Lack of respect for America

[Jeff Murphy]

Canada has long been a country torn between its English and French past and its American future. Risking the wrath of my Quebecois friends, Montreal has been more French than anything else for a long time, in fact refusing to use English despite there being a requirement to do so by law (French and English are both legal national languages). I'm from British Columbia originally so I suppose that's the expected response. Seems like the locals are expressing the same cultural bias you might find if the US Soccer or Rugby teams went to play a match in Stade de France in Paris right now.

Oh and there was that one time during the World Series between the Jays and Braves when the Color Guard had the Canadian flag upside down... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

In the UK they had another big march today. London feels like an Islamic country sometimes. Blair clearly rolled the dice by committing to go ahead in the way that the good guys have. I think he'll be vindicated in the end, but the guy certainly has much bigger balls than Chretien (the Canadian PM of French descent).
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[yountto]

ATLANTA -- In their own apparent protest, Atlanta Thrashers fans made their own voices heard Friday night.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Saturday that fans booed during the Canadian national anthem before the Thrashers' NHL game against the Ottawa Senators.

It might have been a response to events from Thursday night, when Montreal fans booed during the U.S. national anthem before the Canadiens' game against the New York Islanders.

Canadiens president Pierre Boivin issued an apology Friday. The Thrashers organization did the same that night.

"The entire Thrashers' organization regrets the actions of a small number of fans that behaved disrespectfully during the Canadian anthem tonight prior to the Thrashers' game against the Ottawa Senators," the statement read as printed in the newspaper.

"The Thrashers' organization firmly believes this type of behavior has no place in professional sports. We hope that this was an isolated incident and apologize to anyone who was offended, including the Canadian-born members of both teams."



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