What’s annoying isn’t so much Canada losing to Italy in baseball on home soil the other night.
Forget pitching. That’s sports and these things happen, albeit as another Canadian choke job on the international stage.
But, as usual, most galling was certain Canadians’ reaction. “Who cares. We suck,” was a response from someone I know.
“At least we’ve got hockey,” was another, perhaps the most annoying.
Given that only 12,000 and change bothered to show up for the game, it shook down pretty similar to the first two Blue Jays’ home games any given season — almost a sellout against the U.S. in the opener, and a smattering of folks for Game 2. Could Team Canada have used more fans against Italy? Probably.
Sure, this World Baseball Classic thing is still in its infancy and hasn’t caught on yet. But will it ever in Canada? Or will it just go the way of every other international sport we attempt to succeed at, but don’t, in part because of lack of interest?
It’s not news, but TV ratings indicate unity around hockey and curling (interesting for a country that prides itself on multiculturalism), but support for every other sport is splintered into small groups.
As for the players, it’s safe to say now there’s always going to be a Ryan Dempster who just signed a contract, a Rich Harden who’s hurt, a Jamaal Magloire who chooses politics over playing, or a Samuel Dalembert who gets kicked off a team for reasons never fully explained. Just like there’s always going to be the funding issues for non-winter sports that Julian de Guzman brings up in the media that helps encourage his brother, Jonathan, to play soccer for another country.
It’s no wonder some people on this continent think we all live in igloos.
But like the other guy said, at least we’ve got hockey. And Scandinavia, Minnesota and nobody else are very impressed.
A bigger shocker
• The Netherlands defeated the Dominican Republic 2-1 last night to move on in the WBC. Venezuela beat Italy.
– John Chick is Metro Canada’s sports editor. john.chick@metronews.ca
