Sports in Canadian culture

[HomeInMyShoes]

^Doh. Showed some resilience winning the third set tiebreak.

Too bad for Nishikori if the injury is serious. So much promise getting derailed by the injury bug.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by TiaRichardson

Sports played a huge part in making Canada more international. Look at the Raptors, they have players from all over the world and it matters a lot. Speaking of the Raptors, I met Demar DeRozan once, when he was recovering from a kidney injury, I recommended him to use kidney warmer and it is still to this day the greatest moment in my life.

That's pretty cool. Once I told John Lennon about this spleen reconstitutor after drinking too much booze and heckling the Smothers' brothers on stage. He became a lifelong friend and I still talk to him on the phone twice a week.

[MonctonRad]

N.B. could be home to (Canadian) basketball hall of fame
https://www.telegraphjournal.com/tel...e=daily-digest (paywall)

This is a paywalled article (damned Brunswick News), but I'll quote the most pertinent passages

It took a fire in 2010 to unearth what is believed to be the world's oldest basketball court in St. Stephen. And it was a secret meeting in Toronto that may prove key to making it the permanent home of the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame.

The St. Croix Vocational Institue Inc. building used to be run by the YMCA, where Lyman Archibald served as the director. Archibald was a student of basketball creator Dr. James Naismath, and was part of his first 10-man basketball team in 1891.

The St. Stephen (basketball) court was built just two years later in 1893 amid a massive YMCA expansion of the game across the world.

Over the next century the basketball court would fade into obscurity, until was re-discovered in 2010, hidden under a layer of carpet.

Canada Basketball has signed a memorandum of understanding with Canada Basketball 1st Inc. to move ahead with a feasibility and business study that could make the St. Croix Vocational Institue Inc. building on King Street the permanent home of the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame.

The local burghers in St. Stephen have visions of making the town "Canada's Cooperstown". I think this is a bit of a stretch, but this certainly is an interesting opportunity for the border town which is also home to the Ganong Chocolate Museum (actually a pretty big deal - Ganong came up with the concept of chocolate bars, and is responsible for both chicken bones and nougat). The Chocolate Museum has a neat format in the old chocolate factory, and a nice gift shop. Having the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame in town would be "icing on the cake" (so to speak).

[SignalHillHiker]

Speaking of basketball, I am absolutely shocked at how popular the St. John's Edge have become. The Newfoundland Growlers (hockey) are struggling to fill Mile One but the Edge can't even do promotions because they're already got a bigger audience than they can handle.

And the American players are just... lovely. It started with a guy whose surname is Skeet, which is Newfoundland slang for like... chav, scally, whatever. He latched onto that, became beloved. Now the latest group of players are posting social media videos using "yes b'y" and eating moose sausages and the rest. They're really good at appealing to the audience.

I genuinely didn't think this would really work, and if it did I assumed the audience would be mostly skeets. But it's everyone. And there's even an air of celebrity with Jason Mamoa regularly attending and various comparable stars. It's been a really nice addition to the water cooler convo around town.

[megadude]

I know Jason Mamoa filmed a movie in NFLD. I watched it several months ago. Wasn't too bad.

Cool that he attended games. I assume it was just then, right? He's not still going back is he? Every bball team has their court side celebrity like Drake, Spike Lee and Jack Nicholson.

[blueandgoldguy]

Is that movie with Momoa actually Frontier - the TV show on Discovery you are talking about?

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

N.B. could be home to (Canadian) basketball hall of fame
https://www.telegraphjournal.com/tel...e=daily-digest (paywall)[/I]

I'd like this to go to the Maritimes but if it gets put in St. Stephen's it's not going to get very many visitors. I'd much rather they put it in Saint John.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Speaking of basketball, I am absolutely shocked at how popular the St. John's Edge have become.

My brother lives in St. John's and looked at me with 2 heads when I brought up basketball. That was ~10 years ago but it encapsulated the cultural divide that exists between Newfoundland and the rest of the country.

I like that Canada isn't one homogenous block from one end to the other but it's also nice to see cultural exchange and common ground.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

Is that movie with Momoa actually Frontier - the TV show on Discovery you are talking about?

That's why he's been here for an extended period, yes. But he loves it and insisted the studios film portions of Aquaman here as well, so that's the movie. Petty Harbour (suburban St. John's) even gets CGI destroyed.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by isaidso

My brother lives in St. John's and looked at me with 2 heads when I brought up basketball. That was ~10 years ago but it encapsulated the cultural divide that exists between Newfoundland and the rest of the country.

I like that Canada isn't one homogenous block from one end to the other but it's also nice to see cultural exchange and common ground.

I hate to be a debbie downer but I don't see this as a cross-Canada cultural exchange or common ground at all.

St. John's doesn't play in the same league as Toronto and never will. Neither will most other Canadian cities who may have or get pro basketball teams in the future. The pro basketball landscape in Canada will likely be the NBA only in Toronto, a rinky-dink all-Canadian league in 6-10 cities (some big some smaller) and a couple of other Canadian teams taking part in B-grade U.S.-based leagues.

