Sports in Canadian culture

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Fellow SSPer VANRIDERFAN is from SW Manitoba I believe. His name leaves no doubt as to which CFL team he supports.

Hehehe... I thought he might notice my post

But yeah, it isn't surprising. Rider country bleeds well into Manitoba. All of Sask is firmly green and most of Manitoba is firmly blue, but there is that "disputed zone" that runs along the east side of the provincial border from about Swan River on down that has large numbers of fans of both teams. The zone used to be about 200 km wide but I suspect that it is receding somewhat as the Bombers have improved in recent years and the Riders are no longer a powerhouse.

But going back to the original point, considering that the Bombers have 90 years of history behind them as a "Winnipeg" team, I just don't see that changing anytime soon. The Manitoba Moose are the only pro team with a provincial name, and I think that's probably just due to the quirky fact that they inherited their identity from the Minnesota Moose which, as per usual for most MSP teams, avoided referencing the city they play in. The name and logo worked better with Manitoba. They are still predominantly a Winnipeg team, though.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by megadude

New TFC jersey has this little thing at the bottom naming all the municipalities of the GTA. It made me wonder if TFC even considered calling themselves GTAFC, though that definitely doesn't roll off the tongue.

Originally Posted by EpicPonyTime

Not to mention Hamilton has it's own soccer team (technically the York region does too, which makes me think this sudden attention to the entire region may have something to do with that...)

TFC is most likely doing this as a response to York9 coming in and claiming the communities of York. I can't imagine any other reason why they would do this now and not ten years ago.

[SaskScraper]

Originally Posted by esquire

Having a team named after a region usually comes across as a compromise where you don't want to piss off residents of a nearby city by excluding them...hence the Minneapolis-St. Paul teams which all get called "Minnesota" instead of being named after the city they play in. Or the Arizona Coyotes given that they don't actually play in Phoenix. The Saskatchewan Roughriders are to me one of the rare instances of a team that is fully embraced by the entire province/region and not really because of that type of compromise.

Had the 2020 Superbowl Champ Kansas City Chiefs had been named the "Missouri" Chiefs maybe Donald Trump would have got the winning State name correct...
we aren't in Kansas anymore Toto.. or are we?

https://www.hiiraan.com/news4/2020/F...ong_state.aspx

I agree Saskatchewan is rather unique in that even though the Riders are in city with only 25% of Saskatchewan population, (but it's % of provincial population growing), support for the team from outside the city is high, to the same extent that Green Bay gets support out of town.
Notably both the Riders get support from Saskatoon and Packers from Milwaukee, each Province/State's largest city, and each with driving distances to Pro Football the same (~2 hours).

Originally posted by VANRIDERFAN

That being said, eastern Saskatchewan is pretty hard core Jets territory.

I'd like to think Saskatchewan is a high NHL fan base and would go in heavily, all in, to support a Canadian NHL hockey team, & particularly the Jets, but the province fits strongly in the none/undecided category for the NHL.
A poll was taken a couple years ago and the Winnipeg Jets got 3% of Canada's vote for favourite NHL team, which corresponds about right considering BC & Alberta have 10%-11% of Canada's support for their provincial teams, Ontario teams have 32%, Habs have 26% support from Quebec and east coast.


https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/infographic-canadas-favourite-nhl-team-region-generation-sex/


Manitoba has 4% of Canada's population, which makes it maximum 75% of Manitoba's population possibly supporting the Jets with 3% Canada's support … and the remaining 25% of Manitoba's population being undecided… or maybe traitors.

[le calmar]

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

Had the 2020 Superbowl Champ Kansas City Chiefs had been named the "Missouri" Chiefs maybe Donald Trump would have got the winning State name correct...
we aren't in Kansas anymore Toto.. or are we?

I was aware that Kansas City was on the border with Missouri, but I had no idea the Missouri part was much larger than the Kansas part.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

Manitoba has 4% of Canada's population, which makes it maximum 75% of Manitoba's population possibly supporting the Jets with 3% Canada's support … and the remaining 25% of Manitoba's population being undecided… or maybe traitors.

There was no NHL team here for 15 years so a good number of people adopted other teams and in many cases grew up cheering for someone else. It not unusual for someone to call themselves a Jets fan but also to park it for a couple nights a year and cheer for someone else when their "real" favourite team comes to town.

