Sports in Canadian culture

[megadude]

Glad another team other than the Pats won. Glad this bird team didn't blow it like last year's avian team.

Indeed there are a few Eagles fans I've noticed over the years in Southern Ontario. I know one personally. Also know a mega fan of the Pats. He's my bro in law and he has supported them since after their 1985 SB appearance.

But majority of Pats fans seem to be band wagon jumpers, which is not exactly a revelation. It's not kids I see wearing Pats gear. It's guys in their 30s and 40s. And for some reason, I've seen way more Pats bumper stickers and fan wear in Burlington and Oakville in my past four years than I saw in the previous ten years in Mississauga and Brampton.

Interestingly, there's a car I see all the time at the Oakville GO station with Massachusetts plates that has a Pats and an Argos sticker beside the plate. My guess was that he must be part of the Argos organization, but originally from Boston.

Anyway, this is our flag football team from 2016. Won our division but lost in the "Super Bowl" to the Milton division champs. Happy the senior Eagles team avenged our loss. Though we won the "Super Bowl" last year as the Ravens.

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by Berklon

Yea, Toronto/Southern Ontario has their fanbases split up among a few teams -
it's not just Bills fans here. There are a ton of Pats, Steelers, Cowboys, Packers, Eagles, 49ers and Lions fans as well.

A friend/co-worker who's been a huge Eagles fan since the Randall Cunningham days finally had something to cheer about last night. Him and his buddies were out celebrating.

I don't think there are that many Eagle fans outside of Philly but there are a ton of Pat haters. Last night the bar I was was packed full of Eagle supporters but not a single jersey or hat in sight. People love an underdog.

Not really big on any football (CFL/NFL) but the Superbowl is always a great party.

Who didn't see this coming? Flipping cars smashing windows.......
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/04/us/ph...win/index.html

[esquire]

The bandwagon thing happens every single year. Very few NFL fans I know have deep rooting allegiances, "deep" defined as cheering for the same team for a decade or more, being reasonably knowledgeable about said team, having a few pieces of fan gear, and for bonus points, having gone on a trip to see that team play at least once.

I'm willing to bet most of the fans on TorontoDrew's streetcar were diehard Eagles fans since last month and wouldn't be able to pick Randall Cunningham out of a lineup. But of course, I concede that there's nothing wrong with that... it's just entertainment!

[Acajack]

I was just going to say something like that. I do know a number of people who are die-hard fans of NFL club X, Y or Z through thick and thin.

But generally speaking NFL fandom in Canada is extremely bandwagon-ish.

When you have a team like the Patriots that's been dynastic for close to 20 years people can stay on the bandwagon for a pretty long time.

If they start slumping though most Canadians will fall off their bandwagon pretty quickly. Contrary to their fans stateside who are closer to home.

Case in point: I knew tons of supposedly hardcore Dallas Cowboys fans in the 1990s. I don't know anyone who refers to themselves as a fan of that team today. (And they haven't always been bad of late - just not sexy.)

[esquire]

^ To add to that, most of the guys I know who actually are hardcore fans tend to jump on the bandwagon when the team is hot and then stay on it, unlike 95% of the others who leave once the team falls off the top.

For example, I'm sure a few years from now when the Pats go 4-12 a small handful of the fans from the current hot streak will still be there with their Brady and Gronk jerseys even though most of the other bandwagoners will have moved on to the Lions or Chargers or whichever other random team is hot at that point.

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Case in point: I knew tons of supposedly hardcore Dallas Cowboys fans in the 1990s. I don't know anyone who refers to themselves as a fan of that team today. (And they haven't always been bad of late - just not sexy.)

I remember vaguely a lot of Dallas fans back then as well.

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I was just going to say something like that. I do know a number of people who are die-hard fans of NFL club X, Y or Z through thick and thin.

But generally speaking NFL fandom in Canada is extremely bandwagon-ish.

When you have a team like the Patriots that's been dynastic for close to 20 years people can stay on the bandwagon for a pretty long time.

If they start slumping though most Canadians will fall off their bandwagon pretty quickly. Contrary to their fans stateside who are closer to home.

Case in point: I knew tons of supposedly hardcore Dallas Cowboys fans in the 1990s. I don't know anyone who refers to themselves as a fan of that team today. (And they haven't always been bad of late - just not sexy.)

I still see lots of long-standing Cowboys and Dolphins fans in my dad's generation. Not hardcore watch-every-game types, but those football fans are rare in Ontario for any team. Dynasties leave some residual fans long after the success fades. Wouldn't be surprised to see a bunch of dads sporting Brady jerseys in the next 15 years or so.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by SaskOttaLoo

Went to a Denver Saskatchewan game this weekend. Was my first time seeing a NLL game. Man, what a fun time! I really enjoyed how the game flows. It was previously unbelievable to me that Saskatoon and Denver could be in the same tier in any sport given their respective sizes, so that was fun to see. More of a surprise was to see that of the around 40 players across the two teams, only 2 were from the US (both from NY state). The rest were all from Canada and of those, all were from Ontario and BC except 2 from Alberta. Who knew how dominant Canadians are in lacrosse! I looked up the league and it's from Pennsylvania. Wonder why no one in Canada founded a lacrosse league first, given that it's a national sport.

