Here Goes the Kings, There Comes a Bunch of Canucks Fans

The puck’s set to drop in an hour. Yet, here I am waiting for my ride, 20 miles south of Staples Center. So needless to say I really don’t know what to expect when the Kings host the Canucks on the ice. Off the ice? Well I’ve got that one figured out.

Oh, the Canucks. They’re the glitzy team of the last couple of years. They’re the Dallas Cowboys of Western Canada.  They’re the Miami Heat of British Columbia. They’re led by a

fearless

fearful

leader named Luongo and have a set of twins that I swear are mere cyborgs interconnected via a transcendental Wi-Fi connection.

But, despite everything they are (a damn good hockey team), and everything they are not (Stanley Cup winners), they have the one thing that neither the Kings, nor the Ducks for that matter, have. They have a traveling party. They have a rabid group that is more Canadian than the Detroitness of Red Wings fans or the Bronxness of Yankees fans. They’re cocky and arrogant and loud and boisterous. They’re nuts and cooky and vocal and present. They’re going to fill Staples Center tonight and Honda Center tomorrow night and there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it.

And while I’m there in my seat in the not-so-glorious “Canucks shoot twice” end of the Staples Center, I hope everyone takes note of the madness. Not because of pettiness, not because of the douchebaggery that will bantered about or the presence of the wooden Orca. But, because they Canucks are what the Kings could be, yet will never be. They’re the glam of the west and have made damn well sure that those in Toronto hear their voice.

Los Angeles and Vancouver are extremely similar. They’re the western hubs of their respective countries. They’re huge port cities and far more lax than their eastern counterparts, New York and the aforementioned Toronto. Plus, they’re probably the two places you want to visit first if you had to choose two cities, one in Canada and one in America.

So what does any part of what I’m rambling on about have to do with the Kings and Canucks tonight? Why is it important? Because the Kings right now, for the time being, have everything the Canucks have. Despite what Rick Neuheisel says, the Kings have a monopoly in the city of Los Angeles. Nothing else should draw the attention of the Kings. Nothing, just like nothing comes close to knocking the Canucks off of the perch of Vancouver’s pedestal.

Yet, despite an NBA lockout eliminating the play of TWO of the Kings tenants, the Kings have yet to grab the city’s attention. And sure, once January comes and football is long gone and playoff races heat up, it may get there. I just have my doubts, and it kills me to think that.

The Kings have been thrown such a freaking lifeline with the Lakers not playing, that they should take advantage of the best Kings team ever created on paper, and wipe the floor with the rest of the city’s attention grabbers. Nothing would make me happier. Yet sadly, in just over an hour, I’ll be walking into an arena full of green and blue and cringing at the yells of “LOUUUUUUU”, each time Rob Scuderi

blasts

neatly places a slapshop on Luongo’s pads.

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