Canadian Crossing

Canadian Crossing is now available on Twitter

Chances are your Twitter handle is fewer than 15 letters. As you may now realize, Canadian Crossing contains 16 letters. D'oh. Since I really want to have this blog on Twitter, I selected a handle that fits within the confines of the Twitter universe, and hopefully works out well.

So you can follow the stories and random thoughts and contemplations at the Twitter handle @canadian_xing.

Xing represents crossing as in Canadian Crossing and crossing into Canada. Hopefully, that will make sense in the Twitter universe.

For those who may be new to the Canadian Crossing experience, I am an American journalist who loves things Canadian. My goal, beyond entertainment and information, is to teach "Americans" about Canada and have a binational conversation.

We cover sports, TV, film, politics, food, trade, travel, airports, famous people married to Canadians, border crossings, advertising, comic strips, Daily Show and Colbert Report mentions, and more.

You are always welcome to leave comments and many of you have been very generous that way. And you are also invited to follow the action on Twitter #canadian_xing.

Canadians have better access to Hockey Day in America than Americans

We saw the effort made by the NHL Network in the States to carry most, but not all, of Hockey Day in Canada last week. Now let's see how well Canadians can see Hockey Day in America.

Pittsburgh @ Buffalo
If you get a NBC affiliate from Boston, Buffalo, or Burlington, VT (Montréal viewers), you will see this game. Those living in Eastern Ontario through the Maritimes likely get at least one NBC feed from this area.

St. Louis @ Chicago
This game is available on TSN2 (sim subbing the NBC feed). If your primary NBC feed comes from Minneapolis, you won't have to worry about TSN2.

San Jose @ Detroit
This game is available on most NBC stations (outside Minneapolis) from Detroit west to the Pacific Ocean. So if your NBC station comes from Detroit, Spokane, Denver, or Seattle, this is your game. If not, you could watch the game on NHL Network Canada.

Boston @ Minnesota — the late game — is available coast-to-coast on every NBC station and TSN2.

Perfect? Pretty darn close. Your cable or satellite system may vary, and a lot of this depends on whether you get more than one NBC feed. If you get NBC stations from Detroit/Buffalo or Seattle/Buffalo or Boston/Detroit and you have TSN2, all you needed were snacks and drinks.

Even with one NBC feed and TSN2, you get at least 2 games on your TV. Americans can only get one on their TV regardless of where they live.

While American viewers can stream the games of their choice, flipping back and forth would cause a headache, and even then, you still wouldn't be as well off as Canadians. Though, Americans don't need cable to get their one game.

NBC could have offered the other feeds on digital subchannels, but for whatever reason, that technology has been underutilized on both sides of the border.

While some in the States still can't get the NHL Network, Canadians with cable can get an NBC station and most get TSN2. Those Canadians that get multiple network affiliates from the States on cable are in great shape.

Regardless on which side of the border you live on, if you are picking up Pittsburgh @ Buffalo, you will get the treat of watching the TSN crew of Gord Miller and Ray Ferraro. Ferraro has worked for NBC in the past and Miller has filled in on what was then Versus. Besides, Miller and Ferraro will barely be in the United States. From the HSBC Arena, you really can see Canada.

Former CBC play-by-play guy Ken Daniels and TSN analyst Darren Pang will call San Jose @ Detroit. Daniels will have the hometown call since he is the voice of the Red Wings. Pang's home club, St. Louis, will be in Chicago where NBCSN's second crew, Dave Strader and Brian Engblom, will call the action. The #1 crew — Doc, Edzo, and Pierre — will be in St. Paul for the late game.

Meanwhile, Canadians able to access CBC via antenna or cable, and those lucky Americans along the border got every second of Hockey Day in Canada coverage, which was more than Americans got on the NHL Network.

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For the second of two years in a row, a Canadian-based team plays in the evening on U.S. TV. Last year, Hockey Day in America overshadowed the Heritage Classic in Calgary. This year, the Canadiens get that honor as they host the New Jersey Devils at the Bell Centre.

Also, like last year, the Canadian game is broadcast on CBC yet Versus/NBCSN have sent a crew to Canada. John Forslund and Andy Brickley will call the game for the NBCSN, since the network has no one left (still better than Joe Beninati). Forslund and Brickley have both been to the Bell Centre this week, as the Canadiens played Forslund's team on Monday (Carolina) and Brickley's team on Wednesday (Boston).

If you are going to truly celebrate Hockey Day in America, and since Canada is part of America, then NBCSN should let the CBC do what it does best, and show Bob Cole and Garry Galley doing the game for the CBC.

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When NBCSN was in Montréal on Wednesday, Pierre McGuire hung out with the visiting goalie, since RDS controls the traditional Inside the Glass area. Since CBC is also carrying Sunday's game, we will see if Brickley is anywhere on the floor since he will have trouble finding a spot. There won't be enough room to hang out with Glenn Healy and Martin Brodeur's backup.

