Vancouver 2010 – A Great Sense of What’s Lacking in Canada – Canadian Pride

Last week I just happened to tune into the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics—I almost cried with pride – yet I originally wasn’t sure if I was going to even watch the whole thing.

These things are often filled with long and overly flashy fireworks, and song and dance numbers that go on and on and . . .

There were some pretty spectacular song and dance numbers, but what really turned me around was some good old fashioned hometown pride.

Six Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers decked out in full dress uniform carried out the Canadian flag, our national anthem – Oh Canada – was sung, and members of the Canadian Forces raised the flag – WOW – my heart began to swell with Canadian pride.

Even long before our national team entered the stadium, it really hit me that these really are our games. Sure the Winter Olympics is a sports competition among the best athletes from across the globe, but being the host country, and being a cold climate country, these really are our games. We excel at winter sports here including hockey, curling and skiing.

Our Canadian spirit shone like the brightest star in the night’s sky during the opening ceremonies, as Canadian symbols filled the Olympic Stadium in Vancouver. From famous Canadian singers like K.D. Lang (who sang a song written and originally sung by fellow Canadian Lenard Cohen), and Brian Adams, to legendary, awe-inspiring Cancer-fighting marathon runner Terry Fox’s mom carrying out the Olympic flag, to other big name Canadian celebs participating in the opening ceremonies, including actor Donald Sutherland and singer Ann Murray.

Even ‘the Great One,’ legendary Canadian hockey player and former coach of our national hockey team, Wayne Gretzky was one of the final carriers of the Olympic Torch – there were rumors all that day that either Gretzky, or a hologram of Terry Fox would carry the torch.

The opening ceremonies were an amazing sight for any Canadian – instilling a sense of Canadian pride which we haven’t had in this country in a very long time.
The last time a sense of Canadianism filled our hearts, was probably – and just as ironically – back in the 1990’s during a Quebec-based referendum on whether or not to stay apart of this great land, or become its own nation. I still remember the posters “My country includes Quebec.”

Too bad we can’t have national spirit-filled days like the opening ceremonies more often in this great country of ours, that would really make this country something special.

Actually, what is slowly and silently killing our country is the over-arching lack of Canadian pride, as newcomers to this land bring with them their traditions and beliefs, and unlike the States where they take on a sense of being Canadian, they just re-create their own country here in Canada.

The numbers of Canadian citizens – YES CITIZENS – that don’t speak either of our official languages of English and French continues to grow. In Canada’s largest city, Toronto, it is estimated that about two-thirds of the city’s population doesn’t speak either English or French.

In most countries, people can’t survive without learning the language of the land, but here in Canada, sadly they can. Big business even caters to this demographic, here in Toronto, some bank machines allow you to bank in English, French or Chinese.

Big business is doing what it always does, invest in products and services which will bring in more money. Problem is, in so doing, they are destroying part of the foundation of what makes a country a country, by encouraging people to ignore local and deeply rooted cultural values, customs and societal norms.

Oh well, at least for a couple of hours, and an odd number of days, the Winter Olympics offered up something we don’t have enough of in Canada – Canadian pride.

Go Canada!

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Toronto Maple Leafs Win the Stanley Cup – Just Kidding -- You Can Start Breathing Again

Last night, one of the oldest running jokes in Canada’s biggest city changed – for a brief moment.

Toronto’s National Hockey League (NHL) team, The Toronto Maple Leafs had a complete shut-out game – the opposing team didn’t score a single goal.

This isn’t the first time the city’s hometown team had a shut-out victory – last time was in 2002 – but the fans of Canada’s national game were all buzzing with anticipation – could this be THE YEAR?

“The year” being the first time in over four-decades that the Toronto Maple Leafs win the ultimate prize at the end of the season, the league championship trophy – the Stanley Cup.

Although last night’s game was an amazing victory for the ailing team, it was expected.

The team has made significant player moves over the past few days, resulting in a shakeup of the key players. In all professional sports, from baseball, football and soccer, to hockey, whenever there are significant changes to a team, regardless of who was moved out or in, the next few games are usually amazing victories.

This has more to do with the excitement, energy and need for the new players to prove their multimillion dollar contracts are worth all those digits, than anything else.

In 1989, Toronto’s professional baseball franchise, The Toronto Blue Jays, brought in veteran center fielder Mookie Wilson to lift the teams spirits and scores. At first it worked, and fans began chanting “Moookie” to cheer on their new fan favorite. But as the excitement of the moment faded, so too did Wilson who played his last Major League Baseball game as a Toronto Blue Jay on October 6, 1991, never making the championship team which won back-to-back World Series in 1992 and 1993.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have had some big player trades over the past four decades, yet despite a loyal fan base, they never go all the way to the championships.

This has lead the hockey team to being something of an anti-hero joke to Torontonians. At the start of every hockey season the local media asks people on the streets if the ‘Leafs’ will win the Stanley Cup, and every year most think they will. And as the hockey season winds down and the Toronto Maple Leafs play their last game, many Toronto fans say are left saying “maybe next year.”

