NHL considers banning "Green Men"

[stevo_323 0]

If the NHL actually bans this just because other teams complain, that would be some kinda messed up. There are a lot of things that teams don't like opposing fans doing. Cheering for goals. Chanting the goalie's name. Making noise in general. If the grown men on your professional hockey team can't handle two idiots in green spandex during stoppages in play, maybe they should find a different job.

well said.

[dsjunior1388 81]

These guys arent the first, they won't be the last. They're just the most unique. They're not anywhere near as bad as the guy in Philly who attacked Tie Domi. If we're handing out bans for people who want to be on the jumbotron, we're going to have empty arenas in less than a year. Not everyone can be a stoic, stone faced fan, some people go to games to get crazy. As long as they're no hurting anyone else, (and they're not) the NHL is overreacting.

[nicholus.h 0]

Guys, we need to cover this up, and fast. Those NBA fans are laughing at us. "Oh no, you hockey folk got two guys in green suits being silly during stoppages? That's the worst!!"

They have more fans, doing worse, more frequently, DURING play. They are laughing at us. I won't stand for it. Not when they consider it a penalty when you touch a guy who's running with the ball.

[Stoop 1]

Unique? Or ubiquitous? People are hopping around in those suits everywhere.

[chippa13 1844]

Comical how fervently some are clinging to these guys, I can see the bumper stickers now.

"They can have my green men when they pry them from my cold, dead hands."

[Holy the Goalie 0]

Moral of the story: If you need a "Super Fan" to make the game entertaining for you then you are not a fan of hockey. The game is the entertainment.

The collective experience as a fan in the arena is a big part of why most people go see the sport live. If the game is all the entertainment you ned, then stay home and watch it on tv. Your complaint is akin to the guy that goes to see a rock concert, and then complains that the mosh pit is too distracting.

[Stoop 1]

I think the better analogy is the air horn. It's not illegal; it's "part of the experience;" it's used to annoy and rattle the opposing team; and draws a ton of attention to the particular fan. Free expression hooray!

And some arenas have banned them as too annoying and/or distracting -- to the delight of some fans and the horror of others.

[nicholus.h 0]

Comical how fervently some are clinging to these guys, I can see the bumper stickers now.

"They can have my green men when they pry them from my cold, dead hands."

Uh...nobody here is feverntly clinging to them. People just think it's stupid and pointless to ban these fans from doing what they're doing (being fans).

If you want to keep making fun of people who are huge fans of the green men, go ahead. Nobody here has come out in support of them aside from saying "it would be silly if they were banned" or "they used to be amusing," so if you want your insults to actually be directed at somebody who is listening/reading, you're going to have to go somewhere else.

[shotty 7]

the real moral of the story is to never attend a sporting event with chippa

[Jason Harris 31]

While I don't really have a problem with these guys, I still think most of you are looking at this from your perspective that you think these guys add fun to the games. However, we have to assume the NHL has received complaints. Whether those complaints are limited to Gary Bettman being the only one offended, we don't know, but we have to assume that not everybody likes them. It wouldn't shock me whether parents with younger children don't like their....attire.

If the NHL decides to enact a dress code to prevent copycats, we'd also have to assume that the rest of the in-game show will continue as is -- music, dropping envelopes with coupons, races on the ice. So it seems it would set up a similar argument to those of you who told chippa that if he doesn't like these guys showing up on the Jumbotron, he shouldn't watch; conversely, if you don't like a league that would ban a full body leotard, you don't have to patronize their business. If enough people agree with your stance, attendance would suffer and the league would rescind their ban; if less people agree with your stance, life goes on for the league.

[chippa13 1844]

The collective experience as a fan in the arena is a big part of why most people go see the sport live. If the game is all the entertainment you ned, then stay home and watch it on tv. Your complaint is akin to the guy that goes to see a rock concert, and then complains that the mosh pit is too distracting.

We all know hockey is a game better seen live than on tv. As for the rock concert, I'm there to see the band and hear the music, not to get elbowed in the face by some jackass caught up in the moment.

[Joshison 1]

Comical how fervently some are clinging to these guys, I can see the bumper stickers now.

"They can have my green men when they pry them from my cold, dead hands."

Pretty comical how angry you are over these guys, wanting them banned so badly.

[chippa13 1844]

the real moral of the story is to never attend a sporting event with chippa

No reason not to. I am no different than 99% of the folks in the arena who cheer on their team, enjoy a few beers, discuss the game with the folks I'm with, and not attempt to make a ridiculous spectacle of myself because I didn't get enough attention as a child.

Josh, I just don't see what purpose they serve. Was Vancouver not selling tickets before these clowns showed up?

[nicholus.h 0]

the real moral of the story is to never attend a sporting event with chippa

You win the thread.

While I don't really have a problem with these guys, I still think most of you are looking at this from your perspective that you think these guys add fun to the games. However, we have to assume the NHL has received complaints. Whether those complaints are limited to Gary Bettman being the only one offended, we don't know, but we have to assume that not everybody likes them. It wouldn't shock me whether parents with younger children don't like their....attire.

I don't think people believe they add fun to the game. I'd bet most of us just think it's a (relatively) benign way for these two fans to express themselves at a hockey game.

We all know hockey is a game better seen live than on tv. As for the rock concert, I'm there to see the band and hear the music, not to get elbowed in the face by some jackass caught up in the moment.

