I'll admit it, I'm downright un-American. At least during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
I can't help it. I know this is going to piss a LOT of people off, but there are just some places where the game of hockey should not be played at the highest level. Atlanta? Florida? Carolina? Phoenix??? By God, it's a winter sport. Any place without an actual winter has no business even having a pro hockey team.
You've got to respect the game's roots and salute the game's TRUE fans. And by this I mean...
CANADIANS.
What can I say? I love Canada. I, along with many other true fans I'm sure, cheered both the mens' and womens' Canadian National Hockey Teams to gold during the last Olympics. I stood and saluted during the playing of "O Canada" at the medal ceremonies. I bought my Canadian Olympic hockey jersey at River City Sports at Eaton Centre in Toronto the following December, and I STILL wear it proudly. The way I see it, any nation THAT devoted to a single sport deserves all the accolades it can get.
Which is why it makes me SICK to see storied franchises like the Winnipeg Jets and the Quebec Nordiques look for greener pastures south of the border. I mean, what the hell. I know the US dollar is kicking the Canadian dollar's ass right now, but so what? Do they honestly think they're going to find the same level of fan loyalty and devotion in Phoenix that they had in a place like Winnipeg?
So that's why, every year during the Stanley Cup playoffs, I pull for every Canadian team that's still in the mix. Sure, I'm a member of Leaf Nation, but that's more out of respect for all my friends in Toronto...and because the first NHL game I ever saw live was the Toronto Maple Leafs beating the Buffalo Sabres at the Air Canada Centre.
But in the final analysis, it wouldn't even matter to me if it was ultimately Ottawa who finally walked away with it all this year. As long as Lord Stanley's cup winds up back north of the border where it belongs (and not in Detroit or New Jersey), I can be proud to be a treacherous, un-American, turncoat, Benedict Arnold hockey fan once again.
I can't help it. I know this is going to piss a LOT of people off, but there are just some places where the game of hockey should not be played at the highest level. Atlanta? Florida? Carolina? Phoenix??? By God, it's a winter sport. Any place without an actual winter has no business even having a pro hockey team.
You've got to respect the game's roots and salute the game's TRUE fans. And by this I mean...
CANADIANS.
What can I say? I love Canada. I, along with many other true fans I'm sure, cheered both the mens' and womens' Canadian National Hockey Teams to gold during the last Olympics. I stood and saluted during the playing of "O Canada" at the medal ceremonies. I bought my Canadian Olympic hockey jersey at River City Sports at Eaton Centre in Toronto the following December, and I STILL wear it proudly. The way I see it, any nation THAT devoted to a single sport deserves all the accolades it can get.
Which is why it makes me SICK to see storied franchises like the Winnipeg Jets and the Quebec Nordiques look for greener pastures south of the border. I mean, what the hell. I know the US dollar is kicking the Canadian dollar's ass right now, but so what? Do they honestly think they're going to find the same level of fan loyalty and devotion in Phoenix that they had in a place like Winnipeg?
So that's why, every year during the Stanley Cup playoffs, I pull for every Canadian team that's still in the mix. Sure, I'm a member of Leaf Nation, but that's more out of respect for all my friends in Toronto...and because the first NHL game I ever saw live was the Toronto Maple Leafs beating the Buffalo Sabres at the Air Canada Centre.
But in the final analysis, it wouldn't even matter to me if it was ultimately Ottawa who finally walked away with it all this year. As long as Lord Stanley's cup winds up back north of the border where it belongs (and not in Detroit or New Jersey), I can be proud to be a treacherous, un-American, turncoat, Benedict Arnold hockey fan once again.
sionkali:
HAHAHAHA......"real estate" 
