Canadian Culture? - Page 5

I pretty much pointed this out a while ago in another thread and was attacked by an angry Canadian that is now stalking me in other threads. It's funny, pathetic, and enlightening all at the same time.

This has been an interesting worthwhile thread. Please contain your sniping to the thread that has already gone to shit. I don't want it spreading.

I don't know if this is true any more. While it was true that apparently we couldn't have caffeine in non-cola soft drinks, for the past few years we have getting all the energy drinks you do, including the ones that look pretty much just like Mountain Dew anyway (like Full Throttle).

It's pretty much Calgary. Edmonton made a run at the Cup the following playoffs and their Blue Girls website was kinda lame. It seems to be a carry over from Stampede where dressing "cowboy" for work means dressing is jean shorts, a crop top and a straw cowboy hat. The ladies of Calgary seem to like to take their clothes off...a lot!

That's because you based your opinions on one trip to Calgary for a few days and news reports...and you're often a smug and condescending bastard.

I didn't base my opinion (on apparent similarity between Canadians and US Citizens) on my one visit to Calgary. I never said that. You post does support my original point about the defensiveness of some of the Canadian posters on this site which is how that long argument started off.

I wouldn't call it defensiveness at all. They are just stating fact. You are often a smug and condescending bastard.

I'm still sticking with Canadians being more or less mellow. Defensiveness is not how I would define Canadian culture.

I know, that's why it's in parentheses. However, dispensing with the prefix does disservice to hockey (also known as field hockey, real hockey and real-man's hockey) enjoyed by heterosexual men in many countries. Incidentally, adding the word "ice" to pre-existing sport then getting pissy when people say "ice" is fucking dumb (this is not a criticism of you Domingo - merely a peeve of mine).

Taking a sport that already exists and then adding the word "ice" to the front of it does not qualify as inventing it. Sorry. And even if it did, it definitely wasn't in montreal. I understand that Montreal was responsible for the first written rules and organising the first indoor game, so kudos on that.

Energy drinks are classified differently from pop. Root beer is classified as a cola, allowing manufacturers to add caffeine if they wish. Dr. pepper is officially a cola in Canada too. I guess the distinction is pretty blurred these days.

Field hockey is more gay than Tom Cruise, no matter how you try to spin it.

Field hockey is a girl sport, and I have no beef with it... But it's for ladies.

I never played field hockey, but we used to play floor hockey in gym class back in Texas (no ice). It was essentially an opportunity to high stick and beat the shit out of each other for 45 minutes, every day. Your shins would be black n blue from getting constantly hit with those plastic hockey sticks. Our coach would essentially just 'arm' us and let us go inside the gym; he didn't care what happened as long as we didn't permanently injure anyone.

GREAT memories.

Field hockey isn't even much fun to watch (much less play). A sport that needs to be transplanted to North America? Aussie Rules Football. I've enjoyed watching a few of those games.

Why thank you. Bet youse didn't know I played hockey, didja?

I have to disagree with you there, although it's a logical theory. Being lactose intolerant, I can't eat Ruffles dill pickle, OR sour cream and onion, because they contain dairy. However, I can eat as many all dressed as I want, because they contain NO dairy. I think "all dressed" is a bit of a misnomer.

That's just silly. You are messin' with the 'Muricans, no? All dressed is a flavour (that's flavor, south of the border) in its own right, not a mixed flavour grab-bag. All the chips in the bag taste the same, except where some have more flavouring stuck to them than others. Ya big kidder!

Brilliant idea? Take it one step further. A bag full of chips like salt and vinegar, ketchup, all the flavours, but instead of one chip with all the flavours make it a trail mix kind of thing. Only good. Trail mix is gross.

If people can't understand Rugby around here. They aren't going to understand Aussie Football.

Rugby's class. And I'm not just saying that 'cos Ireland are great.

Rugby: YES
Aussie Rules Football: YES

Both are great fun to watch. The one time that I played Rugby was an interesting experience.

Cricket: NO

I'm sorry, I just don't get it. I've watched a few games and I just don't see the appeal at all.

I enjoy Rugby (and it is indeed fun to watch) but Aussie Football is definitely leaps above it....I wish ESPN would show it at a decent hour for people to get a glimpse. Instantly hooks you in. I could easily see it doing better than soccer in the States. Provided it got any exposure at all.

I once saw competitive darts on television. Shit was riviting and the announcer was hilarious with the way he was getting into it.

Absolutely in agreement with you on cricket, Booth. If I were built for it, I'd love to give Rugby a try. If it's as fun to play as it is to watch... that could rule.

HBarr, I found it amazing when - during my first trip to the U.S. in '98 - no one seemed to know that they'd hosted the Football World Cup just 4 years earlier. The World Cup!

Well to be fair, today there's a bit more awareness of "football" in the US than in 94. More, but it still doesn't compare to most countries in the world. Funny thing is, it's very popular for little kids, but not taken seriously enough in college.

Never seen a full Rugby game, but that at least looks a bit interesting. Cricket on the other hand is less exciting than synchronized swimming.

Oh, no question. I can understand how it could happen during the tournament in '94 (or just after.) But it's still very curious how years after, and football becomes more prominent Stateside, that information could slip through the cultural cracks. It'd be up there with not knowing your nation held the last Olympics.

