Sports fans are partisan hypocrites. This we know.
Thus no surprise that when Thomas Hickey checked Tom Wilson hard in the corner and punctuated with a sneak elbow -- though mercifully not charging him with a concussion bomb as the latter did to end Lubomir Visnovsky's career last spring -- that Washington Capitals and New York Islanders fans had the opposite reaction from last spring's incident.
In the parlance of our courageous partisan times, Hickey "stopped his legs but didn't shy away from the hit." Wilson was, in a word, offended.
For good measure -- er accidental I'm sure -- after the hit, Hickey conveniently fell fists down directly to Wilson's head. I bet it felt good. It was also rightly penalized.
No worries: The Islanders "killed it with ease."
NBC Sports instantly put it in their highlight package for a physical game between the Metro rivals who went seven games in the first round last spring.
But Capitals fans who saw Wilson as an innocent and wronged flower last spring are of course appalled by Hickey's terrible awful dirtiness on poor Wilson tonight.
Sports fandom, same as it ever was.
[Relive all the gifs in those RMNB links. Spread the viraltude! As the NFL has taught us, head injuries are awesome and highly memable!]