Sports in Canadian culture

[Hackslack]

I’ve watched a lot more NFL this year... though PVR has been a big reason why I watch NFL. It has helped fill the void left by by cancelled CFL season... I got season tix, and definitely missed the game a lot this year. It’s just something about showing up to the stadium on a nice afternoon day, or catching the game on a nice evening under the lights... especially when the rivals are in town... Not to mention, the CFL in my opinion is very undervalued. It is a great product, with great athletes, who excelled in college football. There are some unbelievable plays that happen in the CFL, just like we’d see down south... I prefer the CFL rules as well... from my experience, the ones who slag the CFL are usually the “fantasy football fan” who only follow the players and how well they played on any given day, not necessarily the games themselves.

I’ve attended the last 2 grey cups as well, which were awesome experiences.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Hackslack

I’ve watched a lot more NFL this year... though PVR has been a big reason why I watch NFL. It has helped fill the void left by by cancelled CFL season... I got season tix, and definitely missed the game a lot this year. It’s just something about showing up to the stadium on a nice afternoon day, or catching the game on a nice evening under the lights... especially when the rivals are in town... Not to mention, the CFL in my opinion is very undervalued. It is a great product, with great athletes, who excelled in college football. There are some unbelievable plays that happen in the CFL, just like we’d see down south... I prefer the CFL rules as well... from my experience, the ones who slag the CFL are usually the “fantasy football fan” who only follow the players and how well they played on any given day, not necessarily the games themselves.

I’ve attended the last 2 grey cups as well, which were awesome experiences.

Football overall is under developed/under developed in Canada. High school football programs are being cut, football fields are being replaced by soccer pitches, and university ball pales in comparison to what one sees in the US. On top of that is the splintering between football and the 4 down version played in the US. Hopefully, the 2021 CFL season can start this summer and hopefully it can benefit from people's eagerness to normalize their lives.

I've never been a season ticket holder but a number of people I know intend to do so this year to get the league back on its feet. It's something I hope is repeated nationally.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

I wonder if the North Division might have staying power based on that... teams like Florida and Dallas not having to sell their fans on seeing the Flames or Canucks. NBCSN can probably do without the Canadian vs. US team matchups too.

I am half-hoping for this as well.

I mean, I want to see US teams like the Bruins in Montreal of course, and the all-Canadian matchups this year are a bit much and will get repetitive after a while. (The latter issue of course is largely due to the fact the NHL doesn't have enough teams in Canada, but let's forget that for now.)

Geographic cross-border divisions are justified by a few factors: travel costs, time zones and rivalries.

Not sure the rivalry thing holds that much weight across the border except for a couple of exceptions.

Travel and time zones can't be that much of a deal-breaker either. Nothing that can't be worked around.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I am half-hoping for this as well.

I mean, I want to see US teams like the Bruins in Montreal of course, and the all-Canadian matchups this year are a bit much and will get repetitive after a while. (The latter issue of course is largely due to the fact the NHL doesn't have enough teams in Canada, but let's forget that for now.)

Geographic cross-border divisions are justified by a few factors: travel costs, time zones and rivalries.

Not sure the rivalry thing holds that much weight across the border except for a couple of exceptions.

Travel and time zones can't be that much of a deal-breaker either. Nothing that can't be worked around.

I wouldn't necessarily want to see the continuation of 2021 going forward, i.e. exclusively intra-division matchups, but I could get behind a situation where the schedule is heavily weighted to intra-division games.

As an example, the WHL is heavily slanted in the direction of intra-conference games. It's almost like two different leagues, West Coast and Prairies. Each team has one or two extended road trips to the other conference, but otherwise you travel within your own conference. Something like that could make sense for the NHL.

As things stand right now, the Canadian eastern conference teams might come to Winnipeg maybe once a season which is funny, since Jets/Leafs or Jets/Habs would be a way more popular matchup at the box office than Jets/Predators or Jets/Wild.

[TimB09]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Football overall is under developed/under developed in Canada. High school football programs are being cut, football fields are being replaced by soccer pitches, and university ball pales in comparison to what one sees in the US. On top of that is the splintering between football and the 4 down version played in the US. Hopefully, the 2021 CFL season can start this summer and hopefully it can benefit from people's eagerness to normalize their lives.

I've never been a season ticket holder but a number of people I know intend to do so this year to get the league back on its feet. It's something I hope is repeated nationally.

