WashingtonCaps.com reported yesterday that rookie defenseman Mike Green had been demoted to the team’s minor-league affiliate, the Hershey Bears. With three of the Caps’ blueliners—-including Brian Pothier (concussion), John Erskine (broken ankle), and Brian Muir (broken foot)—-set to return to the lineup after long-term injuries, the 21-year-old Calgary native found himself caught in a numbers crunch.
For those eager to watch the rebuilding team’s promising young talents develop in D.C., the move is certainly a disappointment. For a select group of full- and partial-season ticket holders sitting in Section 408 of the Verizon Center, however, it might come as a relief.
In recent weeks, posters on washingtoncaps.com’s message boards have been railing against a certain loud-mouthed fan in Section 408, known only as the “Mike Green Basher.” In a thread posted to the board on the afternoon following the Caps’ Feb. 6 home game against the Boston Bruins, one poster complained about the anonymous fan—-who incessantly ridiculed Green every time he touched the puck. “Your jokes are not funny and I don’t care about your insights to the game,” the poster pleaded. “A lot of folks in 408 felt the same way.”
The poster wasn’t kidding. Within minutes, several others had chimed in. One noted, “[P]eople have had words with him before about it.” Only a few posts later, the obnoxious fan’s identity was revealed: “You must be talking about the ‘MIKE GREEN BASHER’,” stated another poster who regularly sits in the section. “This guy has been an ongoing problem in 408, for about 6 games now.”
That same poster went on to recount an earlier incident involving the Mike Green Basher during the Jan. 20 game against the Florida Panthers. “He and his buddies were, for pretty much the entire game, were screaming at Mike Green, how he sucks, and how he should have stayed in Hershey. OVER and OVER and OVER….So the guy that sits 4 seats down from me went to get security, because everyone was getting annoyed. A few people mentioned it to them a few times. Finally, he did it again, and yelled how he’s getting tired of Mike Green. So the guy that sits behind me finally got pissed, and said ‘And I’M getting tired of listening to YOU!’ So [the Mike Green Basher] starts getting nasty. At that point I stood up, and tried to get the guy behind me to calm down and not to get into a fight, because it was clearly heading that direction.”
For more in-depth analysis regarding Mike Green’s re-assignment to the Hershey Bears, be sure to purchase a ticket in the lower rows of Section 408 for the Caps’ next home game, next Wednesday against the San Jose Sharks.