Sports in Canadian culture

[BretttheRiderFan]

The great thing about capitalism and freedom of the press is that if you feel like there's a huge gulf in sports coverage by the "Toronto-based national sports media", you can gather enough like-minded individuals and financial resources somewhere else and start competing against them. Or you can cut into their pockets by not watching Sportscentre or listening to Sportsnet Radio or following the Raptors in any way. Rather than complaining about a business model that is clearly working for Rogers and Bell, go out and prove that they're missing something big out there.

Also, I do like that this chart (assuming it's true, which I personally have big reservations about) actually shows all these westerners rooting for an American team. But I thought it was southern Ontarians wanting to be Americans? Clearly the glitz and glamour of Hollywood is poisoning the minds of western Canadians.

[BretttheRiderFan]

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

Newfoundland & Labrador represent less than 2% of Canada's population so it probably makes sense that province gets the brier only once every 50 years

That would only make sense if the Brier was allocated to a location based on its share of the national population, which isn't the case. Otherwise, Quebec would have hosted it more recently than 1988 in Chicoutimi. The last time Toronto hosted it was during WWII. Over the past ten years, the prairies hosts it about half the time, which is disproportionate considering we account for what, 1/5 of the country's population? I'm not complaining about any of this, of course, just highlighting the absurdity of your argument.

Judging by how well St. John's is doing in hosting this tournament, and how enthusiastically the city has gotten behind it, I'm just a little surprised that this hasn't happened in forty years. I would actually consider St. John's to be an ideal location for a Brier, if anything. At least as much as, say, a Kamloops or Red Deer, which have hosted it several times each.

[BretttheRiderFan]

New Heritage Minute about the Edmonton Grads! Some nice shots taken at Fort Edmonton Park to open it up.

Taken from Wikipedia:

The team compiled a record of about 502 wins and some 20 losses between 1915 and 1940.,[5][2] The Grads won their first Canadian title in 1922 by defeating the Shamrocks from London, Ontario. The next year the Grads competed for the Underwood Trophy (provided by the Underwood Typewriter Company), their first international competition. The Grads faced the Cleveland Favorite-Knits, who were the reigning American (and world) champions. The Grads defeated the Favorite-Knits in a two-game combined score match, 55 to 33. The Grads never relinquished the Canadian Championship and only returned the Underwood Trophy when the team disbanded in 1940.[6]

In addition to dominating their sport in North America, the Grads also took on the best teams in Europe, ultimately defeating challengers in Paris, London, Amsterdam, and Berlin. The Grads swept four consecutive Olympic Games from 1924 to 1936, winning all 27 Olympic matches they played and out scoring their opponents 1863 to 297. This achievement was unrecognized on the medal podium as women's basketball did not become an official Olympic sport until the 1976 summer games in Montreal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton_Grads

• Video Link

[Denscity]

76 000 fans expected for World Rugby 7s in Vancouver this weekend.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by BretttheRiderFan

Also, I do like that this chart (assuming it's true, which I personally have big reservations about) actually shows all these westerners rooting for an American team. But I thought it was southern Ontarians wanting to be Americans? Clearly the glitz and glamour of Hollywood is poisoning the minds of western Canadians.

Again, I don't know where they got that, but it seems far-fetched. This Twitter thing with Canada covered in Raptors red seems more plausible.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by rousseau

I don't know where you got that graphic, but according to this twitter thing the Raptors are by far the most popular NBA sports team in Canada.

https://interactive.twitter.com/nba_followers/

Though it's not clear how they came up with the rankings. I assume it goes by Twitter followers? It's arguable whether that's the most reliable metric for fan support, but it is interesting to see that the Raptors are among the league-leaders for "Twittership" by the numbers.

Personally, I think Canadian schoolkids should be forced to recite the names of the players on the Raptors' roster along with the previous game's result and the date and opponent for the upcoming match during the morning announcements. In between reciting the Lord's Prayer and singing the national anthem.