The NLL needs to get its games on TV. I seem to recall they were on Sportsnet at one point?

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

Who didn't see this coming? Flipping cars smashing windows.......
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/04/us/ph...win/index.html

As I told some friends near the end of the game "It's going to be chaos in Philly if they win... or lose".

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

Not really big on any football (CFL/NFL) but the Superbowl is always a great party.

So is the Grey Cup. Canadians have historically gone to Grey Cup parties not Superbowl parties. The Superbowl party is a relatively new phenomenon in Canada. I watched the Superbowl for the first time in 15 years. It was a good game and we had fun. It's no different than a Grey Cup party except one watches teams from another country, there's no Canadian anthem, no mounties, no Cup, no one is actually from/has a connection to the cities playing in the game, and no one has been to any of their games ever.

I might attend a Superbowl party again but it's a bit like attending the birthday party of someone you don't know. No one else at the party knows them either so it's a bit weird imo. The Superbowl might as well have been Karachi playing Cape Town. I have about as much connection to these cities as I do to the ones I saw on tv.

I'll continue to go to/host Grey Cup parties every year though. Attending that makes a lot more sense to me.

[megadude]

Yesterday at 4pm I saw a couple in their 50s wearing Cowboys gear at Fortinos grocery store. Husband had the hat but also a pro bowl jersey with the Cowboys star on the shoulders. Wife had the jersey on. They were buying wings for the game.

You see several Cowboys star logos in Oakville and Milton, which makes you think there's a lot of Dallas fans. But it's actually Halton Cowboys, which runs tackle and flag football.

And in Burlington I would see the Calgary Stampeders logo a lot, but then realized it was Burlington Stampeders football. And the Nebraska N fooled me as well until I realized it was Nelson Lords HS football.

Of course, lots of hockey teams everywhere borrowing NHL logos and names like Oakville Rangers, Mississauga Sens, Don Mills Flyers, Toronto Red Wings, Vaughan Kings, etc. They may or may not customize by putting their city name on it somewhere.

[Acajack]

........

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ To add to that, most of the guys I know who actually are hardcore fans tend to jump on the bandwagon when the team is hot and then stay on it, unlike 95% of the others who leave once the team falls off the top.

For example, I'm sure a few years from now when the Pats go 4-12 a small handful of the fans from the current hot streak will still be there with their Brady and Gronk jerseys even though most of the other bandwagoners will have moved on to the Lions or Chargers or whichever other random team is hot at that point.

I don't always go out for the Super Bowl but last night I did.

The sports bar I was at was about 90% full. The crowd seemed to be fairly split between the two teams, based on the cheering. Less than 10% of people were wearing NFL gear of any kind, and when they were it wasn't necessarily Pats or Eagles gear.

I didn't hear anyone speaking English during the entire time I was there. (Except for the NBC announcers on the speaker system - they had that feed on. I guess it was because of the ads.)

A good chunk of the crowd (maybe 20%) left at halftime, and by the time the game ended it was just over half full.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by isaidso

So is the Grey Cup. Canadians have historically gone to Grey Cup parties not Superbowl parties. The Superbowl party is a relatively new phenomenon in Canada. I watched the Superbowl for the first time in 15 years. It was a good game and we had fun. It's no different than a Grey Cup party except one watches teams from another country, there's no Canadian anthem, no mounties, no Cup, and no one is actually from the cities playing in the game.

I might attend a Superbowl party again but it's a bit like attending the birthday party of someone you don't know. No one else at the party knows them either so it's a bit weird imo. I'll continue to go to/host Grey Cup parties every year though.

My co-worker, who is an Argos seasons tickets holder, goes to a GC party every year at a legion somewhere in the east end. He invited me a couple of times, but I that's too far away for me. But he says it's a blast because not only are they having fun pounding down the brews, but he gets to talk CFL with knowledgeable people on the subject matter.

For the two SB parties I've been to, the vast majority of people don't even know the basic rules of football let alone talk football with you.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by megadude

My co-worker, who is an Argos seasons tickets holder, goes to a GC party every year at a legion somewhere in the east end. He invited me a couple of times, but I that's too far away for me. But he says it's a blast because not only are they having fun pounding down the brews, but he gets to talk CFL with knowledgeable people on the subject matter.

For the two SB parties I've been to, the vast majority of people don't even know the basic rules of football let alone talk football with you.

From what my friend tells me, there are a ton more bandwagon people at Superbowl parties because it's the trendy thing to do these days. There are some of those at Grey Cup parties but generally the people at them know a thing or two about football. At Grey Cup parties there are usually a bunch of people who are from the cities/provinces involved which makes it better imo.

