The Responsibility to Boo

Last weekend, the Carolina Hurricanes played back-to-back games against the Flyers and the Sharks. Carolina, which had 97 points last season and beat both New Jersey and Eastern Conference top seed Boston in consecutive seven-game series, on the road both times, brought back the young core of that team with good, economical contracts and also revamped a shaky defense and got bigger and tougher in the offseason.

After 13 games, Carolina has 2 wins. 7 points. A league-worst 50 goals allowed, against just 28 for. The Hurricanes were outscored 11-2 by Philly and San Jose on Saturday and Sunday, extending a losing streak to 9 (count 'em) games and prompting the GM to publicly talk about making changes so early into the season that the team has absolutely no leverage but is in full-on panic mode.

Through it all, though, the home fans have been, well, great. Huh. They keep coming to the games and filling seats. They cheer when the team is down. They don't even seem to mind that Carolina has taken the most penalties in the NHL, an amazing 22 minutes per game on average, which means the Hurricanes are theoretically short-handed for one third, a whole fucking period, of the game. And then some.

Well people, I hate to tell you: good fans boo when their team plays like a bunch of retards.

Some examples of poor decisions that would not be tolerated by fans with a little more anger: Carolina spends a lot of time when it rarely gets a powerplay stuck in its own zone. Boos rain down like Don Cherry's spittle in other arenas when the home team, with 5 skaters, is being pushed around by a team with only 4. If the Canes actually manage to get into the opponent's zone with the advantage, they almost always pass the puck back and forth at the blueline or try to cycle behind the net, which is like saying, "I don't want this scoring chance, you have it!" And that's pretty much the whole plan; Carolina sometimes doesn't even get 1 shot on net in a 2 minute powerplay.

There are many other problems, too. Star goalie Cam Ward has completely forgotten how to move laterally, surrendering at least 5 goals that I can remember this season to opponents who lobbed a shot at his side from the goal line. That's so weak, it's boo-worthy. Ward has also begun diving on his face when a shooter goes glove side on a breakaway -- why? How does that cut off the net? Boo! Line changes have been glacially slow; passes are all behind the targets; Carolina insists on dumping the puck in even with manpower; no one is intentionally blocking shots; and every goddamn offensive and defensive movement is to the back of the net -- I have had it up to here with the misbegotten idea, only still in favor in Carolina, by the way -- that you can run plays from behind a net. You can't. You can get bottled-up back there, since it's the smallest area on the ice, though, and the other team can take the puck away from you. Figure it out! No matter the circumstances, the Hurricanes are too deep whenever there's a puck around the net; they're also like tee ball kids when it comes to pursuit -- everyone, a forward, a defenseman, just chases the puck together, in a big, clumsy pack. What's the point?

Hurricanes players are quite frank in their assessments of the play so far. They admit they have sucked. But they replay the same game again the next night; Saturday's and Sunday's games were almost identical numbnuts festivals from my perspective.

When an athlete tries to do a job and not only fails, but miserably so, and in the process aids in his own failure to the extent that almost any other behavior would be preferable to what he's doing, it's time to boo.