(And yes I am aware that basketball was invented by a Canadian.)

[SignalHillHiker]

I think he's alluding to the fact basketball was until recently a sport very few people here knew anything about. Now that this has changed, we have something in common with mainland areas that enjoy basketball.

It's like... football. For the most part it doesn't exist here. People don't play it growing up, schools don't offer it as a sport, people don't know the rules or teams or whatever else. There are exceptions to that, of course, but for the vast majority of people and in almost every way, football doesn't exist here.

Meanwhile, in the Maritimes, it has a bit of a presence. There's some teams, etc.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I hate to be a debbie downer but I don't see this as a cross-Canada cultural exchange or common ground at all.

St. John's doesn't play in the same league as Toronto and never will. Neither will most other Canadian cities who may have or get pro basketball teams in the future. The pro basketball landscape in Canada will likely be the NBA only in Toronto, a rinky-dink all-Canadian league in 6-10 cities (some big some smaller) and a couple of other Canadian teams taking part in B-grade U.S.-based leagues.

(And yes I am aware that basketball was invented by a Canadian.)

It does seem as though there is some potential for a decent Canadian league to occupy the niche that exists between the NBA and the G-League/regional US bus league level of basketball which are really the only options other than university basketball.

Could U-Sports ever occupy that role to the point where you might one day watch highlights from UAlberta/URegina matchup on Sportscentre? Or would it have to be a pro league that brings in quality players from abroad to elevate the level of play?

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by esquire

It does seem as though there is some potential for a decent Canadian league to occupy the niche that exists between the NBA and the G-League/regional US bus league level of basketball which are really the only options other than university basketball.

The CEBL is looking to fill that void and seems to be on the way to filling it more than NBL ever could.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by JHikka

The CEBL is looking to fill that void and seems to be on the way to filling it more than NBL ever could.

It remains to be seen whether it can capture public attention or if it's doomed to being the rinky dink domestic league that Acajack alluded to.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by esquire

It remains to be seen whether it can capture public attention or if it's doomed to being the rinky dink domestic league that Acajack alluded to.

I think having some kind of Canadian domestic league would at least provide some sort of landing spot for a lot of USports athletes. For USports to have any relevance whatsoever there needs to be a path that shows USports as a developmental tool for players to have value in the sport after they finish school, otherwise eyes are going to be elsewhere. In soccer at least the CPL is positioning itself as the main developmental landing spot for Canadian players of all shapes and sizes, and its teams have been signing a lot of players who have fallen through cracks either in Canada's system or abroad. Something similar may have to exist for basketball in Canada sooner rather than later.

If anything, CEBL has already shown better corporate heft than NBL - they already have sponsorship agreements with New Era and Spalding before startup. I can't recall NBL having sponsorship of that notereity.

[jjbnl]

Originally Posted by megadude

I know Jason Mamoa filmed a movie in NFLD. I watched it several months ago. Wasn't too bad.

Cool that he attended games. I assume it was just then, right? He's not still going back is he? Every bball team has their court side celebrity like Drake, Spike Lee and Jack Nicholson.

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

Is that movie with Momoa actually Frontier - the TV show on Discovery you are talking about?

He filmed Braven and parts of Aquaman in NL, as well as filming the TV/Netflix series Frontier.

He also came to Ice caps caps pretty regularly, although I haven't seen him at a Growler's game- but he's only been back for a few weeks

[Acajack]

I was not aware of the existence of the CEBL until now.

In my twisted mind that actually proves my point.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

It does seem as though there is some potential for a decent Canadian league to occupy the niche that exists between the NBA and the G-League/regional US bus league level of basketball which are really the only options other than university basketball.

Could U-Sports ever occupy that role to the point where you might one day watch highlights from UAlberta/URegina matchup on Sportscentre? Or would it have to be a pro league that brings in quality players from abroad to elevate the level of play?

I like your SportsCentre analogy. In order for this to be a unifying thing you'd need to have cross-country visibility via media and teams playing each other.

As it stands now no one in the GTA knows there is a pro basketball team in St. John's. Heck, do most Raptors fans in the 416 even know that Hamilton and a few other cities in southern Ontario have pro basketball teams? Betcha they don't.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Heck, do most Raptors fans in the 416 even know that Hamilton and a few other cities in southern Ontario have pro basketball teams? Betcha they don't.

Heck, are any denizens of the 416 even aware of other parts of Canada, or is Canada just a theoretical construct for them?

I have met Torontonians like this.........

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I like your SportsCentre analogy. In order for this to be a unifying thing you'd need to have cross-country visibility via media and teams playing each other.

For better or for worse, the SportsCentre (or Sports Central, or the sports page of the Globe and Mail, etc.) test is a significant barometer of a league's overall prominence.

Obviously the big 4 US-based leagues get a lot of coverage in the national media. And people can dump on the CFL all they want, but it gets a fair bit of ink too. Conversely, the NLL, AHL and even CHL can offer up some pretty awesome action but they are roundly ignored at a national level except for maybe the championship finals. U-Sports basketball definitely fits into that latter category.