--I should preface this post by saying that I haven't seen any racist comments here on Stanley Cup of Chowder - we have a lot of good contributors here, and I'm glad to be part of it. But still, all this needs to be said (and I hope it's understood in the right context).

*To the Bruins Organization: I'm grateful for a good season, and I'm happy to be a Bruins fan, but I must say that it's so telling of our 2011-2012 season that we get a Power Play with 2:26 to go in the 3rd period in a tied game 7 and, yet again, fail to score (and very likely win the game). Hopefully that changes next year.

On that same note, I'm really confident that we'll have a good team for years to come, and with guys like Dougie Hamilton, Jared Knight, and Ryan Spooner coming up through the ranks, I'm excited to see what our team becomes next season & moving forward. Let's go get it next year!

*On the other side, to Bruins fans which may (or may not) be located in Boston and who took to Twitter, Facebook, and other services & outlets and decided to spit racial slurs in response to the winning goal by Joel Ward:

Examples Here:
Article 1
Article 2

*I badly want to get angry about this and stoop to an equally low level in response to what I've heard and read on the raido (98.5 The Sports Hub's Gresh and Zolak show) and in articles (as listed above), but I won't, you're not worth that.

*Since it doesn't seem to be understood already, folks in and around Boston, of all descents and ethnicities, need to finally realize that holding on to this garbage idea of racism and dropping racial slurs is unbelievably ignorant and passe, and has been for 149 years (If you don't get the reference, look up "Emancipation Proclamation" in any encyclopedia, or on Wikipedia, as the case may be). Folks, you need to realize that people are made up of what's in their heads, and that doesn't show through in their skin color.

Irish immigrants (which still make up a significant chunk of Boston's population) were persecuted for years in New York, and African-Americans have had a tough go as it is in the United States as a whole. It's time for racism to go away, and for people to be judged on their merits and decisions, rather than something so ridiculous as their skin color.

That being said, as a die-hard Bruins fan, I'd like to wish Joel Ward and the Washington Captials nothing but the best in this year's playoffs - I hope you win the whole darn thing.

And for those who took part in these tweets and statemets, nice job - you've made all of us in Boston look like fools and part of a racist fanbase. It couldn't be farther from the truth, and as angry as I am, all I can say is that I hope you gain some sort of clarity in this - think before you speak, and realize that you're just as "ethnic" as anyone else.

Sincerely yours,

An average white guy who's lived here all his life.