Canadian Crossing

CFL Playoffs All Set to Go

For the fifth time ever and the second year in a row, the CFL playoffs have a crossover team. If the 4th-place team in one division has a better record than the 3rd-place team of the other division, that team crosses over to the other division's playoff.

Last year, Edmonton became the first team to win a crossover, beating Winnipeg. This year, the BC Lions -- the only team in the playoffs with a losing record -- will crossover and play at Hamilton. The other first-round game will be Edmonton at Calgary.

Montréal and Saskatchewan earned first-round byes.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders and Calgary Flames tied for first place; Edmonton and BC were tied before the last game. The only team in the league that had no real chance was the Toronto Argonauts.

The trend away from postseason games in domed stadiums is now official. Used to be that Montréal, Toronto, and BC would host postseason games. Toronto misses the playoffs again and BC can't host a game. Montréal plays key games at Olympic Stadium, so the East final will be indoors, but that is the only one. And next year, BC will be back to playing outdoors as BC Place will be rehabbed -- though the facility will be used to open and close the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

The 97th Grey Cup will be November 29 in Calgary. TSN carries the game in Canada; hopefully, Versus will rise to the occasion and simulcast the TSN feed in the United States.

'Colbert Report' puts Canada on notice

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The "Colbert Report" brought Canada into the spotlight, and not favorably. For not letting the U.S. team practice for the 2010 Games in Vancouver at the Richmond (BC) Olympic Oval, Colbert put Canada on notice, a large board filled with people or concepts that should suffer the maximum wrath from the late-night host.

Based on the message board of the "Colbert Report," perhaps the U.S. hasn't been completely denied access.

As much as the press is negative, there is stirred up excitement about the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Canada. 

Then there was this quote, albeit in character:

''It still tragically involves a lot of Canadians,'' the comedian said. ''It's kind of unseemly how many Canadians I'm going to have to be dealing with.''

Two hopeful signs: we are less than 100 days from Vancouver, and those on notice can be withdrawn by Colbert, but the process is long and not easy.

The "Colbert Report" airs Monday-Thursday nights on Comedy Central in the U.S. and the Comedy Channel and CTV in Canada.

Canada PM Stephen Harper says he prefers watching U.S. news

If I lived in Canada, I would watch Canadian news, especially with the announcement that "The National" -- CBC's nightly newscast -- is being revamped with the debut of its new format tomorrow night.

Canada's PM Stephen Harper lives in Canada, but says he doesn't watch Canadian news. Instead, he watches U.S. news.

Unfortunately, we don't know which news channel Harper watches. Given his Conservative Party leadership, he could watch Fox News Channel. But he could watch CNN. I don't think MSNBC gets much if any play in Canada, and probably isn't Harper's cup of tea. 

The one issue that Harper ignores in not watching Canadian TV news is that Canada media outlets cover the world much better than U.S. news. Even "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer" can't hold a candle to regular Canadian news.

Stories that would never see the light of day from all around the world regularly show up on Canadian TV newscasts. This isn't liberal or conservative; people of all political stripes would agree that U.S. news does a lousy job of covering the world around them.

However, on a political tone, conservatives by and large are more afraid to watch anything they might disagree with, a tone that doesn't bode well in society, but is rather appalling for a country's leader to avoid watching because he may not like some things.

"It’s a strange signal to send to the public at a time when Canadian networks, aside from covering this country, which U.S. networks don’t, also spend considerable resources, and some of their correspondents literally risk their lives, to bring the Canadian perspective on international stories home from places that some U.S. networks ignore," Peter Mansbridge, CBC's national news anchor on “The National” told The New York Times. 

The idea that Canada's leader would find the U.S. news perspective to be sufficiently homogenized enough for the Canadian perspective is rather startling. Watching a helicopter follow a car chase in Southern California is rarely relevant outside the LA area, yet it still makes its way onto U.S. newscasts. Watching all of this in Ottawa would be even less relevant.

Canada through the eyes of 'How I Met Your Mother'

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I confess I don't normally watch this show. I certainly know of it and have seen parts of episodes, and somehow knew that Canada fit into the show a little bit.

But I did notice the teaser for this past week's episode, featuring Robin possibly taking a U.S. citizenship test. Robin is played by Canadian actress Cobie Smulders (her real name), so points for authenticity.

