They rioted in Vancouver last night, and I took it personally

I haven't been to Vancouver, B.C., since 1999. It was a different time, I guess. A different century. A different millennium, for that matter.

It was the first place my wife-to-be and I went together on vacation. I used that outfit William Shatner promotes to buy cheap air tickets. Sure, we had to drive to St. Louis before we flew to Detroit, then flew to Seattle, then drove to Vancouver. We didn't care. It was fun.

Vancouver. Great city. Cosmopolitan. Spectacular vistas.  A bay on one side, mountains nearby. A city park that rivals Central park with miles and miles of seawall for walkers and runners.

I had my first panini in Vancouver. I'd never heard of the things before that trip. That was a lot of paninis ago.

I've touted Vancouver to dozens of people. When people have told me they were going to Seattle, I told them they had to drive up to Vancouver. I've never heard anyone who's been there who didn't think it was cool.

Last night? Not so cool. A whole lot of young punks -- emboldened by alcohol and each others' company, no doubt -- caused mayhem there after the Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals to Boston. And Vancouver looked just like any other big city anywhere in the world, a place where dysfunctional behavior could trash a city's reputation in one night.

It was madness. Fires and looting. Destruction. Violence. Sheer stupidity.

I guess it can show up anywhere. It happened in Vancouver in 1994, actually, also after the Canucks lost in the NHL finals. I didn't know that until last night.

I'd go back there in a heartbeat. The mountains, the seawall, the paninis. It's just people who make the problems, and they're everywhere.