With a broken nose and fractured cheek, Andrew Parker has learned a painful lesson about what can happen if you mouth off to strangers after a few beers.
But Parker's beating at the hands of a few cowardly yobs shouldn't be a collective black eye for Calgary, nor should it be misconstrued as a case of hockey fans turned hooligans at the sight of another team's colours.
Make that "alleged" beating, because we only have Parker's side of the story, so far. Police are working on the rest.
Of course, there's no reason to doubt the well-spoken, polite, young Parker and his allegation of being jumped by a group of Flames fans following Saturday's humiliating loss at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers.
Parker says he was walking near 18 Ave. and 4 St. S.W. early Sunday morning, still wearing his Oilers jersey, when a group of men in a nearby car started glaring at him.
Seeing their Flames' sweaters, and with a half-dozen bottles of malted courage in his system, 22-year-old Parker did something he now regrets: He yelled at the glowering men, saying something like, "How about those Flames."
The result shouldn't shock anyone who's spent any time in any city of any size, anywhere in the world.
It doesn't even shock Parker, now that he's thought about it in the cold, aching light of day: "In retrospect, I shouldn't have said anything," he says.
The men took exception, got out of their car and gave Parker a good kicking, to borrow a phrase often used in Britain.
But Calgary shouldn't think for a minute we are in danger of borrowing the British motive for such violence -- namely, one group of sports fans targeting another, for no reason other than wearing the wrong colours.
Parker was not targeted simply for wearing an Oilers jersey.
The Oilers jersey got him noticed, but Parker's mouth got him into trouble.
Did he deserve a beating? Absolutely not -- he didn't deserve it, but it was predictable.
The licence plate number given to police by Parker's friends -- a woman and man who were with him -- will hopefully lead to the arrest of the five cowards who left Parker unconscious.
But the bigger issue here is whether all of Calgary should bow its head in shame over the actions of a few violent thugs or whether alarm bells should ring over showing your sporting allegiances in public.
The answer to both is no.
Unless you're hopelessly sheltered or Calgary is the first city you've ever lived in (we call those big buildings skyscrapers) it can't really come as a surprise that some people are idiots when there are a million to choose from.
There are idiots who can't drive, idiots who spit on sidewalks, idiots who drive slowly in the fast lane of Deerfoot, idiots who dig for change after pulling up to the drive-through. If there's something stupid or anti-social to be done, you can bet Calgary has an idiot who will do it.
Andrew Parker was unfortunate enough to meet five of those idiots Sunday morning, and whether it was the drinking or just a momentary lapse of judgment, Parker antagonized them. What happened next could have happened in any city.
Which leads to the second and more important point: Parker was not attacked just for wearing an Oilers jersey.
The five men in the car were obviously spoiling for a fight -- Parker could have yelled at them from the anonymous confines of a grey sweatshirt and still found himself pummelled.
All across Canadian cyberspace yesterday, hockey message boards were lighting up with news of Parker's assault -- and the vast majority thankfully defended Calgary as a good city in which to cheer the opposition.
On hfboards.com, a forum dedicated to Oilers fans living in Calgary, participants jumped to the defence of Flames fans. They should know if anyone does and most said Calgary is a friendly place to cheer on the Oil.
"Those pylons that beat up that kid represent only a VERY small minority of Flames fans. Flames fans might be stupid, inbred, etc., But, all in all, good people," wrote one Oilers fan.
Hopefully that message is one visiting fans take to heart -- because Calgary isn't a place where the wrong colour of jersey will get you beat up.