My wife and I bought season tickets for the Edmonton Whatevertheyllbecalled's upcoming season. Hopefully we can use them this year and start a family tradition of attending CFL games. I did it with my Dad for many years and I want to continue it with my son and wife.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Football overall is under developed/under developed in Canada. High school football programs are being cut, football fields are being replaced by soccer pitches, and university ball pales in comparison to what one sees in the US. On top of that is the splintering between football and the 4 down version played in the US. Hopefully, the 2021 CFL season can start this summer and hopefully it can benefit from people's eagerness to normalize their lives.

I've never been a season ticket holder but a number of people I know intend to do so this year to get the league back on its feet. It's something I hope is repeated nationally.

That's not so much the case in Quebec. Youth football programs seem to be growing and most every high school has a program now - many of them fairly recent.

New football fields are springing up here and there.

Soccer is definitely growing faster, though. But new soccer fields are generally replacing baseball diamonds, not football fields.

[Hackslack]

Why doesn’t the CFL partner with U Sports to promote the game, even discounted tickets to U games. It’s unfortunate they don’t. Surely it’s an easy win for everyone, university will get more people in the seats at no cost to the CFL... maybe some teams already do

[jonny24]

You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that before
-The Tragically Hip

Yep, that's me, don't give a fuck about hockey I tried, I think back around when the Jets came back (I have a jersey for some reason), but never was able to get into to it. I watch the Olympic final if Canada is in it, and that about it. Mostly I find the extreme hype fairly annoying. Same for Raptors/Jays when they're doing well

Just football and rugby for me. It works out pretty well, MLR rugby (Toronto Arrows) starts in February/March, and ends June/July. Then CFL from June to the end of November, and the end of NFL fills any desire to watch a game up until the Superbowl at the end of January. But the Christmas season fills a lot of that time, so most often I check out from Grey Cup to Superbowl.

I've tried for years to get into NFL, but without any connection to a team, I just never stuck with it. With rugby I'll watch anything, with football I need a rooting interest. Finally settled on the Bills just due to proximity and coverage on TSN radio, which was fun this year. Even still, I only watched about half the games. 1pm Sunday is nice if you've got nothing on, but it's damn inconvenient if you want to do literally anything else that day.

I've definitely dropped way down on anything CFL related for the bulk of covid, ever since they cancelled the season. Mostly out of initial frustration at the league, so much waffle and platitudes and not actually able to get anything done. I'm starting to get more excited as the teams are making signings, and looking like we might be able to actually attend the Grey Cup this year if vaccines go well. But I'm still kind of in "I'll believe it when I see it" mode for the upcoming season. Randy's latest letter to fans did nothing to help that.

My true number 1 team now is the Arrows. I'm checking every day for team news, following all the other teams in the MLR, got the new jersey for Christmas. It's looking like they won't be able to play in Canada for at least the start of the season, which blows, but I'll settle for watching them on TV just to have them back.

[thurmas]

With no real thread on non team sports on here thought I would start one on here. Let's hear your thoughts on any upcoming Boxing, MMA, Golf or Auto Racing news that you are interested in seeing. Heck even Tennis or Pro Wrestling will do.

[NetMapel]

Does Canada even have internet broadcast provider of F1 racing? I'm talking both live or on-demand. I would love to be able to subscribe to a site like TSN and be able to choose the sport (F1) and click on the race that I want to watch either live if available or on-demand after it's done. I choose F1 for this because of timezone difference which may make catching it live harder. So ideally, I can just put on its full replay in the weekend's afternoon locally and watch it.

[thurmas]

Originally Posted by NetMapel

Does Canada even have internet broadcast provider of F1 racing? I'm talking both live or on-demand. I would love to be able to subscribe to a site like TSN and be able to choose the sport (F1) and click on the race that I want to watch either live if available or on-demand after it's done. I choose F1 for this because of timezone difference which may make catching it live harder. So ideally, I can just put on its full replay in the weekend's afternoon locally and watch it.

only on f1's site for 79.99 a year

https://www.formula1.com/en/subscrib...-tv.html#en-CA

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by NetMapel

Does Canada even have internet broadcast provider of F1 racing? I'm talking both live or on-demand. I would love to be able to subscribe to a site like TSN and be able to choose the sport (F1) and click on the race that I want to watch either live if available or on-demand after it's done. I choose F1 for this because of timezone difference which may make catching it live harder. So ideally, I can just put on its full replay in the weekend's afternoon locally and watch it.