It's a bit like Ottawa in that the Sens are still a relatively young team and a lot of people in the Ottawa area have loyalties to the Leafs, Habs or someone else.

I think that sort of thing will dwindle over time, though.

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Oops. Missed this!

Ha ha!
Attention to detail!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

There was no NHL team here for 15 years so a good number of people adopted other teams and in many cases grew up cheering for someone else. It not unusual for someone to call themselves a Jets fan but also to park it for a couple nights a year and cheer for someone else when their "real" favourite team comes to town.

It's a bit like Ottawa in that the Sens are still a relatively young team and a lot of people in the Ottawa area have loyalties to the Leafs, Habs or someone else.

I think that sort of thing will dwindle over time, though.

There is a considerable amount of support, often intergenerationally as a family tradition, for the Montreal Canadiens among historical francophone communities all across Canada. You have this going on in the Franco-Manitoban community as you do in the other provinces.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

There is a considerable amount of support, often intergenerationally as a family tradition, for the Montreal Canadiens among historical francophone communities all across Canada. You have this going on in the Franco-Manitoban community as you do in the other provinces.

100% true. It's practically a bigger surprise to me when a Franco-Manitoban DOESN'T pledge their allegiance to the Habs above all else.

I get the cultural allegiance to Montreal thing, but that doesn't explain the only other local fanbase with the size to rival the Canadiens': Toronto. Always loads of blue and white when the Leafs come to town. I'm sure there are plenty of local Leafs fans but I would imagine that many come in from Saskatchewan and NW Ontario to bolster the numbers.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

100% true. It's practically a bigger surprise to me when a Franco-Manitoban DOESN'T pledge their allegiance to the Habs above all else.

I get the cultural allegiance to Montreal thing, but that doesn't explain the only other local fanbase with the size to rival the Canadiens': Toronto. Always loads of blue and white when the Leafs come to town. I'm sure there are plenty of local Leafs fans but I would imagine that many come in from Saskatchewan and NW Ontario to bolster the numbers.

I think it's a holdover from the Original Six era where the English CBC would broadcast Leaf games across Western Canada, and the French CBC (both TV and radio in their case) would broadcast the Habs all across the country. (In the latter case, this practice only ended in 2004.)

The Leafs definitely seem to have quite a few fans all over Western Canada, though this appears to have eroded moreso over time than the Habs' fan base among francophones there has - probably due to the francophone population being more homogenous in terms of origins.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Acajack

There is a considerable amount of support, often intergenerationally as a family tradition, for the Montreal Canadiens among historical francophone communities all across Canada. You have this going on in the Franco-Manitoban community as you do in the other provinces.

I dream of an alternate reality where the Maroons didn't go under and Montreal had two present-day NHL teams, one for Anglos and one for Francos. Would be Old Firm-esque.

[suburbanite]

Article today in The Athletic about the increasing likelihood of a (partial) return to baseball in Montreal.

They seem to have the support of Manfred and the rest of the owners. The fan dynamics would be very interesting though. Tampa Bay fans would despise Montreal for trying to take their team and I can't imagine fans in Montreal would appreciate the hate. One of the biggest rivalries in the league would be within the fanbase of one team. I can see the social media posts now tracking the teams stats in Montreal vs. Tampa and claims that one shitty stadium is screwing them over more than the other

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

I agree Saskatchewan is rather unique in that even though the Riders are in city with only 25% of Saskatchewan population, (but it's % of provincial population growing), support for the team from outside the city is high, to the same extent that Green Bay gets support out of town.
Notably both the Riders get support from Saskatoon and Packers from Milwaukee, each Province/State's largest city, and each with driving distances to Pro Football the same (~2 hours).

Up until 1994, the Packers played 3 games a year at the old County Stadium in Milwaukee.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Article today in The Athletic about the increasing likelihood of a (partial) return to baseball in Montreal.

They seem to have the support of Manfred and the rest of the owners. The fan dynamics would be very interesting though. Tampa Bay fans would despise Montreal for trying to take their team and I can't imagine fans in Montreal would appreciate the hate. One of the biggest rivalries in the league would be within the fanbase of one team. I can see the social media posts now tracking the teams stats in Montreal vs. Tampa and claims that one shitty stadium is screwing them over more than the other

I posted an article last night in the Baseball in Canada forum about it, but it seems to have about as little interest as the last few seasons of the Expos did lol.

