As I have come home today and am enjoying some relaxation, I finally have some time to post something new for everyone. And I find this a matter that deserves the time to be typed. I have read some status updates today from more than one person complaining, yelling, and expressing their dislike of people wearing Canada hockey jerseys in America. People asking where their national pride is at. Some even saying they should be deported. This is absolutely stupid. 1st and foremost it isn’t about national pride when professionals are playing the sport. 2nd, what do you expect? In a city like Pittsburgh when you have two of the top five players in the league on your team and wait a second yes thats right, they aren’t American. 3rd, this is 1980 when we were in a Cold War with the Soviets and all hell could be broken loose at any second… Canada is harmless. 4th, the marketing of those players. I am sorry, but if i wanted to sport an Olympic jersey from one of the Penguins it would probably be a Canadian Crosby, or a Russian Malkin jersey, no offense to Brooks Orpik (who I love) but its kind of hard to get your jersey man, that even goes for your Penguin jersey. 5th, its not America’s game, this isn’t basketball or football… As unfortunate as it is, and this is coming from a person that has played multiple levels of hockey my entire life, it isn’t big here in the States. It is life up there, its a hobby down here. Tomorrow’s game is going to be great, but when it is all said and done, Crosby will come back to Pittsburgh with Orpik, they will laugh, play jokes, and look towards another Cup… Eliminate professionals from the Olympics, and we have a different story on our hands, the nationalism is brought back into the Olympic sport of hockey. Until then, lets root for a good game, do I want the US to win? Sure. I am gonna cry about it if they don’t? No. I like a lot of the Canadian hockey players, as I did the Swedish, Slovaks, Russians, Swiss, and Czech… Let’s root for the American Bobseld team who has won gold for the first time since ’48, that’s where the big national pride should be.
