I am, to put it lightly, not much of a hockey fan. In fact
with the exception of watching part of the gold medal women's game during the
Olympics I do not think I have seen a game since the mid 1970s. I know that I
have not watched a complete NHL game in 35 years. I think the last playoff series I watched was probably in the mid 60s
when I was at UNB (University of New Brunswick) . Most of the guys in the
residence were anyone-but -Montreal-Canadians' fans and I felt somewhat obliged to watch and cheer for
the Montreal team whenever they played. However in hindsight I suspect that
watching those games had far more to do with not wanting to study as opposed to
feeling any real loyalty to my home
city.
When people ask me why I don't watch hockey, I usually say
something about not being able to keep track of all of the teams. But the truth
of the matter is that I don't like watching sports on TV. It is boring and I
usually can find something more entertaining to do. Even basketball which may
be my favourite TV sport, bores me after 15 or 20 minutes. You may therefore
imagine that I am not particularly pleased by the hockey playoffs. The fact
that there are Canadian teams in the playoffs does not engender one iota of
civic, provincial or national pride.
I am always amused at what local television stations define
as news. A few days ago the lead story of the evening news was the possibility
of the Toronto Maple Leafs winning their
series against Boston. There were interviews of fans in the street, mini
documentaries of how long it had been since the team had won anything, and tours of
people's basements where they stored their treasures of the glory days gone
past. It was not news! It may be un-Canadian to say but who won, may win or
lost a hockey game is not news. How people feel before a game or how they express
their angst after a losing game has little or nor significance in terms of the
country or the world. There are wars or rebellions to talk about, politicians
making ( or not making) decisions, and a host of national or international
events that not only could but should be discussed in some detail.
One has to wonder if the garment factory in Bangladesh had collapsed
on Sunday night - would it have been the lead story? If the story about RBCs
use of foreign workers had broken this week would it have gotten any air play
at all? Clearly the answer at best is that both stories would have got a lot
less air time. As well because there are frequently two games being played back
to back, one cannot even be sure when the news on CBC will be aired. Sometimes it is
squeezed in between periods! National
news in 10 minutes. Anyone who suggests that there is not some sort of bias or self
imposed censorship occurring within the national news is clearly not watching
the same TV news stations that I am.
So paint me as being unpatriotic. Label me as being not a
real Canadian. But hockey is not the be all and end all of the our national identity. Cheering for players who may or may not be
Canadian, who probably have little or no loyalty to a specific city and who get
paid far more than almost all of their fans is not part of my Canadian DNA. I can't wait for the season to be over.
P.S. Watching a live OHL game with my family is a wholly
different experience. Perhaps if I went down to the local sports pub, had a few
beers (or maybe more than a few beers) I would come to appreciate watching
professional sport on TV. But then I would never know if it was the game or
beer that I was truly appreciating. Which probably explains why Molson and Labatt,
to name a few beer companies, have been such long term sponsors of broadcasted professional
sports.
No comments:
Post a Comment