan base and are more likely an exception to the rule; however, they represent what I've experienced of the Vegas fan base and I don't want those people to be happy. Ever.
I am more of a Kings fan than an NHL fan, hence the majority of my posts being on this board and not the main board or all over other team's pages. I have zero connection to the citizens of Las Vegas so, while I hope this can lead to more youth hockey involvement etc..., it doesn't warm my heart for them to be in the SCFs. While I've already made the point that rooting against Vegas once the playoffs started does not equate to rooting against the sport, I have no issue with being labeled a mongoloid tribalist because I'd rather see a tortured fan base win a Cup v. one in its infancy. I don't know anyone in DC/Virginia or Winnipeg, but I know what it is like to religiously follow a team for almost your entire life while never winning it all or even coming close more than once. I can relate to that while Vegas is a much wilder Colorado Avalanche story at this point; that shit didn't sit well with me 20+ years ago and that hasn't changed.
You are right in the thick of the Cup madness and it is great for your hometown on many levels. I was in Vegas during Route 91, had some unforgettable experiences in the immediate aftermath and know people that were actually in attendance. The way the Knights have further galvanized your community following the tragedy is fantastic. Everything that is happening is great for hockey since it is making new fans and, really, nobody is going to stop watching if they win the entire thing. At the end of the day though, being bitter and putting sour grapes on the menu as a fan of a team that isn't competing for a Cup isn't some strange occurrence and should not be ostracized either. If it was SJ or Anaheim playing for the Cup, I'd want them to be swept as well with the worst part about Anaheim winning in 2007 was the fact the Kings never had and it only took Anaheim like 12-13 seasons. Excuse me if I don't want to see the team that knocked my team out of the playoffs, a new division rival at that, win the Cup in its first season so the fans of this division rival can hold that over our heads until the time they are in their 50th season and we can see if they won another one in that time span to match the Kings.
I'll be dead by that time. Until I'm dead, however, I'd like the Kings total Cup number to increase while every other team in the division--along with others--stays right where it is at with this being predicated mainly on my interactions with those team's respective fan bases. Is that petty? Sure is! This isn't politics though where I should see both sides of an issue instead of just being reactionary: this is sports fandom and part of what makes it fun.
