April 11, 2008
Caps Briefing: Flyers Suck
It is a great time to be a Caps Fan. We've seen media coverage of the guy who brings his trumpet to the games and the rock bands who have sung the team's praises.
Today we'd like to take the time to check in with a different kind of superfan. A kind of superfan you, as a blog reader, may be able to identify with. Today's superfan is one of the leading alltime posters on the Caps message board. He also blogs at Bettman Hates Hockey and The Brian Sutherby Fan Club.
Today, as the Caps enter their playoff series against the Philadelphia Flyers, we've caught up with the legendary Caps fan known simply as Flyers Suck.
How did you get the name, Flyers Suck?
My dad and I have yelled "Flyers Suck!" at games for years, even when we weren't playing the Flyers. When I was in high school, my sister gave us matching "Flyers Suck" T-shirts that we still have, so it was a pretty easy name to pick when I registered for the Caps' message boards. You have to be careful on message boards that are league wide though, so on sites like Hockey Prime Time, I just go by my middle name, "Foy."
What's your best Caps-Flyers memory?
Well, best moment would obviously be Dale's goal in OT in 1988. It is still my favorite goal ever. I remember watching that from the couch at home and being up until 2 in the morning before I finally got to sleep, I was so excited. As far as games I was actually at, that would probably be the Brawl on February 10, 1991. I was 9 at the time, and my sister came along. It was her first ever playoff game. I still remember the Tocchet hit on Beaupre that ignited everything.
What are the biggest factors that will determine the outcome of the upcoming Caps-Flyers playoff series?
Three things:
1. The Health of the Caps' D-men. Both Schultz and Morrisonn have been banged up, and if they aren't that mobile, they might have trouble with some of Philly's quicker forwards.
2. The Caps keeping out of the Penalty Box to keep Philly's power play off the ice, and then killing the penalties that do come up.
3. Marty Biron. At times this year he's been amazing, and at other times he's been awful. The only consistency this year is his inconsistency, and a lot of the Flyers' success depends on him.
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Bad news: the Flyers will win this series. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see the Caps pull it out, so that I could watch the Penguins throttle them next round, but it just ain't happening. The Caps only have one strong line, the Flyers have a strong enough defense to limit the Caps. Like your boy said, the Flyers are great on the power play, and they will exploit it. Yes, Washington finished strong, but they played most of their final games in the incredibly weak Southeast Division - I could have managed a .500 record this year. Flyers in six. Not that it matters, since the Penguins are taking the damned conference and winning the Stanley Cup!!
The Broad Street Bullies are back.
Let's Go Flyers!
oh holla philly!
What's with all the love for teams other than the Caps on DCist?!?! I'm not even a puckhead and I find it offensive.
Take yer kielbasa eating asses back to Pennsyltucky!
Nothing brings out the Pens and Flyers fans like... a post about Caps hockey? Shouldn't you two be back, I dunno, in Pennsylvania?
Meh.
This team may not win the series, but the joy they've brought to playing the game, and to the fans in the stands, over the last few months has been phenomenal.
Oh, and Cindy Crosby a diving whiner with all the personality of wet cardboard. And the "Broad Street Bullies" belong back where they came from, in the 70s. Hopefully, any cheap shots against Caps skill players will be followed by a Brashear beatdown.
Philadelphia = nothing whatsoever to do with kielbasa or central Pennsylvania.
Go Flyers.
Only one more hour to sit around work pretending that I'm doing anything other than waiting for the game to start.
Only two more hours before I get to Verizon and finally purchase the Caps jersey I told myself I could splurge on if they made the playoffs.
Three more hours until face-off. Good God.
uh, so I guess I'll be the first to comment... Let's Go Caps! The rest of you are a bag of a-holes. And that Darkest Hour song really sucked. I was hoping, representing the metal/hardcore scene, they would come up with something more original than that...and maybe some references to the players?
Anyway, this will be tight, but I will say Caps in 7, I predict them losing games 1, 4, & 6. My playoff beard has only allowed them to lose 1 game in the last 12. Yes, I grew my playoff beard before the season ended, and that's why we made it...worked for the Sox in '04, we'll see how it fares this time around.