The guys on FAN 590 in Toronto talked to a Tampa writer today about it. They say that they figure the can build 2 stadiums for the price of what the Rangers are spending on their new stadium in Dallas. Bronfman was quoted yesterday when asked about building a stadium for 40 games "well, how many games does a hockey or basketball team play and they spend this much on arenas". I don't know, I think arenas have more year round revenue potential. Tampa also figures to use their stadium for spring training as well as try to get an MLS team for it. Honestly, I don't know why the don't make a deal with the Yankees and put some cash into Steinbrenner Field and play there.

[Denscity]

Nick Taylor from BC wins Pebble Beach!

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Nick Taylor from BC wins Pebble Beach!

I was flicking channels and saw that he was leading at the 7th hole and I thought "I think he is Canadian" I looked it up, confirmed and then went back to it later just as he was on the 18th hole. He picked up something like 1.6 million for the win.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by elly63

I was flicking channels and saw that he was leading at the 7th hole and I thought "I think he is Canadian" I looked it up, confirmed and then went back to it later just as he was on the 18th hole. He picked up something like 1.6 million for the win.

I think its $1.4M in cash, an invite to the Masters and PGA Championship etc.
Amazingly he's not the only golfer on the PGA tour from his home course Ledgeview in Abbotsford! I mean what are the chances?? Adam Hadwin.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Denscity

I think its $1.4M in cash, an invite to the Masters and PGA Championship etc.

Yes it was 1.4 million but watching it I was annoyed by Steve Young and the other guy screwing up their putts while Phil and Nick were finishing. Of course it was a pro/am but it kinda takes away from the finish.

[Denscity]

... also Nick gets a 2 year "exemption" meaning he doesnt have to qualify for any tournament beforehand for 2 years?

[FrankieFlowerpot]

Yeah - it's a two year exemption. He jumped from 229th to 101st in the world.

Winning a regular season PGA event gets the following

• First-place prize money, which exceeds $1 million at each non-opposite PGA Tour event.
• Multi-season extension of playing privileges. A regular PGA Tour event extends a player’s Tour card for two years after the current season. The Arnold Palmer Invitational, Memorial Tournament and World Golf Championships provide a three-year exemption. Winning a major championship or The Players provides a five-year exemption. Winning multiple times in a year adds an extra year for each additional win with a maximum of five years.
• FedEx Cup points: 500 for a regular PGA Tour event, 550 for a World Golf Championship, 600 for a major championship or The Players.
• Spot in the field at the Sentry Tournament of Champions
• Exemption into the next Masters Tournament
• Exemption into the next PGA Championship
• Exemption into the next Players Championship, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Memorial Invitational.

[elly63]

Canada's Graeme Fish breaks 10,000m world record at speed skating championships
Fellow Canadian Bloemen skates to silver; Women's pursuit team brings home bronze
CBC Sports Feb 14, 2020

Canada's Graeme Fish became a world champion in style on Friday.

The 22-year-old Moose Jaw, Sask., native broke the world record in the men's 10,000 metres with a time of 12 minutes 33.868 seconds at the single distance championships in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Fellow Canadian Ted-Jan Bloemen, the reigning Olympic champion in the distance, took silver in 12:45.014.

Calgary's Bloemen was the previous world-record holder at 12:36.30, also set in Salt Lake City during a 2015 World Cup meet.

Fish overtook that mark by nearly three seconds.

"I really wasn't focused on getting the world record," Fish said. "I just knew I needed to do this time or that time. I just kept going with the flow. Once I got comfortable, it kind of just went well for me."

Germany's Patrick Beckert took bronze after clocking in at 12:47.934.

The win was the first of Fish's career in the distance after making his A-final debut at the December World Cup in Kazakhstan, where he won bronze.

Fish became the first man from outside the Netherlands to win gold in the 10,000 at the world single distance championships. This year is the 20th time the event has been held.

Fish also brought home bronze in the 5,000 on Thursday, where Bloemen won gold.

"This gold medal means a little bit more to me than the world record," Fish said. "It could have been done numerous times before I did it. We never really get to skate here for a 10K. It's awesome. I can't believe it."

Later, Ottawa's Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann and Valerie Maltais of Saguenay, Que., won bronze for Canada in the women's team pursuit. Japan was first and the Netherlands was second.