To answer Eddie's quassi-question about why there's no chatter about the hockey. For me there's two reasons...
1. The injuries - fake & ever so real. Can't stand it. I was looking forward to a fast moving, skill-filled, thrill-a-minute seven games of hockey. While there is a lot of that, we also get the senseless violence plus a relatively new thing in hockey - "simulation". Don Cherry is right - we should never have allowed the Euros into the NHL ;-)
2. The inevitable outcome. Ho hum. Since the beginning of time, without fail, whenever a Canadian city hosts the Olympic Games (summer or winter) the following year that city's NHL team wins the Stanley Cup.
I used to coach hockey for years, I am sure the Canadians don't mind hockey in June. But come on, its just violent entertainment, those sticks are like skating around on thin steel blades, on ice and with a weapon.. I would say a lot of people get some kind of release watching a fight as part of a hockey game. I know I have at some point in my life, even been a part of a few. AP doesn't really attract that type of crowd. I hope Eddie doesn't mind. Maybe I missed a thread about snowmobiles.
....and hopefully sometime soon the Quebec Nordiques and Hamilton Tigers will join them back in the NHL too. The Peg only had to wait 15 or 16 years. Hamilton has been NHL'less for over 85 years now.
NHL hockey in June is very exciting if your team is still in the running for the Stanley Cup. We had that chance in Ottawa a few years ago. It was great - the street parties, the tailgate parties at the arena, wearing bare shirt sleeves to go to a hockey game, the flags on the cars, the horns honking with every goal. Everyone was a fan!
But the hangover is awful. The good young players get inflated offers elsewhere and desert the team. Others take to putting powder up their nose and the team is never the same.
Hockey in June is dull for the fans of the 28 teams already on the golf courses and incomprehensible for the rest of the world.
If the NHL truly has parity then a team should get to the Cup finals once every 15 years and win the cup once every 30. The extended playoff structure is there to give teams interim goals and bragging rights - ie made the playoffs (Sorry Toronto but that should be better than every second yr), second round (at least every fourth year), etc.
Canadian orienteering seems to have a better chance of putting athletes in the top 16 of a world event than Toronto winning the Stanley Cup!
As they say - location, location, location. I may be the only one watching from Baltimore. One-man party in the street when the Bruins win! :) Maybe I'll flip my Subaru over and start some fires.
>Since the beginning of time, without fail, whenever a Canadian city hosts the Olympic Games (summer or winter) the following year that city's NHL team wins the Stanley Cup.
So time to put money on the Nordiques winning the cup in 2023?
Rioting about someone else's performance, especially a sports performance, doesn't seem to make any sense at all. And I don't "get" the thrill of hockey boxing matches, either. I refuse to support the local hockey team because it's more fights than hockey. Guess they need a break from all that skating.
Unless you're rioting in opposition to a dictator's actions--then I can see a point.
From CBS Sports:
"...windows smashed to allow looters to get to the expensive Coach and Burberry purses. Merchandise went flying into the street. Women rampaged through the main floor makeup department, tossing each other products and squealing in delight."
Because we keep those on vinyl; you can really hear the bass in Rush like that. [I have no idea what I'm talking about with Rush, I can barely name 3 songs of theirs].
Hockey seems to attract a bit of a deranged fan base in North America. I can't say its the game though because in Europe - its Soccer. Soccer isn't even a violent sport. Sure there's some pushing and shoving but a body check is outright illegal. In the stands, they go nuts. They beat each other up.
Can you imagine this mentality in Orienteering?
OK. This summer it doesn't matter if we win or lose, we're gonna riot!
I'm gonna storm Whitehorse after the last race!
Well, I was thinking that the "we" was anyone running in the event. But in order to be like Vancouver, it would have to be our rabid fans. Somehow, I don't think that's going to happen.
Is anyone going to riot for me if I lose?
Seems rather silly when the idea is applied to other sports.