I find it extremely hard to believe that the Lakers or any other NBA team are more popular than the Raptors in largish portions of Canada. This includes the West and Atlantic, and even Quebec I'd wager.

[BretttheRiderFan]

Even when the Lakers won back to back titles about six or seven years ago, I didn't see many people sporting Lakers stuff in Alberta. The Raptors have always been #1 by a long shot IMHO, though the total number of people you'll see with anything NBA is dwarfed by NHL, CFL, NFL and MLB. If I were an alien plucked from outer space, I'd probably think the Blue Jays were a local Edmonton team along with the Oilers.

Then again, I honestly don't think many people are attracted to Lakers gear...it's not very attractive to look at, so they may be disproportionately underrepresented with what's visually out there. Raptors merch, especially since the reboot a couple years back is nice aesthetically (I think that's also a big reason you started seeing more Jays stuff, even a year or two before the huge trades and playoffs started happening, because they brought in this new ballcap).

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Junior hockey is a part of Canada's cultural lifeblood. I agree that it's a travesty that it doesn't get that much coverage. This really should change.

I am not even that big a junior hockey fan. But I can't help but notice the inordinate disconnect between paying bums in seats on the one hand, and media coverage on the other.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by BretttheRiderFan

Cultural detachment from your culture, not their culture. CIS basketball has very little to do with my culture, even if it goes on in my city.

And NCAA basketball between Wake Forest and Duke is more relevant to NW Alberta culture? Because that's often what we get instead of CIS...

[BretttheRiderFan]

Originally Posted by Acajack

And NCAA basketball between Wake Forest and Duke is more relevant to NW Alberta culture? Because that's often what we get instead of CIS...

It's about as relevant as CIS basketball between Carleton and Dalhousie...

Sadly for me though, there's no such sports network that tailors itself to the interests of the NW Alberta sports fan. There'd be a lot of AJHL hockey, chuckwagon racing and junior curling going on though. Though I do remember the gym being pretty full any time I went to a local college basketball (or volleyball) game in GP.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by mistercorporate

I don't hear anyone here complaining that people in Quebec don't like the same things we like, likewise it is ridiculous, myopic and intolerant to push ones tastes onto others.

.

That's a really good question and point.

I will say that when people in Quebec "opt out" of Canadian stuff, it's generally still Canadian stuff that they replace it with.

If people here forgo a program like Q for something, it's not for Prairie Home Companion on PBS, but rather A la semaine prochaine or Tout le monde en parle on Radio-Canada.

This may not be a satisfactory answer to you but it is a major difference.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by BretttheRiderFan

It's about as relevant as CIS basketball between Carleton and Dalhousie...

.

Well, for starters both Carleton and Dalhousie have Western Canadians on their rosters. I doubt there are very many on Duke and Wake Forest.

[BretttheRiderFan]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Well, for starters both Carleton and Dalhousie have Western Canadians on their rosters. I doubt there are very many on Duke and Wake Forest.

There would likely be plenty of western Canadians on the average Swiss pro hockey team too, but I don't know too many people who can tell me whether Bern or Davos are going to be winning the championship this year.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I am not even that big a junior hockey fan. But I can't help but notice the inordinate disconnect between paying bums in seats on the one hand, and media coverage on the other.

Canadian pride in our dominance of the NHL is sacrosanct, but where do people think the players come from? Ontario is the most important breeding ground for hockey players in the world. This place is ground zero for hockey.

You'd think that would resonate with the Toronto media.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by BretttheRiderFan

The great thing about capitalism and freedom of the press is that if you feel like there's a huge gulf in sports coverage by the "Toronto-based national sports media", you can gather enough like-minded individuals and financial resources somewhere else and start competing against them. Or you can cut into their pockets by not watching Sportscentre or listening to Sportsnet Radio or following the Raptors in any way. Rather than complaining about a business model that is clearly working for Rogers and Bell, go out and prove that they're missing something big out there.
.