In the episode, Robin gets into a fight at the Hoser Hut. As you can see in the photo, Robin is wearing a Vancouver Canucks jersey (Smulders is from Vancouver). As a result, she is threatened with deportation. So she debates about studying to be an American citizen but not wanting to lose her Canadian identity.

Throwing out a few illogical happenings, since this is a sitcom after all, the take was pretty funny. Later in the episode, Robin wakes up in Toronto after a few too many drinks. Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) follows her to Toronto, an opportunity to have him make a few jokes at Canada's expense.

Kudos to the show's writers, who set a scene in a Tim Horton's. True, there was too much flannel in the scene. But Barney says nice things about Tim Horton's coffee and Canadian health care.

Apparently, this isn't the first episode dealing with Robin's possible deportation. Sorry I missed it up until now.

I want to find a bar like the Hoser Hut. In major cities, we have English pubs and Irish bars. Why not a Canadian bar? The only one I found was in Paris was The Great Canadian Pub on the Left Bank not far from Notre Dame.

You can watch the episode here. 

"How I Met Your Mother" airs Monday nights at 8p Eastern on CBS-TV and City TV in Canada.

Watching Hockey Night in Canada in the U.S.

Admittedly, I have seen HNIC in the U.S. When the MLB preview kicks in during the spring, I did get one weekend of HNIC. But that was in April with NHL Center Ice, and well before the NHL Network took HNIC for itself. And this was way before I purchased a HD set.

But my cable system added the NHL Network, and I have a HD set (only 32"). And I was ready to watch Hockey Night in Canada in style.

Unlike the previous version, there are no Canadian commercials (something I miss). The U.S. commercials are pretty lame and there is no mention of Tim Horton's. Otherwise, it's Hockey Night in Canada.

The coverage actually started in Stockholm, Sweden in the afternoon with Detroit and St. Louis. But the true classic adventure kicked off with the pre-game, followed by Toronto @ Washington. Per recent tradition, the CBC also covers the other Eastern teams in Canada, as amusingly, all three Eastern teams were playing in the United States [Montréal @ Buffalo, Ottawa @ NY Rangers]. The opening West Coast game was Calgary @ Edmonton.

We got Coaches' Corner with Ron McLean and Don Cherry, Coast-to-Coast, Hot Stove, and all the other features, especially After Hours.

Hopefully, HNIC will bloom in its fullest form, though there may be some unusual scheduling being done by the NHL Network. We may literally have to check our local listings. But it felt good to see hockey the way it should be.

Canadian NHL teams on U.S. TV

Looking for Canadian teams on U.S. TV for the NHL? You can have some luck but it depends on how you can access the NHL.

If you are limited to Versus' coverage, you might not even think there are teams outside of Toronto and Montréal. Of the 5 appearances of Canadian teams on Versus, 4 of them involve Toronto or Montréal. Calgary is the exception, being at Chicago.

Oct. 12 8 pm        Calgary at Chicago       
Nov. 30 7 pm        Buffalo at Toronto      
Dec. 14 7:30 pm  Buffalo at Montréal     
Dec. 21 7 pm        Buffalo at Toronto      
Mar. 16 7 pm       Montréal at NY Rangers    

But for some of us, there is much better fortune. My cable system added the NHL Network. Given how much I pay, they should have added something.

The NHL Network is scheduled to carry CBC's Hockey Night in Canada and selected telecasts from TSN. There also may be other games involving Canadian teams carried on a U.S. network that would be available on the NHL Network.

The first HNIC will be Toronto @ Washington followed by the battle of Alberta, Calgary @ Edmonton.

For those who aren't familiar, Hockey Night in Canada is a long-time Canadian tradition of hockey on Saturday nights. The Eastern games start at 7 p.m. Eastern followed by a late-night West Coast game. Don Cherry is part of the festivities in Coaches' Corner, featured after the first period in the early game.

'Homeland Security USA' back to burn off final episodes

The much-aligned, yet sickly fascinating "Homeland Security USA" is back, if only to burn off its remaining episodes. As you may recall, there were supposed to be 13 episodes, but only 8 were shown when the show disappeared from the airwaves.

