How About The Young & Fearless Team USA Hockey???

[RTRD]

Lets hope.

Calling us arrogant. The nerve.

I forgot to add "very"...

Oh wait...I'm just kidding...geez, you guys are taking this so personal...I mean, you have to agree that most of you Canadians are pretty arrogant though, right?

At least you are really polite though...

 

[Ironhead]

Often times I do.

I live here because I was invited - and for the first couple of years it was a WELCOME respite.

But over time I saw a group of people...an entire society at large turn what was always a friendly brotherly type rivalry into just ugliness - vicious ugliness.

Some examples:

That day a few years ago on the anniversary of 9/11 when Andy Barrie had some punk ass kid on his show and allowed them to mock the angst of Americans without interruption of commentary

That day when someone walked down the street and mocked my (Canadian) wife for receiving a parking ticket simply because the car she was driving had U.S. plates

Then of course the day referenced above where a watched 16 and 17 year olds get booed by a crowd that had been gracious to every other team simply because they were wearing red white and blue.

Add to the the hundreds of times in nine years people have insulted me directly or indirectly upon discovering that I was an American

(most recent example...out with a gal on our 2nd date...go into an art gallery....there is a picture of Stephen harper with the owner of the gallery....my date, being a typical Toronto liberal, just has to know how said picture came to be, where upon the owner explains that heavens no, she doesn't share Harper's politics, but he is a distant relative....a few words are exchanged, and then date says to the other woman that I probably don't really understand the context of the conversation because I am an American...to which the woman replies "oh...too bad for you...lol" Would she say that in regards to my being Black? What if it had been revealed that I was gay?)

- and then the general lack of sympathy for having to live under such conditions (by comparison, being Black is a breeze, let me tell you), and yeah often times I hate it. I was reminded as much last year when I left for several months on business...how refreshing it was to not have to live with daily insults and disparagement both from people directly and in the media.

The real shame is how happy I was when i first got here...I was DELIRIOUS...so fucking glad to be out of New York....and so glad to be someplace where life was at a different pace and people were indeed kind and polite.

And then somebod(ies) decided my Black mostly liberal ass was somehow accountable and responsible for the actions of a white guy I've never met and who I had no say in bring into power...and whose politics I don't agree with. And everywhere I went...I was either asked to explain or justify....or people just took the direct route and hurdled an insult. And it hasn't let up, even though that guy isn't in power anymore.

Americans are this...Americans are that....you hear it everywhere, people repeating things that are absurd....how the hell can three hundred million people all be ANYTHING? And I am supposed to understand that mind you, they aren't talking about ME...even though it is ME they are saying all this to, and they know I am an American...and besides, its all in good humor anyway, right?

So yeah... one last time...I do hate it...and again, having landed another gig in another local, I am leaving. And I won't miss it anymore than you will miss me.

Try living someplace other than Toronto for awhile and you will get a glimpse into my world....I took a perverse pleasure during my time in Edmonton at how much apparently everybody else in Canada hates Toronto...and dont' really hate Americans all that much....

Wow.

You take a few incidents initiated by a few idiots and try to make them sound worst then they are.
I am sure that every Canadian who visited the US never ran into crap.
Give it a rest.

 

[shack]

Americans are this...Americans are that....you hear it everywhere, people repeating things that are absurd....how the hell can three hundred million people all be ANYTHING?

And do you propose to say that Americans don't have misconceptions about Canadians?

If you agree that the same goes on the other side of the border, then you should be able to understand, as Ironhead said, we have idiots here as well. Just don't paint us all with the same brush.

 

[Hard Idle]

Originally Posted by tribunusGreat job by the Yanks considering the depth of the two rosters. Most experts feel only Parise would've made our team.

Only Parise ?
Miller did OK and I would take Kane in a heartbeat. There were a few others who I just cannot think of right now that I would take.

Parise, Kane & Kessel are the only true "spearhead" 1st liners on the squad. The picture looks better on defense ( I firmly believe the Komisarek injury was GOOD thing for the team... ) but still, on paper it compared very poorly to Canada, Russia, Slovakia, Finland and even the Czechs & Swedes.

