This year began with a very compelling NFL post season, with clearly heroic New Orleans prevailing through to a very exciting and interesting Super Bowl. The season was made even better for me because this is the first year my son has really enjoyed watching football with me, and we shared a Fantasy Football we called the Rat Bastards. Also, my friend Mike in New Orleans has season tickets to the Saints, and sometimes we would call him on his phone while he was there at the Superdome.
Shortly after the Superbowl, the Winter Olympics began, and it is still all around us, everyday. People talk about their impending trip to Vancouver or Whistler to see an event, and my boy's band played at the torch relay in the build-up. Those who have made the trip to Vancouver rave about the atmosphere at the events and in downtown Vancouver. In the Winter Olympics, we get excited for the first time in four years about bob-sleighing and luge and skeleton, and all the other odd and obscure winter olympic sports. We as Canadians love to beat the US in anything, and while we rarely do so in the Summer games, we have been able to do so repeatedly in these Olympics.
After the Olympics, the Stanley Cup Play-offs will begin and run for 6 weeks, with a game on TV nearly every evening. This is when NHL hockey really means something, and as a sports fan it is impossible not to get caught up in it all. The Vancouver Canucks have a legitimate shot at going deep in the play-offs this year, and the hope around here is palpable. Perhaps this is the Canucks' year, celebrating their 40th anniversary as a franchise, and 40 straight years without a Stanley Cup.
During this time, the final games of the English Premiership and Champions League of soccer will be played. My hope is that Arsenal will prevail over dreaded Manchester United and Chelsea at home, and win the European Champions Cup.
This summer, the World Cup of soccer is being held in South Africa. For me, this is the biggest sporting event in the world, easily eclipsing in appeal the summer olympics. We will get to see the elegant and superb Spanish team play the hard-nosed but brilliant Germans, the whining and ultra-conservative Italians, the creative Dutch, and my favourite, the English, and those are just the European sides. The Africans play with zeal and love to take risks, with Ghanaians throwing three forwards into the opposing team's box, and the Nigerians and Ivory Coastans seem to get better every year. The South Americans are led by the ever brilliant Brazilians, and the whining and loathsome Argentinians never fail to get under peoples' skin. The World Cup is about personalities of both individuals and national teams, and it is always filled with drama and beauty. Can't wait.
1 comment:
Thanks for this informative post. I learned that in addition to sports such as football there are hobbies like that thing you called the "own the podium" Olympics, boy bands, and fifa, whatever that is.
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