No, no, you're right. If I was interested in just purely watching the game, I would want to watch it either from hundreds of feet away so the players looked tiny or at ice level so I didn't have a good view of the whole ice. Also, if any close or questionable plays occurred, I'd want to crane my neck upwards to watch it on a screen made out of 1000 light bulbs, and not my big screen high-definition television. I also don't want the option to pause or rewind. That would be my ideal hockey-watching situation.

Hockey (and sport in general) is better seen live than on television because of the atmosphere. Whether you like or not, the green men are part of the atmosphere. Notice I said "part of," and not "100% of."

No reason not to. I am no different than 99% of the folks in the arena who cheer on their team, enjoy a few beers, discuss the game with the folks I'm with, and not attempt to make a ridiculous spectacle of myself because I didn't get enough attention as a child.

Josh, I just don't see what purpose they serve. Was Vancouver not selling tickets before these clowns showed up?

The purpose they serve is that they're fans at the game enjoying themselves.

Even if they didn't "serve a purpose," can you really argue that only things that serve a purpose shoudl be allowed at hockey games?

[TeamHonda401 54]

To put this in perspective, have any of yall ever seen the first row of fans behind the end zone at a Raiders game? The NFL pretty much allows fans to go to games in suits of armor, and the NHL "considers" banning two guys that wear spandex and dance all funky when a guy is in the box.

Why does any of this green man shit even matter. The guys are just crazy sports fans, and if the green men are the craziest hockey fans in north america (which is what they are being treated like)then the NHL should have a whole lot bigger issues to worry about.

(P.S. The Sedin's prolly paid them to draw attention away from their horrible play)

[chippa13 1844]

I think I've found the first person in the history of televised hockey who has tried to make seeing a game live sound like a miserable experience. The sights and sounds of the game in person, along with being surrounded by thousands of other fans is the atmosphere of a hockey game that makes it so much better live than on tv. The fact that you can see the whole ice, with the exception of a handful of on the glass seats, makes it better than on tv.

[Joshison 1]

I prefer watching any sporting event on my couch.

[nicholus.h 0]

I think I've found the first person in the history of televised hockey who has tried to make seeing a game live sound like a miserable experience. The sights and sounds of the game in person, along with being surrounded by thousands of other fans is the atmosphere of a hockey game that makes it so much better live than on tv.

I agree with you, I was making a point, and I was partially responding to this quote of yours:

And here I thought people bought tickets to a hockey game to go and watch a hockey game.

Maybe they go to experience a live hockey game and watching the game is only a part of that. The actual watching of the game is secondary, really. If given the choice of watching the game in the empty rink or watching it on TV, virtually everyone would take watching it on TV no questions asked.

Obviously, it's the fans that make or break the live hockey experience. Standing up with their arms in the air, almost refelxively, every time the puck hits the back of the net. Sighing with exasperation every time the good guys ring one off the iron. Why are the idiots in the green spandex not part of the live hockey atmosphere? Why ban them from doing this?

Because they distract from the game? Baloney. They aren't doing it during game time, and there's a million other things in sporting venues across the country that distract from the game just as much as these two do. Selling merchandise. Launching T-shirts from pneumatic guns. Pumping music during TV timeouts. Cheerleaders. Marching Bands. Pretending like the only things that belong at a live sporting events is sports is an absolute farce.

I know you mentioned earlier that they don't have to be doing stuff during game time to detract from the game, because they show them on the jumbotron or whatever. But it's not like they don't show other people on the jumbotron. Many of them dancing. Many of them silly. Just because they aren't wearing spandex, it's ok? And besides, let's be honest. If not seeing replays was really that big of a deal to you, you'd be watching the game at home.

The fact that you can see the whole ice, with the exception of a handful of on the glass seats, makes it better than on tv.

WUT? You can't be serious.

[wrangler 157]

I like the game better live, because I can choose where to look.

I'm tired of the TV cutting away from the gameplay for a close-up on one player, sometimes on the bench, so I can't see the action. It's also annoying when the cameraman is way behind the action, going left when the puck goes right, then vice versa, for several reps.

[chippa13 1844]

Maybe they go to experience a live hockey game and watching the game is only a part of that. The actual watching of the game is secondary, really. If given the choice of watching the game in the empty rink or watching it on TV, virtually everyone would take watching it on TV no questions asked.

Speaking as someone who was a fan of the AHL teams in Lowell, I can say that I have watched games in an (almost) empty rink more than a few times. Still enjoyable, even of friends and family days.

[Holy the Goalie 0]

We all know hockey is a game better seen live than on tv. As for the rock concert, I'm there to see the band and hear the music, not to get elbowed in the face by some jackass caught up in the moment.

No, if you really want to listen to the music, you would have the Super Audio CD playing on your hifi, without the distraction of the moshers next to you, and without the variance in sound system setup. You go to the event (whatever it is) to be a part of the experience. You enjoy at home for the purity of the experience.

[Chadd 916]

It's unfortunate that everything devolves to the point where courtesy and decorum are derided. Civility, courtesy and kindness have taken a back seat in almost every facet of life. Idiocracy, here we come.

[farhanshak 1]

just my two cents,

I would rather watch the green guys and hear commentary on it than listen to Glenn Healy complain.

[Larry54 243]

I'm watching the Canucks game at this moment. When Fisher was in the penalty box, the green men held a lifesize cutout of Carrie Underwood wearing a Canucks jersey against the glass. I love it!

[shotty 7]

...and as fisher looked over in that direction, the camera cut away and there was no further coverage or commentary on it.