Canada, the civilized
I made a caustic post in 2008 about Philadelphia fans' destructive rampage after the Phillies won the World Series. It's only fair that I report fans in my native Montreal are no better, and they have no championship to show for it — yet.
(Back in 2008, an acquaintance tut-tutted and brushed aside my complaints about those Philly fans, who overturned cars and looted a luggage store. "Just having a little fuuuuuun," he insisted in his infuriatingly condescending nasal drone. This was the same pirla who insisted that English is not a Germanic language.)
(Back in 2008, an acquaintance tut-tutted and brushed aside my complaints about those Philly fans, who overturned cars and looted a luggage store. "Just having a little fuuuuuun," he insisted in his infuriatingly condescending nasal drone. This was the same pirla who insisted that English is not a Germanic language.)
© Peter Rozovsky 2010
Labels: miscellaneous, Pen and Pencil Club, sports, stronzi and pirlas
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 1:01 AM
25 Comments:
I dont why exactly but the phrase "mob of angry Canadians" has an oxymoronic quality to it.
It used to, anyway.
Now that we're just like they are, I have to find something new to feel obnoxiously superior about with my American friends.
theres always the bagels
Yea, but what availeth a country a bagel if it loseth its soul?
I know this is buying deeper into my stereotype but I wonder if any of the Canadian criminals were dressed like this.
Living in the Boston area, we have been very spoiled of late, with all of our sports teams. Too bad I can't afford to attend any of the games. Not a fan of hockey, but I really hope the Bruins don't choke tonight, so they can play the Habs.
From what I'm told ;) Canada has the edge on us, with a certain agricultural export.
Adrian, if the guy wants to be taken seriously, he needs to lose the fuzzy lions.
Hockey was huge in Boston in the early 70's. Just about every family wathed the Bruins games, together. One Christmas, me an my two brother's all got the Bobby Orr starter set.
We had our own Broadway Joe, in Derek Sanderson. Two non-Bruins names that come to mind are, Ken Dryden, and Stan Makita.
One thing I will never forget is Wayne Maki smashing a stick over Teddy Green's head. He was, and might still be Public enemy # 1 to Bruin's fans.
The thing that dumbfounds me, is that we were always playing hockey on ponds,unsupervised by adults. For some reason outdoor ice has become taboo. Is "The Omen" to blame, or maybe the proliferation of indoor rinks?
I remember the time Phil Esposito charmed Canada by falling on his keister during player introductions before one of the Canada-Russia games in 1972, and I remember the stitches Gerry Cheevers would paint on his mask every time he got hit in the mask by a shot. A more innocent time, it was. Can you imagine how much money he'd milk out of that today, having some company sell Gerry Cheevers goalie masks?
The thing that dumbfounds me, is that we were always playing hockey on ponds,unsupervised by adults. For some reason outdoor ice has become taboo. Is "The Omen" to blame, or maybe the proliferation of indoor rinks?
Global warming is only partly to blame for that. We also rode our bicycles without helmets, and most of us lived to tell about it.
To recycle a comment I made about Philadelphia during the 2008 celebratory riots, I guess we can now consider Montreal to be "The West Virginia of Canada."
Adrian,
You ever want to see a "mob of angry Canadian," then get John McFetridge liquored up and tell him THE DEPARTED is Scorsese's finest film. Then stand back.
I guess we can now consider Montreal to be "The West Virginia of Canada."
I remember that comment. Thing is, I'm not sure fans anywhere else in Canada would behave any differently. I once thought Canadians were more civilized than Americans in such matters, but no more.
Montreal fans behaved badly after the Canadiens' two most recent Stanley Cups and even after a first-round defeat of the Bruins a few years ago. I wonder how Edmonton fans reacted after all the Oilers' Cups or how Toronto will react if the Maple Leafs ever win again.
If you really want to see a mob of angry Canadians, tell them that Michael Jordan was the greatest North American athlete of the twentieth century.
