December 21st, 2005 - The Christmas Tradition
?that only Canadians know about.
Each country has its own peculiarities. In Norway for example, they eat pickled Herring like people do french fries in the US. Speaking of the French, they drink wine with breakfast. And then there is Nepal, where they drink their beer always in threes with the glasses rimmed with rancid Yak butter.
Everybody is just a little different.
Canada is a little different when it comes to a lot of things as well. That beer-in-threes thing doesn?t apply. The beer there comes in what are called, two-fours, and they are all consumed all at one sitting - even if they have cigarette butts in ?em. There is no Yak butter, but there is plenty of yaking. Wine? Well there?s plenty of whining about the weather. And yes, there are plenty of fish. Well, actually there is plenty of fishing. How much actually gets consumed is a national secret.
But what makes Canada stand truly alone on the international scene is its fascination with all things sticks, pucks and ice. That?s ?cause Canada rules when it comes to hockey.
For a nation that defines itself by a single sport, Canada boasts a record all similarly individually sports-crazed countries can only drool over.
Canada is the Olympic champions for both the men and women. They won the 2004 World Cup, and are the reigning World Junior champs as well.
In the history of the sport, no other hockey playing nation has ever been that dominant. No other sporting nation has ever been so on top of its chosen game.
So Canadians are frikin? crazed over the game. How crazed? The NHL went dark for an entire season over a labor dispute last season. They just shut it down. How did the mistreated, abuses and used fans react to the NHL when it returned to the ice? With protests? With acrimony? With bitter disdain?
That?s just not the Canadian way eh. They flocked to the arenas, set new attendance records, bought up all the latest puckish swag and knocked off new TV rating benchmarks along the way.
Basically what I?m saying is, Canadians are puckin? crazy about hockey. So much so it?s now even a Christmas tradition.
On boxing day, while the rest of the civilized world is returning the weird gifts their uncles gave them, all of Canada is perched on couch, beer in hand, watching teenagers play the game. Unlike any other country ? even those who are almost as hockey crazed as they are - the World Junior Hockey Championship is a huge deal.
The last tournament, Canada finished unbeaten and untied, with experts saying it was the best Junior hockey team ever assembled outscoring their opponents 41-7 and crushing a talented Russian team 6-1.
The country went nuts. The rest of the world, if they noticed, thought Canada was nuts.
Played all over the globe, the attendance overseas borders somewhere between pathetic and embarrassing. When it?s in Canada, like it will be this year, tickets sell out faster than a live sex show in Amsterdam. (Another national peculiarity there.)
It?s a holiday tradition in the great white north as familiar as a Christmas tree, presents, New Years Eve and shivering.
Canadians are a proud bunch when it comes to their hockey, so the fact that the rest of the world hasn?t caught on to the World Juniors kinda bothers a lot of them.
But not when a game is on.
Cheers & Happy Holidays! ? Gavin McDougald ? AKA Couch
Remember to drop us a line at rants@betED.com to voice your opinion on one of McDougald's articles or on anything else you read at betED.com !
?that only Canadians know about.
Each country has its own peculiarities. In Norway for example, they eat pickled Herring like people do french fries in the US. Speaking of the French, they drink wine with breakfast. And then there is Nepal, where they drink their beer always in threes with the glasses rimmed with rancid Yak butter.
Everybody is just a little different.
Canada is a little different when it comes to a lot of things as well. That beer-in-threes thing doesn?t apply. The beer there comes in what are called, two-fours, and they are all consumed all at one sitting - even if they have cigarette butts in ?em. There is no Yak butter, but there is plenty of yaking. Wine? Well there?s plenty of whining about the weather. And yes, there are plenty of fish. Well, actually there is plenty of fishing. How much actually gets consumed is a national secret.
But what makes Canada stand truly alone on the international scene is its fascination with all things sticks, pucks and ice. That?s ?cause Canada rules when it comes to hockey.
For a nation that defines itself by a single sport, Canada boasts a record all similarly individually sports-crazed countries can only drool over.
Canada is the Olympic champions for both the men and women. They won the 2004 World Cup, and are the reigning World Junior champs as well.
In the history of the sport, no other hockey playing nation has ever been that dominant. No other sporting nation has ever been so on top of its chosen game.
So Canadians are frikin? crazed over the game. How crazed? The NHL went dark for an entire season over a labor dispute last season. They just shut it down. How did the mistreated, abuses and used fans react to the NHL when it returned to the ice? With protests? With acrimony? With bitter disdain?
That?s just not the Canadian way eh. They flocked to the arenas, set new attendance records, bought up all the latest puckish swag and knocked off new TV rating benchmarks along the way.
Basically what I?m saying is, Canadians are puckin? crazy about hockey. So much so it?s now even a Christmas tradition.
On boxing day, while the rest of the civilized world is returning the weird gifts their uncles gave them, all of Canada is perched on couch, beer in hand, watching teenagers play the game. Unlike any other country ? even those who are almost as hockey crazed as they are - the World Junior Hockey Championship is a huge deal.
The last tournament, Canada finished unbeaten and untied, with experts saying it was the best Junior hockey team ever assembled outscoring their opponents 41-7 and crushing a talented Russian team 6-1.
The country went nuts. The rest of the world, if they noticed, thought Canada was nuts.
Played all over the globe, the attendance overseas borders somewhere between pathetic and embarrassing. When it?s in Canada, like it will be this year, tickets sell out faster than a live sex show in Amsterdam. (Another national peculiarity there.)
It?s a holiday tradition in the great white north as familiar as a Christmas tree, presents, New Years Eve and shivering.
Canadians are a proud bunch when it comes to their hockey, so the fact that the rest of the world hasn?t caught on to the World Juniors kinda bothers a lot of them.
But not when a game is on.
Cheers & Happy Holidays! ? Gavin McDougald ? AKA Couch
Remember to drop us a line at rants@betED.com to voice your opinion on one of McDougald's articles or on anything else you read at betED.com !