Ever heard of the CRTC? Do you know what they do for a living?

You can't just start up your own sports network just like that.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by BretttheRiderFan

I'm a realist and realize that people like what they like. I'm not going to resent others for not enjoying CFL and curling, nor do I think for-profit news organizations like the Globe and Mail should feel pressure to cover basketball tournaments that are of little interest to their readership.

This shows an extremely high level of naïveté about culture and more broadly, about consumption.

Nobody was asking or wishing for a film like La La Land six months ago. But we got it anyway and we were told it was the film we just had to go see.

No one was wishing for a soft drink called Coca-Cola 100 years ago either.

The media is more persuasive than it is reactive. It conditions behaviour more than it reflects it.

We're force-fed stuff way more than we realize. The idea that we have all this choice is at least partly an illusion that is entertained in order to move us more happily in the direction they want.

[BretttheRiderFan]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Ever heard of the CRTC? Do you know what they do for a living?

You can't just start up your own sports network just like that.

You're right, the CRTC would do everything in their power to stop a new major sports network that was focused on providing Canadian content to a large audience from ever materializing.

[BretttheRiderFan]

Originally Posted by Acajack

This shows an extremely high level of naïveté about culture and more broadly, about consumption.

Nobody was asking or wishing for a film like La La Land six months ago. But we got it anyway and we were told it was the film we just had to go see.

No one was wishing for a soft drink called Coca-Cola 100 years ago either.

The media is more persuasive than it is reactive. It conditions behaviour more than it reflects it.

We're force-fed stuff way more than we realize. The idea that we have all this choice is at least partly an illusion that is entertained in order to move us more happily in the direction they want.

All the more reasons for you to tag along with your friends and go be an influencer, rather than complaining about what the current influencers are interested in.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by BretttheRiderFan

You're right, the CRTC would do everything in their power to stop a new major sports network that was focused on providing Canadian content to a large audience from ever materializing.

Indeed they would. Because they were not born yesterday.

They know that first of all the market for sports networks is already close to being saturated. They also know that the network that promises awesome Canadian content in its application for a licence, will in short order come back to ask for a relaxing of its licence conditions for lots of Canadian content, citing economic pressures, and just end up competing with TSN and Sportsnet for the rights to the NHL and various American properties in the not-too-distant future.

Canadian Broadcasting 101.

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by Acajack

That's a really good question and point.

I will say that when people in Quebec "opt out" of Canadian stuff, it's generally still Canadian stuff that they replace it with.

If people here forgo a program like Q for something, it's not for Prairie Home Companion on PBS, but rather A la semaine prochaine or Tout le monde en parle on Radio-Canada.

This may not be a satisfactory answer to you but it is a major difference.

So one sort of differentiation is okay but another is not? Whether Quebec opts for "other" Canadian stuff or French stuff is their business and should not be cause for ridicule or obnoxious generalizations. Likewise, whether Toronto opts for British stuff or American stuff or Swazi stuff at this given point in time is their goddamn business and shouldn't be reason to belittle them with snarky or bitter comments because they choose to do things how they see fit. I expect a better attitude from my fellow Canadian brothers and sisters.

One of the reasons people come to places like Toronto (not just from overseas but also from small towns throughout Canada) is that they're free to chart their own path and do their own thing, living in their own niche. There isn't broad pressure to live a certain ideal or behave a certain way, they're free to explore their own path without a requirement to fit a localized uniform ideal. They just have to be nice to one another and contribute to their society.

At the end of the day, as with anything else in life, if you want any given outcome then the solution is to build the case and the product so it seduces your intended audience. Things like the CFL may have seduced much of the country but it hasn't seduced Toronto (despite historically being popular here a few decades ago), if anything it is declining in attractiveness. Don't blame the customer, blame the marketers or the product, an approach that works in one place will not necessarily work in another, particularly when a market is already different and evolving as rapidly as the GTA.