Incidentally, when I was back in New York in '98, me and the big bro came to the conclusion that we could have made it in the Major League. We meant it with the utmost respect then, and I still do now. That doesn't change my belief that we could've been the midfield Ronald and Frank De Boer of American soccer, or something to that effect.

You should watch a full rugby game, ElCapitan. A good starting point.

Which is the weirdest thing, because on paper, athletic girls running around in skirts hitting a ball aggressively and occasionally knocking each other over, sounds like the winningest combo in sports history.

You'd probably enjoy our local Saturday sports round-ups then, Doc. Lots of ladies in at least two niche sports.

Oh it is. There's nothing like an athletic girl with big, lucious legs running around... But the sport is stupid. That's why I said girls only.

The olympic field hockey males have more in common with Rugby players than they do with anyone else, they are big guys and have to deal with that kind of taunting all the time. I know that field hockey for men is seen as a joke in north america (presumeably -like soccer -because you suck ass at it - except mexico - viva mexico) just bear in mind that in a lot of the world any sport which uses ice-skates is seen as a bit feminine or in the 3rd world, totally alien. Also, the fact that most popular north american sports require a few grands worth of padding to protect your sensitive little bodies is also seen as soft. Also - and I don't know if this supports your argument or mine Field hockey is played with a much more civilised and sportsman-like spirit (read: less violence).

Bear in mind I'm not a field hockey fan, and i do love hockey (see where the "ice" prefix would come in handy) and I do not necessarily subscribe to the views about ice hockey above - I can find you a few million people who agree with it though.

My point is that when you dismiss a sport like that, please be aware that your sport has also been dismissed for the same reason by billions of people.

As long as you continue to invent your own variations on sports with baffling rules and ludicrous costs attached you will continue to be good at those games, much to the total disinterest of most of the rest of the world.

I know cricket will never catch on in North America, thank god, however, it's still the second most popular sport on the planet (after soccer), so clearly some people enjoy it.

I've also found that most field hockey playing girls look more like male rugby players.

The part of Scarburia where I grew up had a lot of people playing cricket but I certainly didn't understand it then.

Decades later an Indian friend tried to explain much of it to me and some of it sounds interesting.

I'm starting to think that it may belong to the same class of sports as curling: spectators use it as an excuse to get drunk since the action is slow enough that you drink, smoke and talk without missing anything.

Hey, don't disparage curling. That sport is addicting as hell to watch

Were you drunk while watching? Or stoned?

Just relating my experiences at the Brier in the Saddledome. Spent most of the time in the skybox counting how many drinks we could have during a shot.

One of the things I miss most since moving from Eastern Canada is being able to go to Quebec for sugar pie.

Nobody here seems to know what it is, dammit.

RE: HBarr - Drunk and sober. Laugh all that you want, but it's getting to be a pretty big deal up here in da Nort. I have a good friend that's in a curling league, and some of the matches get pretty intense.

Come on, Canada. Back me up on this one.

I agree that curling is fun to watch on tv -- but being there live at the biggest curling event just wasn't that engrossing. Maybe it was being surrounded by lawyers and the usual crowd at the Saddledome.

I can see that. You do have months in which you can't do much of anything. I guess even I would think curling is interesting after being house bound.

I don't agree with it because I've watched American Football, but I'm familiar with the assumption that it isn't as "tough" as Rugby. However, I've never heard anyone even jokingly consider (Ice) Hockey "soft" or anything remotely associated with the term. With good cause, as Ice Hockey kicks ass (often literally). Sorry to any Canadians annoyed by my use of the "ice" prefix; it's how we do it, 'round these parts.

Anyone who thinks Hockey is a "soft" sport hasn't A) seen Hockey being played, or B) Been checked by a 250 pound D man coming at you like a freight train.

Hockey is not a soft sport. It's second only to Rugby as to how fucking dangerous that game is.

Believe me, you won't see Johnny Weir playing 3 on 3 defense or whatever the term is.

Totally. I've a lot of respect for Hockey and (American) Football players for just that reason. Myopic (non-American) Football fans here think that because of the aforementioned padding issue.

curling is cool. We used to play it on nagano winter olypics for the playstation many many years ago and it is addictive as hell.

Hey I know that ice hockey is a brutal sport, people fucking die and the punch-ups that are permitted would never fly in any other sport (except boxing etc.) -& FYI I played rugby for years in the UK and the physical wreck i am now is testament to it's savagery. All I am saying is that I know people (who aren't familiar with Ice hockey) who think that anything done on ice skates might as well be figure-skating and that any sport requiring more padding than shin-pads is soft, call them ignorant if you want but I would guess that at least half the countries in the world don't even have an ice rink or access to one, indeed only 66 countries are even in the IIHF. That ignorance is the same one you're displaying towards field hockey etc. So come on, let's show a little love for those field hockey guys.

mr adam, I didn't tell you off for calling those sports "soft." I know what you meant.

All you need to know about Rugby are two things: That french calendar and the fact it made Gordon Brown go blind. 'Nuff said

C) been Clint Malarchuk.

I remember hearing when that happened that if the trainer had been on the other side of the ice he would've died; if memory serves, didn't the other player's skate slash his jugular or something?

Yes and Yes. It happened again fairly recently if I remember correctly. Wasn't a goalie this time though.