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Welcome to Whine Country.
After games two and three of the series between the Sharks and the Kings BOTH ended due to controversial penalties that resulted in 5-on-3s, sizable portions of the fanbases for both teams decided that the best course of action available to them was to whine about the officiating on the Internet. This whining went on vociferously and at length after each of the past two games, and has served as a great example of the worst each fanbase has to offer, as well as how similar the fans of these two teams really are.
Some of the whining I witnessed from Kings fans after game three was SO similar to the complaining from Sharks fans after game two that it gave me an idea for a little game: I've gathered some of the best whines I could find from articles and comments and posted them below, with team and player names removed. I invite you to go through them all and write down which team you think the whine-author supports.
I'll reveal the answers at the end, and you can see how many you got right.
#1
uhhhh .... terrible call.[...] another ref trying to be the center of attention while the rest of the mere mortals actually play the game
#2
but both calls were so bad that a WWE referee wouldn't have been that bad. Face it had the teams been reveresed in those offences there would have been no calls. The refereeing is so blatently biased that I refuse to watch hockey any more for that fact. Since Bettman and the first lockout, this has ceased to be a "Sport" where the best team wins, and has become a business to try and crack the US sports world....[...] I am not saying that the calls against [TEAM] aren't penalties.....more often than not, it goes uncalled for the [OTHER TEAM] which leads to frustration and more penalties. Referees are supposed to be fair and impartial and you just can't get that when they are paid by a company trying to promote the game
#3
Just wondering why [TEAM] always seems to gets loads of PP opportunities in the playoffs??
#4
Save the game we love.
Bitch slap the Ref in your neighborhood
#5
Well that game was given away by the refs. Rubbish rubbish call
#6
i hope serious questions get asked about the state of NHL officiating. the [TEAM] got absolutely raped by bad calls [...] it’s not right, it’s not good for hockey, and it just leaves a bad taste all around.
#7
the stupid thing is this kind of officiating KILLS this sport. All you want is for your team to be able to compete. [...] the officials were a constant influence on the flow. Not the reason they lost, but if you seriously think it wasn’t a MAJOR factor… it just sucks the life out of me. Not my team losing, but just the consistently bad officiating league wide this year. So much so I could easily walk away from watching hockey and never return.
#8
The [TEAM] just got ass-raped on national television. The call on [PLAYER] I don’t like but can marginally live with, even though that’s a non-call in most of the 1000 or so playoff games I’ve watched in my life. The [PLAYER] penalty was brutal beyond words.
#9
I may never watch NHL hockey again because it’s not a sport anymore when the players dont get to decide who wins. Powerplays in the playoffs, with teams with good 25% powerplays, are each worth 1/4 a goal. If the referees give one team 4 more powerplays per game, that’s giving them a goal a game, which will a series for any team because none of the teams in the playoffs are more than a goal per game better than each other.
I love this game but how am I supposed to be a fan and root for a team when the team has no control over what happens?
You read all about the scandals in european soccer, the refs paid off, stuff like that, and I can’t be so naive anymore to think that’s not happening in the NHL after watching something so obvious.
totes bs call on that and many others
#11
the officiating was garbage. It was bush league, amateurish and it was at its worst in the biggest of moments.
#12
Pure BS, and I’m done with the NHL, what I have seen from the officiating in 2011 and 2013 is just horse bleep.
I have just watched my last NHL game.
WWE is always a good option, at least they are honest when they call it "Sports Entertainment".
NHL should refer to itself as "sometimes sports, sometimes sports entertainment"
#13
we have an issue and its not a new one and its league wide , There is no other major sport in north america and maybe the world that has every night a game is played the officiating is questioned as much as it is . The refs are givin the ability to make calls by there descression and not by what is a penalty or not . The only way to solve this issue call every single damn thing and if it takes gmaes of non stop PPs well so be it cause it wont last long . The NHL right now and has been a billion dollar bush league for far to long and hey if people in the US knew what was a penalty or not because the horrendous officiating maybe they might start tuning and going to games and the NHL will surpass the ever exciting Nascar where guys turn left for 3-4 hrs in the ratings
#14
the league governors recognize that having joke officiating makes their league look amateurish, and contributes to making serious sports fans ignore it down south...and the [TEAM] aren't the only ones getting the shaft by these clowns. Our players and coaches (and fans) wouldn't be ourtraged if there wasn't a constant source producing that outrage. We need professional officials, get rid of the idiot ones..we don't need different players to try to appease them.
#15
Some of those refs like [NAME] are really despicable, total scumbags. They totally abuse their authority and show bias to whoever team or players they dislike. Personal vendetta's, grudges, acting arbitrarily, vindictive behavior... all the worst qualities a ref can have, they have. And they get away with it. Zero accountability.
Do you have all your answers ready? Do you think you know which whiny fans said which whiny things? Click below for the REAL answers!
I hope you had as much fun reading those comments as I did, and I hope I've made my point about which fans are the TRUE whining, crying, pants-wetting babies.
Megalodon's 5 Kias to the Game, brought to you by Kia*
* = hopefully, someday
1. Joe Thornton has been playing some of the best playoff hockey of his career, especially in game three when he brutally murdered Mike Richards and dumped his body into the Bay. He'll need to continue to be a dominant force on both sides of the puck to keep the LA forwards in check.
2. Logan Couture had an extra day off to heal after his leg injury, so hopefully he'll be close to 100%. The Kings would have to be fools not to be targeting him for some extra physical play, so Logan has to be ready for it.
3. Face-offs.
4. The Sharks need to be comfortable when they arrive at the arena for the game, so it would be smart if they all drove to the game in reliable, high-quality Kia automobiles.
5. Remember back in 2011 when Benn Ferriero came into the lineup against the Red Wings and scored a key goal? It would be nice to see something like that from one of the random chuckle-heads the Sharks throw on to the fourth line.
Prediction: The Kings once again learn that you can't let the other team out-shoot you by 20 and hope to steal wins. Sharks win 4-1.
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