Monday, June 07, 2004
O Canada
As often as we hear Canadians complain about the US, they don't seem to realize their PR problem South of the Border. There are an awful lot of people out there who are happy that Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup tonight, simply because they're not Canadian. I watched the game, but probably wouldn't have if both teams had been from either Canada or America. Just as there are some countries whom I'm always glad to see win (except against us), such as Australia and Poland, there is an increasing number of countries for whom I simply have disdain. It's nothing against individual Canadians, but the way their government has acted towards us lately is, in my opinion, shameful, and so I'd prefer that things like sports victories don't go to countries who've slighted us. Again, it's a PR problem, and one that's not going to be fixed by trying to blame Americans.
Incidentally, my order of team preference goes something like this:
1. Teams with which I'm affiliated (Virginia Tech, USA)
2. Teams where parents are alumni (Richmond, VMI, William & Mary)
3. DC area teams (Redskins, Capitals, Wizards, United, Senators)
4. Teams with some remarkable miracle story
5. Underdogs
6. Teams from the South/international allies
After that, it basically gets down to things like "Rivaldo so faked that injury. I hope Brazil loses this game." and "You know what? I just don't like Montreal/LSU/Portugal all that much."
Of course, rivals (UVA, Dallas, Canada) should usually be rooted against, but exceptions can be made. For instance, France and WVU should always lose. Not enough sports have the potential for scoreless ties. I have a feeling that any girls reading this are rolling their eyes, while most guys are probably thinking to themselves something like "hmm...put local teams behind underdogs, and that's about where I stand, too."
As often as we hear Canadians complain about the US, they don't seem to realize their PR problem South of the Border. There are an awful lot of people out there who are happy that Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup tonight, simply because they're not Canadian. I watched the game, but probably wouldn't have if both teams had been from either Canada or America. Just as there are some countries whom I'm always glad to see win (except against us), such as Australia and Poland, there is an increasing number of countries for whom I simply have disdain. It's nothing against individual Canadians, but the way their government has acted towards us lately is, in my opinion, shameful, and so I'd prefer that things like sports victories don't go to countries who've slighted us. Again, it's a PR problem, and one that's not going to be fixed by trying to blame Americans.
Incidentally, my order of team preference goes something like this:
1. Teams with which I'm affiliated (Virginia Tech, USA)
2. Teams where parents are alumni (Richmond, VMI, William & Mary)
3. DC area teams (Redskins, Capitals, Wizards, United, Senators)
4. Teams with some remarkable miracle story
5. Underdogs
6. Teams from the South/international allies
After that, it basically gets down to things like "Rivaldo so faked that injury. I hope Brazil loses this game." and "You know what? I just don't like Montreal/LSU/Portugal all that much."
Of course, rivals (UVA, Dallas, Canada) should usually be rooted against, but exceptions can be made. For instance, France and WVU should always lose. Not enough sports have the potential for scoreless ties. I have a feeling that any girls reading this are rolling their eyes, while most guys are probably thinking to themselves something like "hmm...put local teams behind underdogs, and that's about where I stand, too."
