Canucks & Beyond
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Cheering Team Canada Without Being a Douche About It
by Alanah McGinley on 01/05/09 at 02:33 PM ET
Comments (11)
The last couple games of Canuck hockey (Canada’s Canucks, not those belonging to Vancouver) have been gems, which anyone with a pulse and a functional television can certainly tell you. Team Canada’s World Junior Championship wins over the USA and then Russia were rife with emotion, edge-of-your-seat action and ecstatic highs and lows for both sides. Great hockey for all… and stupifyingly-awesome hockey if you’re a fan of the Canadian team in particular.
And thank goodness for that, because Canada’s emotional, all-heart performances are about the only thing that rescued me from cheering for other teams this year, simply to shut up the drone of hockey-arrogance that eminates from this country at times.
Being a fan of the Canadian squad—and simply being Canadian, for that matter—provides hockey fans north of the 49th parallel with a sense of entitlement that many other countries can only envy. The teams tend to be excellent and the nation’s respect and reverence of those teams is legendary. Canadian fans are devout. The arena, their church.
But it’s that same sense of entitlement that can also be irritating; not by the team but by the fans and pundits.
The notion that “we’re the best, we’re always the best, we’re always going to be the best” is a dominant one in Canada. It can be found on virtually every newscast and read on every other message board and blog. It’s nationalistic in the worst way because it gives rise to snotty jerks loudly sharing snotty opinions everywhere they turn. And while being a bit hockey arrogant is something we Canadians have rightly earned, there’s a difference between a bit of trash-talk and simply being a douche.
We can be proud of our team’s prowess while still showing respect to others, no?
Canadians absolutely have a right to celebrate their team, but hockey fans everywhere else are equally proud of their own squads. For instance, Team USA may not have nearly the following of Team Canada, but that doesn’t mean their fans are any less devout. And that’s certainly true of Russia and Sweden, too. And even Kazakhstan, for that matter.
The gold medal game is simply about the gold medal and may the best team win it, but hockey fans should put on their own best performance if they want to share in that glory. The World Junior Championships is about the best young hockey players in the world. Canada’s team has a good chance of winning that today but are Canada’s fans up the challenge?
In an interview I had with coach Pat Quinn prior to this tournament, one of his comments stood out to me. He said, “Whether players are 5 or 50 they want to feel they are a part of something.”
I think the same is true of fans.
We all want to be part of something with our favorite team, and we are. We live and breathe for their success and show our support in every way we can. But whether the team wins or loses, we should all be held to a higher standard than just hockey gold—we should hold ourselves to the standard of sportsmanship.
If the Canadian boys leave it all on the ice, put on a great game, and represent their country as the honorable men and hockey players they are, they really can’t lose today… even if they can’t win.
I just hope Canada’s fans always remember to hold themselves to the same standards.
__________________
Alright, enough of that. Now: Does anyone out there have any good Swedish jokes? 
Go Canada!
Filed in: | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
Tags: team+canada, wjc, world+juniors,
Comments
I agree with you 100%. The WJHC has become almost annoying now in this country the way it’s hyped up and the way our team is made out to be the end all of hockey.
Pierre McGuire just takes this tournament to another level. I just wish he’d be less biased and call a proper game. According to him, the Canadians can do no wrong. It’s embarassing.
Posted by DetCapC19 from Vancouver, BC on 01/05/09 at 02:58 PM ET
Alanah,
I knew that you wanted to use the word Douche since the whole Avery incident. May I commend you on your choice of word usage here. Very appropriate.
Go Canada!
Posted by Tyler @ NHL Digest from Frozen Tundra on 01/05/09 at 03:16 PM ET
It’s true, it can be hard to cheer for Team Canada at times, because their fans can be so obnoxious.
Being from the U.S., we haven’t had much to cheer about at the WJC level lately, and it would be nice to cheer on our neighbors to the north without having lukewarm feelings about it all.
I hope Canada wins tonight, for the boys playing. The fans, well ,that’s a different story.
Posted by Red Winger from Sault Ste. Marie on 01/05/09 at 03:22 PM ET
I never thought I would hear this from a Canadian.
Alanah, you nailed it.
Sometimes the “homer” spin by the commentators and pundits are unbearable.
Heaven forbid the “Laughs” ever win a Stanley Cup, or we will think it is the second coming of sweet little baby Jesus.
Posted by w2j2 on 01/05/09 at 03:42 PM ET
IwoCPO -- My special gift to you. Use it wisely.
DetCapC19 -- In fairness to Pierre McGuire, I don’t think anyone else is much better in that respect. When it comes to international hockey competitions, it seems like nearly every commentator in this country has a brain melt when it comes to objective views of the teams. (And of Canadian NHL teams, for that matter...)
Tyler -- I’ll think up new insults for Avery. Everyone wins!
Red Winger -- Well, cheer them for my sake! I’m pretty nice! 
w2j2 -- I can’t even imagine the results of that, though I’d take good odds on there ultimately being some national holiday dedicated to commemorate it. (Ick...!)
Tony F -- I aim to please!
Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 01/05/09 at 04:08 PM ET
You put your finger on the reason why I cheer for every underdog, unexpectedly-contending country in any Olympic event I ever watch. So many times the fans of larger countries are so arrogant I want to smack them.
I tell people not to act like a Yankee fan.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 01/05/09 at 05:25 PM ET
I tell people not to act like a Yankee fan.
Wrong team Baroque - there’s a new pain in the ass fan in the Majors and the backlash against them just started picking up steam last year.
Posted by HockeyJoe from Upstate New York on 01/05/09 at 06:11 PM ET
The fact this tournament is held in Canada more than any other country, and Canada’s absolute dominance (five consecutive gold medals, twice, in 20 years) give rise to that almost-smugness about this being a tournament exclusively featuring Canada. Watching TSN (especially McGuire), it’s almost like they had to spit out the other nine participating countries just to show a veneer of objectivity.
But don’t get me wrong. Watching the last few games was amazing, and I can’t wait to see Cody Hodgson don the Canucks sweater next season.
Posted by Eric from Vancouver on 01/06/09 at 12:15 PM ET
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About Canucks & Beyond
Alanah McGinley has been blogging hockey since 2003, sharing opinions, rants and not-so-deep thoughts with anyone who will listen. In addition to writing Canucks & Beyond and helping manage Kukla’s Korner, Alanah is one of the founders and co-hosts of The Crazy Canucks Podcast, as featured at Canucks.com.
She has contributed pieces to FoxSports.com and the New York Times Slapshot blog, as well as other stray destinations in cyberspace.
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Alanah’s Twitter: Not really hockey-ish. [LINK]
Other Canucks Blogs
Whoa. You said “Douche” in the subject line. Frigging Awesome. A whole new world just opened up for A2Y.
Oh, and great post A.
Posted by IwoCPO from Washington, DC on 01/05/09 at 02:57 PM ET