June 05, 2004
Stanley Cup
Ever the traditionalist, I'm rooting for the Flames to bring home
the Stanley Cup tonight.
[ Vintage Jersey from River City Sports ]
Why it matters ...
Also, today's NYT has a feature on original rockem-sockem tough-guy hockey
commentator Don Cherry.
Some academics have devoted their careers to figuring out what makes sports
fans tick.
Daniel Wann, a psychology professor at Murray State University in Kentucky and
co-author of Sports Fan: The Psychology and Social Impact of Spectators, has
found that people look for chances to belong to something.
His studies have shown that being a sports fan even contributes to a person's
psychological well-being, that sports fans are healthier, even when the home
team loses.
It's also about creating memories and thinking you're helping the team, Halliwell
said.
Fans really want to believe they are the "seventh man" on the ice and they want
to look back and say they were part of it.
Torrie Salkeld was clad in red and clutching a plastic horn as she waited for the
start of the game that was being shown on the massive projection screen set up
on the ice at the Saddledome for the second game of the final.
"The Flames aren't even here and we're excited, the whole city is excited," the
14-year-old bellowed over the roar of more than 19,000 chanting fans.
Halliwell figures there's an element of national pride involved as well. Hockey,
after all, is thought of as Canada's game, and what better way to prove it than by
beating the United States, he said.
That's what David Baker, the owner of the Victory Sports Bar & Grill in Toronto,
has witnessed since his beloved Maple Leafs lost in the second round of the
playoffs. "A lot of people in here are saying at least there's a Canadian team that
can win."
The final has drawn impressive television ratings. The CBC said the fourth game
attracted 3.45 million viewers, making it the most-watched game of a final since
the seventh game of the 1994 series between the Vancouver Canucks and New
York Rangers. That was the last time a Canadian team made it to a final.
April 27, 2004
Irony wears a suit
Alanis Morissette, who was hosting the Juno Awards in Edmonton on Sunday,
wore a cartoon-style bodysuit in protest at TV and radio censorship in
the US. Story at BBC.
Yay Canada.
I wonder to what cartoons the BBC refer ?
February 03, 2004
December 16, 2003
Canadian Bankers
Allowing that the Bankers should be inside the government, Canada's
new Prime Minister, The Honourable the Prime Minister Paul Martin explains:
"I don't believe in right-wing dogmatism," he told the Liberal Party convention
that elected him their leader last month. "I don't believe that trickle-down
economics works or that rising levels of inequality speak to a healthy society. I
don't believe in left-wing dogmatism. I don't believe you can run a government with
bankers pounding at the door."
NYT.