But then you have to factor in that the Russian & Slovak stars tend to be moody & inconsistent and their teams inevitably lack structure & cohesion. You also factor in that the Swedes & Finns were leaning heavily on players who are on the downsides and having poor years (although that doesn't fully excuse Finlands shameful Semifinal non-effort) and the Czechs just don't seem to have "it" these days. Then you add in that all of these teams styles are ill-suited to the smaller rinks, and they have celebrity entourage members behind the bench instead of a real coach ... well that basically evens things out, leaves room for an athletic, blue collar team to succeed with passion and gameplan.

It's no accident that the two teams playing for the gold medal were the two teams who that made the fewest lateral passes.

It does seem that the USA was the beneficiary of many fortunate bounces and gift goals (plus that Finnish quit-job) but you also have to credit them for creating some of that luck with pressure and positive play.

 

[Scenicdrive]

Parise, Kane & Kessel are the only true "spearhead" 1st liners on the squad. The picture looks better on defense ( I firmly believe the Komisarek injury was GOOD thing for the team... ) but still, on paper it compared very poorly to Canada, Russia, Slovakia, Finland and even the Czechs & Swedes....

It does seem that the USA was the beneficiary of many fortunate bounces and gift goals (plus that Finnish quit-job) but you also have to credit them for creating some of that luck with pressure and positive play.

You are certainly correct that the American team on paper compared very poorly to all these Hockey Superpowers. Team America were not expected to go so far and deep into the tournament. Bear in mind the sport of hockey in America is at best ‘a second class citizen’ when compared with NFL, NBA, MLB and as such. So Team USA represents an ‘American Dream’, a Cinderella story which is too good to be true if they strike gold against all these hockey superpowers. Sure enough, they fell short, despite playing with heart and passion. Hockey is Canada’s national sport and Canada is represented by an overall pool of superior talent compared with the smallish, inexperienced Americans. It will not surprise anyone Team Canada won but it will shock the entire hockey world if Team USA prevailed. Good thing Canada won gold or the entire nation will sink into depression.

 

[RTRD]

Wow.

You take a few incidents initiated by a few idiots and try to make them sound worst then they are.
I am sure that every Canadian who visited the US never ran into crap.

Typically Canadian arrogance...to decide for me how I should feel about insults hurdled my way. Not to mention ignoring that I picked a few out - not that I said there had only been a few.

Give it a rest.

How about you kiss my Black American ass instead?

 

[RTRD]

And do you propose to say that Americans don't have misconceptions about Canadians?

Nope.

I do propose that that disparaging insults are not an ingrained part of the culture however...nor is there a never ending "see how we are superior" comparison conducted in the media...

 

[Ironhead]

Typically Canadian arrogance...to decide for me how I should feel about insults hurdled my way. Not to mention ignoring that I picked a few out - not that I said there had only been a few.



How about you kiss my Black American ass instead?

lol
How about you go wwaaaaay over board on what some idiots posted in the sports arm of a Escort site ... oh wait a minute ...

 

[Scenicdrive]

A Rare Honor For A Hockey Hero

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=520524
Buffalo Sabres goalie and U.S. Olympic Hockey MVP Ryan Miller will be a guest on NBC’s "Today" on Monday, March 8. Miller will discuss his experience at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Bringing home the silver medal with his team, Miller led the U.S. team to a perfect start winning five straight games, including victories over Canada, Switzerland and Finland. In addition to his MVP achievement, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) named Ryan "Best Goaltender" and voted him to the all-star team, which features three Americans, two Canadians, and one Slovak.

http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/...nbcs-today-show/page__pid__194576#entry194576

http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/03/08/980924/miller-gets-celebrity-treatment.html

Miller deserves such honor, for he is the best player in the tournament. Actually the entire USA hockey team should be applauded for going so far and deep into the gold medal round, when they were clearly not expected to.