IP: New York mob torched anthem singer's Maple Leaf

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Robert Guerra <rguerra () privaterra org>
Date: Thu, 02 May 2002 16:16:51 -0400
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: New York mob torched anthem singer's Maple Leaf

New York mob torched anthem singer's Maple Leaf
May 2, 2002

New York mob torched anthem singer's Maple Leaf

Bruce Arthur

National Post

Days after being cheered as he sang the Canadian and American anthems
before an NHL playoff game in Toronto, Robert Pomakov watched, horrified,
as unruly New York hockey fans burned his Canadian flag in the parking lot
of Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Mr. Pomakov, an opera singer, saw both his Canadian and his Toronto Maple
Leaf flags torn from his car and set on fire by a crowd chanting "U.S.A!
U.S.A!" in the moments before Sunday's Game 6 between the Leafs and the New
York Islanders.

"We lost four of our soldiers and they were basically defending these
idiots," said an outraged Mr. Pomakov. "If patriotism is what drives these
people and their ignorance, then I am ashamed to have our soldiers
defending them."

Four Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan on April 18 when a U.S.
fighter plane mistakenly bombed them.

Mr. Pomakov, 21, is working on his masters of opera degree at the
world-renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, from where he
drove to Long Island for Sunday's game at the Coliseum, which is named in
honour of U.S. war veterans.

He and fellow Torontonian Patrick Magee, also 21, decked themselves in Team
Canada and Leafs jerseys and attached one regular-size Canadian flag and
one Maple Leafs flag to broomsticks on their rental car. After being
heckled as they pulled into the parking lot before the game, they could
only look on as both flags were set alight.

"I was just shocked," he said. "There's a line that needs to be drawn, and
this was so far across. You can't believe that you're watching the Canadian
flag burn.

"There wasn't much we could do. There were a lot more of them than there
were of us."

Mr. Pomakov felt the Americans' treatment of the Canadian flag was
disgraceful.

Mr. Pomakov said the flags incident has not soured him on life in the
United States. Still, he was pleased to see Toronto's Game 7 win on
Tuesday, which set up a second-round Battle of Ontario series with the
Ottawa Senators that begins tonight in Toronto.

Whatever the feelings of Torontonians toward the seat of federal
government, or of Ottawans toward the seat of national commerce, the anthem
is quite unlikely to be booed during the series.

barthur () nationalpost com



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