Hockey is Canada’s national sport – officially if you read up about it, it is actually curling, but there isn’t enough violence in curling to warm the hearts and minds of us peace-loving Canadians. When was the last time you heard of a bench clearing brawl in a curling match?

Nevah!

From the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) classic coverage of Hockey Night in Canada with the always loudly dressed and loudly opinionated Don Cherry, from coast-to-coast-to-coast, hockey is Canada’s game.

If hockey hadn’t captured our nation as much as it had, the Toronto Maple Leafs would have folded as a business long ago.

In professional sport, it isn’t whether you win or lose that matters. What does matter is fan support – if no one pays the high prices to go to the games, or pay outrageous dollars on overpriced team merchandise like hats, jerseys and bobbleheads, then the team fails as a business, and closes.

That’s what happened to Montreal’s professional baseball team – the Montreal Expos – remember them? They were even winning towards the end, with rumors of a possible playoff of America’s past time (baseball) solely happening in Canada between the Montreal Expos and the Toronto Blue Jays in the early 1990’s.

But sadly, Montreal sports fans were more into hockey than baseball, and as fewer and fewer people went to Montreal’s baseball games, eventually the team just died. The Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals in 2005.

Which brings us back to Toronto’s professional hockey team – The Toronto Maple Leafs. They haven’t had a winning season in over forty-years, yet they bring in the big bucks thanks to loyal (though somewhat misguided) fans.

Those loyal Toronto Maple Leafs fans make the team the most valuable one in the NHL – the team is worth an estimated $470 million, the league’s next most valuable teams are the New York Ranges and the Montreal Canadiens respectively.

Every so often, the owners of the Toronto Maple Leafs see fit to inject some money back into the team, and we end up with a handful of new star players, raising team and fan spirits alike.

But these team changes are really nothing more than clever ploys to keep fans and players interested, instead of actually playing to win. If the later were the case, then the ‘Leafs’ would have won Lord Stanley’s prestigious cup more frequently. The last time the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup was 1967 – that’s 43-years ago!

It has been so long since Toronto’s professional hockey team has won the championship that if they were to win it ever again, the world were surely stop spinning and we’d all be thrown off. Or at least, that would be the sensation for fans, players and even those who don’t follow the game but know of the Toronto Maple Leafs and their history of failure.

And that is what it is – a history of failure because let’s face it, in professional sport, where millions of dollars are at stake, the object of the game is to win the championship. It isn’t quite like your kid’s hockey league, where healthy fun in a team-building atmosphere teaches life lessons. In professional sport everything comes to dollars for the victor, and coal for the loser.

Despite the winning mood inspired by recent trades in Toronto, The Maple Leafs will end their season just as they have for 43-years – with nothing more than lumps of coal.

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Midsummer Classic More than Just Good Baseball

Lastnight’s All Star Game between the American and National baseball leagues as been long thought of as a showcase of the best players from both leagues.

Players and fans vote for their choices as to who gets to play ball. But aside from popularity contests, the winner or even the loser, last night’s ball game was about something more.

America’s first black president, Barack Obama threw out the ceremonial first pitch – and he didn’t do all that shabby for – as he often refers to himself – a “southpaw.”

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Despite all the media hype surrounding the lead up to the game, including Monday night’s batting contest, the announcement of the starting line-up, and even having President Obama open the game with his lefty-arm, the real story from last night’s All Star Game was about one lone player.

Toronto Blue Jay Pitcher Roy Halladay was the starting pitcher for last night’s game. This was his sixth All Star Game, but his first as a starting pitcher, which really put the pressure on the potential Cy Young candidate.

Putting even more pressure on Halladay, perhaps was Halladay himself – not just because he was the first pitcher to toss out a ball for the American League, which traditionally wins these matches (the American League has won 11 of the last 12 All Star Games), but also to sell himself to his future team.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Trade winds are blowing across the baseball diamond, and Roy Halladay’s name is top on the cards of all those placing bets. When asked at a press conference prior to the All Star Game what he thought his chances of being traded out of the Toronto Blue Jays franchise, Halladay estimated it was “50-50.”

The Toronto right-hander told a gaggle of reporters prior to the All Star Game that his team just doesn’t have what it takes to win.

“I think as a player, there’s that will to win, that will to do it in October and basically that’s what all of this has been about,” he said. “I would like that chance, I’m not saying it won’t be Toronto. You’d like to be three games up in first place and not have to deal with it.”

Halladay’s comments hint that the Toronto team just isn’t in a winning mood and that may be what is costing them wins. As of the All Star Game, the Toronto Blue Jays were in fourth place in the American League, and just came off of their second worst away trip, losing 12 of their last 15 games on the road.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Toronto this year. For the first two months of the season, the Toronto Blue Jays were number one in not just the American League, but taking their statistics into consideration, they were the best team in all of baseball.

Injuries sidelined a number of their staff, including another ace pitcher – B.J. Ryan. Ryan was let go by the Blue Jays prior to the All Star Game, simply because he wasn’t playing like he used to before all of his injuries.

But unlike Ryan, the ball is in Halladay’s glove – he is the one who will have to vet through all the possible offers, and see if Toronto is the place he’ll remain.

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