The ABC owned station in Chicago is burning off the last few episodes on Sunday afternoons. It's even possible that your ABC station isn't even wasting time slots meant otherwise for infomercials. The episodes are available for free on ABC.com. The programs were supposed to come with commercials, but when I watched the latest episode, it was commercial-free.

The Canadian content wasn't very exciting in this last episode. They stopped a young woman traveling by bus from Toronto to New York at the border crossing in Buffalo. They felt she was auditioning/working without a visa (she was an unconventional model) and sent her back. She didn't seem to fight that hard -- seeming unusual behavior.

If there are significant Canadian crossing border stories in these last few episodes, we will try and bring you the highlights.

Bill O'Reilly clueless on why Canadians live longer than Americans

A proper coda to yesterday's essay on Canadians and health care...

Bill O'Reilly was answering viewer mail on his FNC program. When asked about the fact that Canadians live longer on average than Americans, O'Reilly "explains" that since Americans have 10 times as many people, there are 10 times as many accidents, et al.

Of course, this has nothing to do with life expectancies. And even if it did, the U.S. would have to have way more accidents to make the math work. Canadians live longer, on average. Even conservatives in the U.S. would like to know why, wouldn't they?

Canada shut out of NHL Winter Classic -- again

The headline itself isn't a shocker: we have known unofficially for some time that Fenway Park in Boston was going to be the destination for the next Winter Classic in the NHL.

The slight surprise was that instead of a classic Boston-Montréal Original 6 matchup -- similar to the Detroit-Chicago battle at Wrigley Field on New Years Day 2009 -- the Philadelphia Flyers will be the opponent.

There has been pressure to add a second game in Canada, but so far that isn't happening. The CBC, which has carried the American versions, in particular would love to have a game in Canada.

The irony is that the first outdoor NHL game was in Canada. In 2003, 57,167 attended a game at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium (home of the CFL Eskimos) between the Edmonton Oilers and the Montréal Canadiens.

But in the eyes of the NHL, it wasn't the now applicable Winter Classic name. The league recognizes the official 3 Winter Classics, including the upcoming matchup in Boston.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told the press that "we’re exploring ways to re-involve Canadian teams."

We're not holding our breath, not even in weather suitable for New Years Day. Otherwise, the Canadiens would be playing on New Years in 2010 in Boston. Or the league would have included Vancouver, site of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

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Celebrating Canada Day in the United States

I could bore you (really, I could) about the history of Canada Day, the Confederation, and how four lonely provinces became a country on this day in 1867. But even I would get bored. So instead let me share a few personal observations from this year.

-- My Canada Day celebration started on June 30, when the Barenaked Ladies played a free concert as part of our 10-day "eat everything and listen to music" festival. The group seemed off following the recent departure of original band member Steven Page. They didn't do "Brian Wilson" in concert.

But that being said, they were entertaining during and in-between songs, their traditional trademark antics on stage made us laugh.

-- That concert got us in the mood for the next day: Canada Day. I wore my CBC T-shirt with the old ball-type logo (please, CBC, make a hat with this logo and I will buy it and wear it). As part of the free foreign film series on Wednesdays, I saw "Bon Cop, Bad Cop," an English and French Canadian picture that was part satire of buddy movies, commentator of English and French Canadian stereotypes, and a slam against NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and his disdain for Canada.

Imagine a cop, murder mystery that is very funny, and you get an idea for this movie.

We were given Canadian flags to fly, which was a very nice touch. It was fun to be in a room full of people who appreciated the Canadian film contribution. And there were plenty of non-Canadians sprinkled throughout the crowd.

-- In a sort-of related point, a quick shout out to Joey Votto, first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds. Votto is from the Toronto area and is already one of the top players from Canada in the Major Leagues. Votto has been suffering from anxiety from the recent loss of his father (and an ear infection), and actually went on the disabled list for awhile.

Votto has been back for a short while, amusingly making his return in his hometown of Toronto in a rare interleague game between the Reds and the Toronto Blue Jays. Votto's team won on Canada Day, 1-0, over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Who drove in the game's only run? Joey Votto.

-- And finally, Stephen Colbert had a nice touch to honor Canada Day by "slamming" Canada Day:

"Today is Canada Day and I celebrate it the way I always do: by not knowing it's Canada Day."