Riots following big sporting events have become predictable. They happen about half the time following a championship game or series, the experts say. What's more, sports riots are now the most common type of riot in North America.
But they are usually celebratory sports riots. What makes Vancouver stand out, both in 2011 and 1994, is that its street mayhem followed the home team losing the big game.
In fact it is so unusual that Jerry Lewis, the author of Sports Fan Violence in North America, told CBC News that what we saw Wednesday night "might be called the Vancouver effect."
An emeritus professor of sociology at Kent State University in Ohio, Lewis has looked closely at over 200 sports riots in the U.S. and none of them followed a loss by the home team. (read more)
