Friday, April 17, 2009

Meagan Fox + Vancouver Canucks + John Olerud = This Post

Good day - Trebor stops by with a record-shattering third hockey post in as many days, and discusses living as a Canucks fan in hostile waters...


To be a fan of those guys skating around with a “C” on their jersey is tough. Even though I now live in Calgary, I’m not talking about the Flames but rather the Canucks, and no I was not born in Vancouver. I’ll give you a few seconds to settle down form the shock………

Really, I need to give you that pause because it seems pure blasphemy for saying I’m a Canucks fan and for saying I’m not a Flames fan even though I’m in Cowtown. The looks of bewilderment I get, kinda like when people think about why this girl:






















Is with B.A.G:





















I just felt like posting a pic, so it may not be like that at all but... enjoy. This last one isn’t from a magazine shoot or anything just walking down the street.




















I’ve noticed lately, maybe because everyone starts getting more interested in hockey now'a days, that the question comes up more often. I’m asked what team I cheer for, upon my answer I get a puzzling look usually followed by ‘I thought you’re from Saskatchewan’, or ‘I didn’t know you lived in Vancouver.’ Why???

If I said I was an Oilers fan, I would get a shake of the head maybe a pump of the fist, but there’s an understanding. A Maple Leafs fan would get a chuckle, even a Canadians fan makes more sense to people than someone cheering for the Canucks. This isn’t just a Calgarian thing either, when I lived in Regina/Estevan the same reactions. It has gotten to point of needing to know why?

My only reprieve to this shocking behavior was from a trip I took on the weekend to Prince George. There were Canuck fans, I didn’t feel left out. There were no questions of how dare I cheer for a non-Alberta team. Even though according to a map Edmonton and Calgary are closer than Vancouver.

I should say that I’m not a big hockey fan, but sometime after the All-Star break I start getting into the games more. Maybe because I like the idea that every game means something. Yes I know 1 point may decide who goes to the playoffs in the end, but it’s hard getting excited over a 3 game winning streak to start the season when there’s 79 games to go. A 3 game win streak when there’s 10 games to go... different story.

Throughout the season when I have time I’ll log onto a sports page and check scores and news stories and it’s usually centered around 2 teams: the Canucks and the Penguins. Down the stretch though I’ll start paying more attention to the Canucks and their race, be it for the playoffs or for the division title (thanks Pylon Dion Phaneuf... maybe that’s unfair, the whole team has been shaky though it seems most games you can find a clip of Dion being skated around like the skates were cement.



A bit old but the laugh is awesome.

Anyway back to the question I always get ’Why the canucks?’ - and the first answer that comes to me is “Trevor Linden” there aren’t many Trevor’s in sports (Cause we're lazy! Well that’s what the baby name book says) that I’m aware of, it’s not like Chris, so I had to cheer for him.

Also I really got introduced to hockey via pro deck trading card phenom which for me was early 90’s. This is also true for baseball and I'm not sure why, but the player I remember the most from back then was John Olerud. Not sure if his card was hard to get or I liked him because he was funny looking like me, but he’s the player that I think of when I think baseball cards. So yeah the trading card frenzy coincided with the Canucks big playoff run, losing to the Rangers in game 7, some 15 years ago.

So in a nutshell that’s the reason why. I thought I’d throw that out - because if you're going to be a fan there should be some reason, even if it’s just that my dad was a fan of this team... so I became one.

Anyway the point of all this ramblings is about to come to fruition. I know there are some hockey fans that read this blog, fans of the Flames (Ed. Note - That was goaltender interference!!1!1), of the Oilers, of the fro... Canadians and to them I ask: why is that it’s such a shock to people when they find out I’m a Canucks fan and I’m not from the island?

Now I’ll answer what I can see some people saying right off the bat... cause they suck. So other than that, is it that they don’t have as much history? The only thing I can think of is the towel waving being a Canuck thing, though it was waved as a flag for surrendering to the refs terrible game calling, not like it’s used today. Though maybe it’s cause they’ve never won the cup???

(At the one minute mark)


Being from the Canadian prairies, the team I cheer for pretty much has to be Canadian, and the only Canadian team without a cup is the Canucks. Is that why it’s hard to believe that someone is a fan? I wish I knew and maybe someone with more wisdom and knowledge of the game can help out.

This was supposed to come prior to the start of the playoffs but oh well, just don’t want people thinking I’m jumping on their bandwagon when they come out of the West and finally take the cup……

Speaking of bandwagons... There was a poll and 36% of the people in Calgary think the Flames will win the series. If they win game 1 I wonder how much that number will change - a guy at work is betting for 90% believe they’ll win the Cup.
(Ed. Note - Trebor sent this before the game last night, but I wasn't able to put it up until this morning. The poll number will probably be at about 15% today.)

1 comment:

Luke said...

First of all, I gotta say - I don't get the Meagan Fox thing. I mean, I realize she possesses many of the physical traits sought by the male of the species. But I just don't get why people are setting themselves on fire about her. Maybe she's funny or something.

And about the Canucks - I think a lot of it has to do with the fact they seem to be Canada's forgotten team. For most people they'd probably be the last of the Canadian teams they would name, if asked.

Since most of the media is centered in the East, with Vancouver being on the west coast, media coverage rarely trickles out that far. Sure there's SportsNet Pacific - but nobody outside of BC watches that anyway. I'm sure TSN doesn't give the Canucks a whole lot of coverage.

When people ask what team you cheer for, I'm sure the Canucks aren't even on their list of possibilities - which leads to their surprise about you cheering for them.

That's my theory anyway.