I'm an American... first, foremost, and always. But if I HAD to live somewhere else, it might could be in The Great White Up:
Heh. Yeah, Toronto wouldn't be all THAT bad... except for the fact the Leafs suck. Maybe Vancouver would be more like it... it's warm, they have a great Chinatown (food!!), and the Canucks might could be contenders. About which, Gentle Reader, hockey season is ALMOST upon us. It can't get here soon enough.
(h/t: Kukla's Korner)
Great hockey ad! I've been missing Calgary and the cool weather.
ReplyDeleteDamn right.
ReplyDeleteAnd it looks like the Carolina Hurricanes built some depth and a bruising defense for the upcoming season.
Go 'Canes!
Buck, I had occasion to travel up to Montreal with my Son’s Ice Hockey Team (this was SN2 the Marine) in a week long tournament, well 5-days. I was struck by several things: First, the lack of geography knowledge by their equivalent of the Border Patrol (I was taken off the Bus because I was not born in the U.S., this is a story for another time); Second, it was frigging cold (we were there in February) but they had completely adapted to it (like underground tunnels that went everywhere, canals that they drove a zamboni down so people could ice skate to work and back, and the proliferation of snow machines), the Ice Hockey facilities were magnificent compared with facilities we had been in here in the states including three different AHL facilities and in the Flyers home rink as well; and then there was the style of game they played. Can you say Thug-ugly. All these years we had been told that Canadians’ were such touch players, you know the more technical skater and hockey players.
ReplyDeleteWell, let me tell you them’s all lies!!
To give you an idea; on the opening face-off of the very first game they started a fight that included every player on the ice except for the two goalies. It was amazing. We played one game where the opponent Canadian team played the whole game shorthanded; sometimes they were two down players (and this with Zebra’s that were friendly to their own countrymen). In another game we had 7 guys out with penalties; they couldn’t fit in the penalty box so they had to wait it out in the tunnel for their turn in the box.
This changed my perspective about both Ice Hockey and Canadians all at once. But still, I long for the start of the season!!
BT: Jimmy T sends.
You sound like my husband, except he can't wait for football and little league to get started - he's almost dancing around the house he's so excited.
ReplyDeleteChinese food sounds goooood. I'm hungry.
Lou: You'll note I didn't mention Calgary... or Edmonton... as alternate places to live. I think they just might have invented winter in one of those two cities. Nice in the summer, brutal otherwise.
ReplyDeleteMr. Webb: I really, seriously thought the 'Canes could go all the way this past season... especially after they beat Boston. But two back-to-back seven game series seem to have bled 'em dry. As they say... "Next year!"
Jimmy: I've been to Montreal once... the second Mrs. Pennington and I spent a week there back when we lived in Deetroit. I thought the city was beautiful, the food excellent, and the tunnels of which you speak a GREAT idea. We went in the winter, and we used those tunnels, believe me!
Your hockey story doesn't really surprise me... dunno exactly why... but it doesn't.
Daphne: We get kinda excited about football in these parts, too... but ONLY on Saturdays. :D
A college man! Good call, it's a much better game than the prima donna pros put on.
ReplyDelete