Truly I do.

This team?

This team that snuck Kootcheroff onto the roster after not playing an entire season?

I hate them. Cheaters.

This team from a southern place where hockey is about as natural as choking off a fart is unworthy of having a hockey dynasty. They don’t have ice. Jerks shouldn’t even have hockey. Jerks.

It is unfair that they are winning so much.

What’s worse, the terrible people in the league who don’t see hockey as a religion, but more of a business, they don’t want Canadian teams to win. They hate Canada. Canadian hockey players are fine just as long as they don’t win while playing for a Canadian team.

The fix is in I tell ya.

Tampa are still winning. As I write this they have come from behind to not only tie their series against the New York Rangers, but are now ahead by a game.

More than anything I want them to lose.

I want them to suffer.

I want them to feel bad.

I want revenge.

That’s right.

They beat ‘my Montreal Canadiens’ last year in four straight during the Stanley Cup final. It wasn’t fair and I want them to suffer.

As much as possible.

Every time one of their players gets hit by a puck and hurt, I’m delighted. Every time they are upset that something doesn’t go their way, I’m giddy.

Ideally, their hockey season will end soon and we can all bath in a shower of their tears.

…

So, that bit above the ellipses?

That’s what resentment looks like.

Resentment is a sentiment that arises when we perceive an injustice has take place against us and we have no way to mitigate it. Fandom and professional sports are a great place for humans to park their grievances and their resentments.

Don’t believe me?

Go check out the subsect of humans who live on HF Boards - a long running hockey forum. Find any post game thread of a losing team and you’ll find enough bile there to melt diamonds.

Click here for a shining example of online resentment.

Scroll through the sixteen pages of comments and the bile is there. Sports give people a safe container for the unpleasant parts of themselves. And some people’s unpleasant parts are very, very unpleasant. Buskorn is a great example of this.

I likely should not make fun of this man who hasn’t posted in ten years. And yet, he’s a classic hockey fan, right down to his ill thought out user name. Bushkorn - an overgrowth of skin in an area you likely don’t want that happening.

Resentment grows when we focus on what we lack, what we don’t have and what’s been done with us.

When resentment grows, it’s as pleasant as a korn in the bush. What’s worse, resentment when it connects with more resentment has the ability to grow exponentially quickly.

Resentment gets super sketchy when the person filled with resentment directs their actions at a stand in for the cause of their perceived injustice. Take for example this poor Tampa Bay fan who was at game five at Madison Square Gardens. A resentful Rangers fan hauled off and knocked him out cold as they left the rink.

Me?

If you punched me in the jaw and laid me down to sleep on the concrete floors of Madison Square Garden, I’d end up pretty damn resentful too.

Luckily, there is an antidote:

Ridicule often parries resentment, but resentment never yet parried ridicule.Walter Savage Landor

When resentment is directed at you undeservedly, riddicule is a too.

And, if you’re feeling resentful, it’s likely a good idea to start to make fun of yourself.

It’s better than being powerless, impotent and angry - which is essentially what is happening when we get resentful.

As for me?

While I’ll continue to hate the Tampa Bay Lightning, it’s not likely that I’ll punch one of their fans in the face.

For now. I guess.