F1 began F1TV a few years ago which is essentially what you describe. Archived races, all sessions live or on demand, multi-language support, no-commentary audio channel, driver-specific video feeds, and live stats and data tracking. It's far better than watching on TSN, and IIRC TSN's contract is up at the end of 2021 so there's been some discussion on whether or not TSN will re-up or let the rights pass.

Merging this thread into the Sports Culture thread since this is where they usually go.

[JHikka]

Sportsnet doing a feature on Auclair this evening.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Australian Open.

Fernandez lost in the first round and Andreescu lost in the second. Probably a bit disappointing for Andreescu who was seeded 8th.

Shapovalov v. Auger-Aliassime in the third round. Raonic also in the third round as well. Raonic gets Djokovic if he wins. Terrible draws for the Canadians, but they've made the best of it.

Pospisil got a nasty draw with Medvedev in the first round.

[JHikka]

Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov are drawn together in every tournament. It's actually uncanny. I imagine Felix comes away with the win but it's basically a tossup. The winner likely gets Schwartzman which is a winnable match for either.

Raonic will have his hands full with Fucsovics i'd imagine.

Andreescu had a tough draw. Buzarnescu is one of the better non-seeded players and then Hsieh is a veteran of the circuit. I didn't catch the second match but I thought she looked good in the first round.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Who is Karatsev? One of very few qualifiers to make the semi-finals of a grand slam. No qualifier (on the men's draw) has ever made the finals. I wonder how healthy Djokovic is after his quarter final.

John McEnroe reaching the 1977 Wimbledon Semifinals
Filip Dewulf at the 1997 French Open
Vladimir Voltchkov at the 2000 Wimbledon Championships

Pretty interesting stuff to see, given how rare this is. He's also the first to get to the semi-finals in his first grand slam appearance.

[JHikka]

https://marketingnewscanada.com/news...oken-languages

Molson Canadian Partners with Sportsnet to Present Hockey Night in Canada for the First Time in Canada's 7 Most Commonly Spoken Languages

"Hockey is more than a sport in Canada; it’s part of culture, tradition and identity when you think of being Canadian. And for the approximately 350,000 people who are new to Canada each year, hockey can be a way to forge new connections with their communities and unite them with their new home – but, following a fast-paced sport with a lingo of its own sure can be challenging at first.

That’s why for the first time Molson Canadian is partnering with Sportsnet to present Hockey Night in Canada in 7 additional languages.

Taking place on April 17, 2021, Molson and Sportsnet are inviting more Canadians to experience our nation’s game, which will be streamed beyond the long-running English, French and Punjabi broadcasts in some of Canada’s most spoken languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, Hindi, Vietnamese, Tagalog, German, and Arabic.

"Canada is among the most multicultural nations in the world, and what an incredible thing it could be to intersect the pride we have in our country’s game with the pride we have in the diversity of its people,” said Joy Ghosh, Senior Brand Director for the Molson family of brands. “As Canada’s oldest brewery, connecting people over a beer for 235 years and being a decades-long supporter of hockey, we’re excited to make something so special happen on April 17.” The 7 languages selected are the most commonly spoken in each Canadian city with an associated NHL team and represent the mosaic of current and prospective hockey fans coast to coast; this multilingual edition therefore extends a wide and warm welcome to Canada’s unofficial national sport so more people can see what the passion is all about."

On April 17th, grab a Molson Canadian and enjoy the game. Canadians can head to www.sportsnet.ca/Molson to experience this special edition of Hockey Night in Canada featuring the Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Vancouver Canucks game at 7pm EST / 4pm PST followed by the Edmonton Oilers vs. Winnipeg Jets game at 10 pm EST / 7pm PST in their language of choice. Fans are also encouraged to share which language they’re watching in by tagging @molsoncanadian on Instagram or @Molson_Canadian on Twitter.

[kwoldtimer]

German?

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

German?

Immigrant mother tongues with more than 100,000 people in 2016, Canada

Mandarin 610,835
Cantonese 594,030
Punjabi 543,495
Tagalog 510,420
Spanish 495,090
Arabic 486,525
Italian 407,455
German 404,745
...
Vietnamese 166,830
...
Hindi 133,925

https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-r...016010-eng.cfm

They missed out on Spanish and Italian but yes. Interesting that they'd include German since it doesn't seem to have a huge base in any of the NHL cities proper as stressed in the media article.

[Acajack]

Nothing against German but it seems to me that hockey broadcasts would have been more fun in Spanish or Italian.

G-G-G-G-G-OOOOOOOOOOOOOL! Ta-vvvvvvvvvvvv-a-rrrrrrrrrrressssss!