posted 2007/01/13 at 23:56
I suppose it isn't to be expected that one of the things I'll probably miss most about Toledo, if I end up moving to get a job here, is getting CBC on my local cable system. Ignoring my strange fascination with curling, the great Canadian comedies (everything you've heard about Little Mosque on the Prairie is true), and their interesting take on world news, of course I am deeply in love with Hockey Night in Canada and in particular the rants of one Don Cherry. It's even getting to the point where if there's a Red Wings game running opposite Hockey Night in Canada, I'll skip the Wings game to keep my dial tuned to CBC.
Today was CBC's annual Hockey Day in Canada coverage, where in addition to running a tripleheader featuring the six Canadian teams, they've run specials on local hockey all throughout the day, resulting in what will be, in a little while here, thirteen and a half hours of near-nonstop hockey coverage. I'm not going to apologize for setting nearly everything else in my day aside to watch it, particularly when I may not get this opportunity again.
I know I may get in trouble for making this kind of observation given that I've never even been to Canada, but one thing I've always admired about Canada and hockey is how Canadians just love the game, and they don't need a multi-billion dollar sports league breathing down their neck every second to make the game the country's game. Contrast that to how pervasive the NFL is here in the States, and how the NFL tries to control the game. Okay, I'll grant you that the NHL's management is too incompetent to pull something like that off in Canada even if they wanted to, but they don't have to because Canadians still have enough of a sense of community that they pull together with hockey on their own.
copyright © 2008 Sean Shannon