While some will quietly utter this week that our great nation may just all be going to ‘pot,’ others might be out and about cleaning up their yards and raking up their old ‘grass,’ a few ‘early birds’ will be cautiously polishing their golf clubs and tossing a baseball around, while most of us are hopefully just outside really enjoying the nippy but refreshing spring air and looking forward to nature’s magic transformation from boring brown to glorious green.
Please watch for these grand old traditions that will now kick in with the always stubborn arrival of spring: garage sales, pot holes and puddles, trade fair at the complex (April 28th-29th), shorts, all sorts of bikes with pedals and motors, convertibles, rubber boots, and a chance to ‘go fly a kite.’
Of course those of us who are avid sports fanatics will be heavily involved and dug into the frantic ‘playoff race’ for hockey and basketball, remembering only too well that last year at this time we were in total withdrawal because our great nation had absolutely NO CANADIAN TEAMS in the thrilling National Hockey League playoffs. This season however all of us ‘hockey hulksters’ of all ages were totally thrilled when five teams from this side of the border made it into the big show, and even though they got off to a bad 0 for 5 start we are all desperately hoping and cheering that sometime in June one of them will still be around to hoist Lord Stanley’s tattered old cup, just like we did so many times before.
Meanwhile in Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, and Montreal ‘play-off fever’ has caught on once again, with the best and most knowledgeable hockey fans in the world paying mega-bucks (from $83 to $1,300) to fill the stands, while thousands of others are cheering from the streets. All across the nation the rest of us who have gained enough ‘brownie points’ during the regular season might be allowed to have supper early so that we can gather on the couch and holler for OUR TEAM, making sure that we have enough refreshments and snacks to last us long into over-time. Up in Edmonton at the fabulous new Roger’s Place (The Katz Palace) rollicking sea-of-orange clad fans will fill every seat for the much hyped Oilers/Shark first round clash, while a hundred or so others paid $80 just for a chance to gather at the concourse and watch the big game on one of the big TV screens, which unfortunately left long and grumpy lines to the concession stands and bathrooms during the intermissions.
Even with the entire hockey playoff hullabaloo going on in Edmonton, just across town another 285,000 fans were invading the legendary Northlands Coliseum earlier in the week to watch the Ford Men’s World Curling Championships. My very good friends Bob and Donna took in the final weekend of end after end of exciting and amazingly skilled curling action, and expressed that the atmosphere was absolutely electric in all corners of the building. Avid curling fans from throughout the world were on hand in all their regalia and finest voices to cheer on their teams, but right from the first ‘rock toss’ it was quite clear that most of the folks in that venue and throughout our nation were loudly cheering for Brad Gushue’s Canadian team from Newfoundland/Labrador, who did not disappoint, and swept the talented 12-team field undefeated to hoist the coveted World Men’s Curling Championship hardware. My friends were very impressed by the grit and high spirits of the rowdy but extremely friendly Newfy fans, who even provided hot-cross buns for all those sitting in their section. All of this will only justify and assure everyone that OUR CANADA has and always will be the best hosts and fans in the world when it comes to staging any type of Provincial, National, International, and local events.
How about a few chuckles?
• Headline on Facebook last week. ‘It looks like United Airlines are now offering both red eye and black eye flights.’
• You don’t look anything like the long-haired skinny kid that I married 25 years ago. I need a DNA sample to make sure that it’s you. Always remember, if at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you. Have a great week, all of you.