Take yer kielbasa eating asses back to Pennsyltucky!
Substitute Cheesesteak and soft-pretzel for kielbasa and we're good to go.
I've had the "playoff" beard for a month now, given the fact that Caps' losses would've ended their season for about that long.
Let's go Caps!
Philadephia = Pennsyltucky, like it or not.
What's with all the love for teams other than the Caps on DCist?!?! I'm not even a puckhead and I find it offensive.
Perhaps you need someone to explain the economic shift from manufacturing to services that have occurred in the US economy over the past 40 years, but the short version is, a lot of people who used to live in one place now live in another, but that doesn't change their sports affiliation.
Oh, and Cindy Crosby a diving whiner with all the personality of wet cardboard.
Oh! You called him Cindy! It's funny because that's a girl's name, and girls are inherently weak! I get it! Dude missed half the season, and still finished with close to 70 points. If you don't think he's talented, you're an idiot. Of course, Ovechkin got plenty more goals, but given how one-dimensional the Caps are, that isn't too surprising...
You probably whined about Lemieux being overrated too, didn't you?
Sure, the Flyers are meeting up with the Caps for the first round of the playoffs. But in the larger scheme of things, don't the Flyers have bigger rivalries with a deeper histories than someone and his dad who feel compelled to yell "Flyers suck!" at irrelevant moments?
your daddy sucks your momma's dick.
seeing all those fairweather fans in d.c. is disgusting. where were all of you faux fans before the trade deadline and before the caps drafted ovechkin?
seeing all those fairweather fans in d.c. is disgusting. where were all of you faux fans before the trade deadline and before the caps drafted ovechkin?
In case you forgot, there was no season a couple of years ago; that kind of thing tends to turn fans off. But, we're here now and the Flyers lost Game 1!!
@WHAZZUP
Thanks for the economics primer, but I was really wondering what Flyers fans were doing trolling on DCist. I figured they'd be sucking each others popsicles on some Flyers board.
@hillrat
If you weren't a fairweather fan, you would've known Ovechkin got drafted the year of the lockout. I asked where you were before that. It appears you know hockey as well as you know geography.
Go back to Phillyist, you Phlyers Phaggot.
@ WHAZZUP
None of my comments about Crosby mentioned his talent, only his character. Even someone from Philly can read what I wrote, right?
He's very talented; he's also a complete wanker and a soulless corporate shill. Ovechkin is not only a beastly talent, but he's all heart and love of the game.
re "bandwagon fans":
I've been a Caps fan for 15 years and had season tickets since 2002... *before* Ovechkin was drafted.
No doubt AO's tremendous skill and achievement will bring new Caps fans to the arena. Welcome.
Flyers fans? Move back to your shitty, angry, bitter city... if you can find a job there.
No doubt AO's tremendous skill and achievement will bring new Caps fans to the arena. Welcome
Just like the arrival of Jagr in 2001, right? You'd be better off with a few more Dale Hunters.
@HCE
Way to raise the level of discourse.
@capssuck
Indeed you're correct, I'm a fairweather Caps fan; I pay them a marginal bit of attention when they make the playoffs because I love to see sport played at its highest level. So fucking what?
You're so much more hardcore in your love of hockey than I am, I guess that means you're a better person than me.
@dickiej
The level of discourse plummeted the second the douche-gargling trolls that call themselves Flyers fans showed up.
Hillrat's been commenting here as long as I've been writing. He's not as fairweather as all that.
...even Dino Cicarelli. . .
For those who want to rip Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre Scranton is home to the 'Baby Pens' AHL affiliate and is a rabid hockey town. And for the casual fans out there, Hershey hosts the Bears -- the Caps AHL affiliate that provided current head coach Bruce Boudreau. Hershey is another stellar and storied minor league affiliate.
And why so much Russian love for the Caps and none for the Pens -- Malkin is already a top 5 player in the NHL with one less year of NHL service under his belt than either Sid or Alex.
Guess it didn't take much to shine in the Southeast this year, as the Caps are the only playoff representative from the Southeast. Everybody loves a winner and nobody loves a whiner.