Still no Jumbo-tron
This Thursday, May 26 from 11:30 a.m to 2:00 p.m. there will be a party for the Ottawa Senators at city hall. At first I thought, what the fucking fuck? You're hosting a rally nobody can attend, then I remembered the amount of non-private sector people working in the downtown core and figured less damage happens when they're not at their desks. Also, it's during lunch hours, so no biggie for the rest of us.
So while this still isn't a Jumbo-tron to watch the final series on Parliament Hill, it is something.
I'm posting this because at it's core this event feels very un-Ottawa-like, but they've managed to still make it somehow less celebratory. I mean Thursday? C'mon. Put it on Friday and people just won't go back to work. THAT would be a party. Although less likely that any players would show up.
And I can't let anything go without somehow criticizing it, so read the announcement on the City Hall website. It says the crowd can be the 'sixth man' or as I like to call the sixth man, "the goalie." I know the person writing the release wanted to use that old band cliche where they say the fifth member of the band is the audience but watch a game sometime.
Also, I heard a student from Ottawa U taking credit for my Jumbo-tron idea. I don't care because he actually contacted the NCC and other outlets - go Jumbo-tron Sens!
4 comments:
Man, I am appalled at the fact they won't even seriously consider the Jumbotron.
When the Czechs were playing in the Nagano winter olympics in 98' (when they last won gold in it), there was a massive TV screen on the Wenceslas square in Prague which is pretty much the equivalent of our Parliament hill lawn or the Byward market at least. Basically, it is THE focal point of the country as far as public space goes.
The Czechs also install these screens whenever their national soccer team plays in the Euro and the World Cup competitions.
We don't do it, suprisingly, when Canada plays hockey in the Winter Olympics or the Worlds. That always struck me as lackadaisical and unpatriotic. But, for the Stanley Cup (which, in our sports mythology stands somehow even higher)...I just don't understand how the government and the city would even hesitate.
I can understand not wanting to stand outside to watch hockey in the middle of February. In June? Less so.
Well, the Czechs are tougher. They stood outside in big crowds in the winter of 98' while their national squad took out Canada in the semis and then the Russians in the final.
True, Prague doesn't get to 25 below Celsius but it does reach freezing temperatures there, too, plus it's humid.
I just really find our reaction to sports events of national scale kind of understated. The Swedes party like crazy over their hockey team, the English, the Italians and the Portuguese go nuts whenever their soccer goes on world's stage...we just sit back, win or disappoint. We're really a placid nation. Welcome to beige.
I got a call from the Ottawa Citizen yesterday. They're considering my letter to the editor for publication. It's about the jumbotron and how having it on parliament hill is the ultimate act of being Canadian, especially since they are so concerned about hockey in parliament that they hold committees about who gets to be captain.
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