THIS POST IS ABOUT HOCKEY
...sort of.
Apparently the San Jose Sharks fans booed "O Canada," the Canadian national anthem sung before hockey and baseball games featuring a Canadian team. The Sharks are playing the Edmonton Oilers in a seven game playoff series. Edmonton is a Canadian city.
Honestly, I'm a little surprised that this would happen in San Jose, but I'm even more surprised it doesn't happen more often in regions of the country known for rabid nationalism. The Dallas Stars, Atlanta Thrashers, Nashville Predators and Colorado Avelanche fans apparently have the sense not to boo the Canadian national anthem, but hockey fans in the notoriously liberal Bay Area suddenly hate their neighbor to the north? Very odd.
It's a little silly, in my opinion, to play the Canadian national anthem during games involving a Canadian opponent. The San Jose Sharks may well have more players from Canada than the Edmonton Oilers. Their star center, Joe Thornton, hails from Ontario. The Sharks also feature Germans, Swedes, Czechs, and Fins. Hockey is probably the most international of popular sports in America (to the extent it is popular), so booing anyone's national anthem is ridiculous. On the other hand, why play the Canadian national anthem at all? Why not play the Star Spangled Banner for games played in the U.S., and O Canada for games played in Canada? That way fans don't have to endure a double dose of national anthems, the hometown fans get their own anthem, and embarassing situations like this are avoided.
Though I don't see the connection between any national anthem and a sporting event (other than the olympics, obviously), I'm not ready to fight tradition to the point of advocating the abolition of national anthems at sporting events altogether (although there is something a little odd about asking baseball teams consisting largely of Dominicans and Mexicans to observe the U.S. national anthem)...but I think maybe we can limit the national anthem playing to the host country. I can't think of any good reason why both anthems should be played just because both countries are theoretically represented by the teams. The makeup of the teams themselves is not related to the cities, and the fans in Tampa Bay are probably not all that interested in honoring Canada.
That isn't to say that the actions of the San Jose fans are excusable. There's no reason to disrespect Canada like that, notwithstanding the ironic "Blame Canada" sentiment that seems to have arose from the South Park movie, which was clearly using the ridiculousness of a nationalistic conflict between the U.S. and Canada to show the ridiculousness of nationalistic conflict in general. Sharks fans should not be proud of their booing of "O Canada," and I don't think it can be passed off as showing support for their team over the Canadian visitors. However, I don't see any reason for the situation to arise in the first place.
Apparently the San Jose Sharks fans booed "O Canada," the Canadian national anthem sung before hockey and baseball games featuring a Canadian team. The Sharks are playing the Edmonton Oilers in a seven game playoff series. Edmonton is a Canadian city.
Honestly, I'm a little surprised that this would happen in San Jose, but I'm even more surprised it doesn't happen more often in regions of the country known for rabid nationalism. The Dallas Stars, Atlanta Thrashers, Nashville Predators and Colorado Avelanche fans apparently have the sense not to boo the Canadian national anthem, but hockey fans in the notoriously liberal Bay Area suddenly hate their neighbor to the north? Very odd.
It's a little silly, in my opinion, to play the Canadian national anthem during games involving a Canadian opponent. The San Jose Sharks may well have more players from Canada than the Edmonton Oilers. Their star center, Joe Thornton, hails from Ontario. The Sharks also feature Germans, Swedes, Czechs, and Fins. Hockey is probably the most international of popular sports in America (to the extent it is popular), so booing anyone's national anthem is ridiculous. On the other hand, why play the Canadian national anthem at all? Why not play the Star Spangled Banner for games played in the U.S., and O Canada for games played in Canada? That way fans don't have to endure a double dose of national anthems, the hometown fans get their own anthem, and embarassing situations like this are avoided.
Though I don't see the connection between any national anthem and a sporting event (other than the olympics, obviously), I'm not ready to fight tradition to the point of advocating the abolition of national anthems at sporting events altogether (although there is something a little odd about asking baseball teams consisting largely of Dominicans and Mexicans to observe the U.S. national anthem)...but I think maybe we can limit the national anthem playing to the host country. I can't think of any good reason why both anthems should be played just because both countries are theoretically represented by the teams. The makeup of the teams themselves is not related to the cities, and the fans in Tampa Bay are probably not all that interested in honoring Canada.
That isn't to say that the actions of the San Jose fans are excusable. There's no reason to disrespect Canada like that, notwithstanding the ironic "Blame Canada" sentiment that seems to have arose from the South Park movie, which was clearly using the ridiculousness of a nationalistic conflict between the U.S. and Canada to show the ridiculousness of nationalistic conflict in general. Sharks fans should not be proud of their booing of "O Canada," and I don't think it can be passed off as showing support for their team over the Canadian visitors. However, I don't see any reason for the situation to arise in the first place.
posted by AdmiralLando at 11:12 AM
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