It's one of the few times a sporting event helps bind Canadians together. We don't crown a national champion in basketball, baseball, or lacrosse. We don't even do that in hockey. Football is the only pro sport where we do that.

I usually make a birthday cake for the Grey Cup complete with candles.

[Acajack]

Now that I think of it, I remember that in the 1990s when the Buffalo Bills had their really good teams (and appeared in four Super Bowls in a row), they were very close to being considered a "home team" in Eastern Ontario. This was due to their success, their geographic proximity (closest place to see NFL games) and televised games and media coverage on the U.S. stations from Western New York that were carried by the region's cable systems.

There were fans of lots of other teams as well, but the Bills seemed to have the largest fan base during that specific period of time. Maybe not a majority but certainly a plurality. (So not quite as strong as, say, the Seahawks in Vancouver.)

I went to Super Bowl parties at homes and bars during that period and even though they were playing allegedly sexier teams like the Giants and Cowboys (IIRC), people were very predominantly for the Bills.

I don't live in Eastern Ontario anymore but I am not that far away. My sense is that the Bills have faded from the spotlight. They're probably no more popular than the Denver Broncos or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by isaidso

From what my friend tells me, there are a ton more bandwagon people at Superbowl parties because it's the trendy thing to do these days. There are some of those at Grey Cup parties but generally the people at them know a thing or two about football. At Grey Cup parties there are usually a bunch of people who are from the cities/provinces involved which makes it better imo.

It's one of the few times a sporting event helps bind Canadians together. We don't crown a national champion in basketball, baseball, or lacrosse. We don't even do that in hockey. Football is the only pro sport where we do that.

I usually make a birthday cake for the Grey Cup complete with candles.

My friend's mom used to make a cake like that for the Grey Cup too when we were teens.

[Berklon]

The phenomenon of the Super Bowl party has been a thing when I was a kid over 40 years ago - maybe even longer. It has grown since then though. But that just might be a Southern Ontario thing.

For the longest time the most amount of TVs sold for the year was the playoffs leading up to the Super Bowl (it may be second now behind Black Friday). That's why Best Buy (and Future Shop before that) always swamped their flyers with sales on TVs. Grocery stores have a lot of sales on party snacks, and pizza places get the busiest. I usually get my pizza delivered in around 25-30 minutes at the same place, but every Super Bowl Sunday it takes at least 1 hour (took 75 minutes yesterday). The delivery guy said he was swamped, but he always takes the SB shift because he makes a buttload on tips.

[WhipperSnapper]

Superbowl parties have been around in southern Ontario for as long as I can remember. It's grown but so has the Superbowl. I'm pretty sure it's the youngest of all major team sport championships.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I don't always go out for the Super Bowl but last night I did.

The sports bar I was at was about 90% full. The crowd seemed to be fairly split between the two teams, based on the cheering. Less than 10% of people were wearing NFL gear of any kind, and when they were it wasn't necessarily Pats or Eagles gear.

I didn't hear anyone speaking English during the entire time I was there. (Except for the NBC announcers on the speaker system - they had that feed on. I guess it was because of the ads.)

A good chunk of the crowd (maybe 20%) left at halftime, and by the time the game ended it was just over half full.

That's pretty much what I'd expect... it strikes me as a party first and foremost where people are as interested in the halftime show and the ads as they are in the game itself.

Originally Posted by Acajack

Now that I think of it, I remember that in the 1990s when the Buffalo Bills had their really good teams (and appeared in four Super Bowls in a row), they were very close to being considered a "home team" in Eastern Ontario. This was due to their success, their geographic proximity (closest place to see NFL games) and televised games and media coverage on the U.S. stations from Western New York that were carried by the region's cable systems.

There were fans of lots of other teams as well, but the Bills seemed to have the largest fan base during that specific period of time. Maybe not a majority but certainly a plurality. (So not quite as strong as, say, the Seahawks in Vancouver.)

I went to Super Bowl parties at homes and bars during that period and even though they were playing allegedly sexier teams like the Giants and Cowboys (IIRC), people were very predominantly for the Bills.

I don't live in Eastern Ontario anymore but I am not that far away. My sense is that the Bills have faded from the spotlight. They're probably no more popular than the Denver Broncos or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

I visited Toronto a lot in the 90s and I definitely remember it feeling like "Bills Country" back then. You'd flip through the Toronto Sun circa 1994 (which was basically the go-to source for sports news stories in those pre-Internet days) and they basically treated the Bills like a home team in terms of the sheer amount of coverage. All that was understandable for the reasons you mention... successful team, geographic proximity, etc.

It's actually amazing to me how much it's dropped off over the years. Rather than being the precursor to an eventual move, it seems like the botched Bills in Toronto thing was the death blow to Bills fandom in that city.