Dana
The thing I found fascinating about The Departed was that - Marky Mark aside - no one was able to do a Boston accent. Not even Matt Damon who is from Boston. Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin were like two drunks in a bar desperately trying to do Mayor Quimby from The Simpsons.
I think it might be tied with New York, New York or Cape Fear as Scorsese's worst film.
Adrian, what do you think accounts for bad accents, whether Boston or Irish or what have you? Are the actors incompetent? Do the producers or the director insist on accents that audiences will feel comfortable with, as opposed to an authentic accent?
Maybe because I live in the Boston area, it sounds even more pathetic, when I hear it. They all try to sound like a Kennedy and the Kennedy's have their own version of the accent.
Freddy from "The Brotherhood" gets it exaclty right, but he is from Massachusetts.
Whenever I have to spell my last name over the phone, ah, eh, ay, ah,di,oh,en is what they hear, and I have to break it down for them on the second try in a New England WASP accent.
How come every Irish American child is named Mary Grace or Mary Rose in the movies or TV? I have never met one in my life, and have spent a lot of time in Southie and Charlestown.
This may be blashmemy, but I really don't dig Dennis Lehane all that much. I gave up on Mystic River because of the pacing. "Boyos" was a good novel based in Southie.
Minor correction to my last post. I meant "Shutter Island", which I bought solely for the "Worlds greatest ending". Sorry to say, I have to wait for the DVD or On Demand. Is it really such a great ending?
Peter,
You have inspired me. Besides catching the B's ending at Fenway, I have not watched a pro hockey game since 1972.
My son actually plays hockey and at one of the rinks, they have a signed picture of "The Cheese" in action. He asked me why he is wearing a Jason mask.
Sean, I saw a clip from one of the movies based on a Lehane novel -- Gone, Baby, Gone, I think -- touting the supposedly Oscar-worthy performance of one of the actresses. To me it was a lot of scenery-chewing.
I started one of Lehane's Kensey and Gennaro novels. His version of wise-cracking PIs seemed forced and didn't do much for me, so I gave up. I do remember that the prime suspect at the point I stopped reading shared the name, first and last, of one of my old bosses.
I wonder if the Mary Grace/Mary Rose thing parallels one of my suggestions about bad Irish accents. Maybe directors and actors give American audiences what they think those audiences want and expect of Irish American characters, rather than realistic versions.
Gone Baby Gone sucked. I will rarely pay to go to a movie, but I am eagerly awaiting the sequels to Smokin' Aces & Rock-n-Rolla.
What a choke by the B's. Hope the Canadiens win it all.
A choke of historic proportions, but the Flyers-Canadiens series has great potential.
I live in the heartland of Flyers fandom. I wish I had a Canadiens sweater that I could wear for the next week or so.
I'm down for the Canadiens against the Flyers. The Pens broke my heart, but Montreal played a perfect series and deserved to win, and it's hard for me to root against Hal Gill.
Meanwhile, the Flyers could play against Detroit and I'd root for Detroit. Hell, I'd root for the Taliban against the Flyers.
Dana, your worse-than-the-Taliban Flyers pulled off an astonishing comeback against the Bruins. That ought to earn them some fans.
The conference-finals matchups are full of exciting possibilities. The sport's most stories team will win the Stanley Cup, the Curse of Muldoon will end, Flyers break a drought of their own, or a team wins its first Cup. OK, that team is from California, so scratch them. If the Canadiens don't win the Cup, I want it to be the Blackhawks.
P.S. The Taliban need to cut down on their chippy play and stop taking stupid penalties.
Get those miserable Sharks outta there so one of the winners has to be one of the Original Six!
Not that I know much about or have ever even watched a hockey game live.
If I recall correctly, there was a run of three consecutive completed NHL seasons recently in which the Stanley Cup winners were based in Florida, North Carolina and California. This must not happen again. What's next? A Cup winner in Hawaii?
Post a Comment
<< Home