Not cool booing boys in blue

The biggest controversy in Penticton over this past weekend came on the ice. Fans of the Penticton Vees booed their own team after a dismal performance on the power play.

This was the South Okanagan Events Centre, not Yankee Stadium. It was the loudest booing at the SOEC since Mayor Andrew Jakubeit dropped the puck at the Young Stars Classic.

Vees’ coach Fred Harbinson, usually a booster for his fans, was visibly shaken after the game — a 4-2 loss to Nanaimo.

“I’m very disappointed in our fans booing 16 to 20-year-olds when we have five guys out of the lineup,” Harbinson told The Penticton Herald, the only media outlet that stuck around after the game for any extended period of time.

“In 10 years in this building, it’s only the 38th time that we’ve lost on home ice and they want to sit there and boo our kids,” he continued.

With Harbinson’s comments came a tidal wave of comments on social media. In support of the boo birds, consider:

• Free speech is alive and well in Penticton.

• Is a paid customer allowed to voice their opinion, provided it’s not done in a threatening manner? Booing is sometimes a good option because it doesn’t involve profanity.

• Whether we like it or not, everybody’s a critic. Every news article we publish, every movie that’s produced, every song that hits the radio ... people will have an opinion and sadly it’s not always positive. TripAdvisor has become one of the most popular internet sites because people want to bitch when they don’t get a good night’s sleep at a hotel.

We agree with Harbinson, although he may have gone a bit over the top suggesting ticket prices may have to rise.

Fans were disappointed with the team’s performance on the power play. It’s not as though a player cheap-shotted an opponent or made an obscene hand gesture.

They’re youngsters and they make mistakes. Everyone’s entitled to have a bad game. This came on the same night when the team collected hundreds of teddy bears and diapers for families in need in the South Okanagan.

Let’s use Chicago Cubs fans as an example. Even though they finally broke one of the longest jinxes in sports history, there were years when the Cubs were awful. A tradition at Wrigley Field is that you always remain positive. Criticizing the Cubs might get you beaten up.

It doesn’t help the reputation of a sports city when their fans are seen as critical.

Players in the BCHL junior league are not pros, they’re not paid, and, unlike the professionals, juniors do give a solid effort every night because they want to advance their careers to the next level.

Booing young men really isn’t cool. Penticton fans can make up for it when the Vees play their next home game on Jan. 5 by greeting the team with a standing ovation when they come out for warm-ups. —James Miller

Valley editor