Does all of Canada have culinary high school programs?

An article on Grist.org wondered that in talking about a program at Jasper Place High School in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

"(yes, Canada apparently has culinary programs in high school)"

Well, just because they do in Edmonton doesn't mean they are scattered throughout Canada. Heck, Canada doesn't even have a national school lunch program.

This does sounds pretty awesome, especially given how far north Edmonton is. Even if it isn't everywhere, good to see someone in Canada put together this type of project.

For more, check out our summary on our sister blog, BalanceofFood.com.

Global Saskatoon sausage video goes viral

The Global station in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan has only been doing the Morning News since December. Well, Canada and the United States, as well as elsewhere in the world, knows about the Morning News on Global Saskatoon thanks to a viral video involving two female anchors … and sausage.

The verbal slip by Lisa Dutton was barely noticeable, especially if you have no idea what picatic.com does. Well, Dutton didn't say picatic.com. You can watch the video to learn more.

This wouldn't have been more uncomfortable if there had been a male anchor and a female anchor. Somehow, it was funnier having this conversation with two female anchors, and in the video, Dutton is being egged (get it, sausage, eggs) on by her female co-anchor.

The actual sausage event that they were talking about is tonight. Here is the link (get it, sausage, link).

photo credit: picatic.com

Using iPad to cross U.S.-Canada border is cool, but no guarantee it will work

The story sounded like something from "Mission: Impossible" (the early years of the TV show, not the Tom Cruise movies). A Canadian citizen reportedly gained access into the United States by showing a scanned version of his passport on an iPad.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency says it didn't happen quite that way.

Martin Reisch had the traveler's nightmare story. He realized along the way that he left his passport as he was driving toward the border. Rather than turn around, Reisch tried giving the border patrol his driver's license and iPad.

The border agency says Reisch didn't get in solely on the iPad, which Reisch never claimed. The agency said Reisch produced a birth certificate; Reisch says he didn't.

While there are conflicting stories, the truth lies somewhere in between. If Reisch had a birth certificate, he wouldn't have had to worry about the passport. The agency wouldn't have let him in purely from the iPad.

If you are trying to prove who you are, the more information you have, the easier it is to prove who you are. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency doesn't want to set a precedent for iPad passport scans, but the passport scan helped back up Reisch's story.

If you try something like this, understand that you may not be able to cross the border. The decision is based on the discretion of the border agent based on the information supplied. You are on your own.

As CBP spokesperson Jenny Burke noted, "If a traveler does not present WHTI-compliant documents, CBP officers must determine identity and citizenship using a variety of other means, or deny entry."

WHTI stands for Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. One of the allowed documents under the WHTI rules is an enhanced driver's license, a document that solves the dilemma of not having the passport once you are in your car.

Travel experts recommend you scan your passport in case your passport is lost or stolen to prove your citizenship. It may not get you where you're going, but it does go further to prove who you are.

photo credit

ESPN writer grossly misuses Montreal mass-shooting reference

We have certainly run into instances of American journalism where their knowledge of Canada isn't up to speed. But when a Canadian writer gets involved, well, that is news.

Chris Jones is Canadian, but also grew up in Australia, and writes for ESPN magazine, based in the United States. Jones wrote a column about Jeffrey Loria, current owner of the Miami Marlins (nee Florida) and loathed former owner of the Montréal Expos.

Jones' column was warning fans of the Marlins that Loria would repeat himself and the Marlins would eventually be without a team. While the sentiment of the column was something we would applaud, this wasn't the most well-researched column and there are a number of holes, a la fromage Suisse.

The column in itself isn't why Jones got into trouble; he referred to what would happen in Miami as "Montréal Massacre, Part II." What Jones said he didn't know, and what the ESPN copy editors should have caught is that "Montréal Massacre" in non-sports terms refers to the Ecole Polytechnique shootings in 1989, when gunman Marc Lepine targeted women and killed 14 female students before turning the gun onto himself. The reference is more disturbing since the anniversary was in early December, and the Stephen Harper government is getting rid of the long-gun registration, which was originally inspired by the Montréal Massacre.

Once Jones realized what happen, he said he tried to fix the situation as best he could. While the online version was changed, the printed version contains the horrible phrasing.

Jones said he was living in Australia in 1989 when the shooting happened, and didn't associate the term with the shooting. For now, we can accept that explanation.

As someone who is a journalist, writer, and editor, writers have a requirement to stretch the language. Editors are paid to recognize when something can be disturbing or offensive. Even if the U.S.-based copy editors don't know of a Montréal Massacre, they should have taken out the violent element of the phrasing. An editor isn't always the popular one, but a good editor knows that being right is more important than being cool.

When writing about a culture that you aren't familiar with, you do have to go overboard to make sure what you are saying isn't taken badly because of circumstances that they know and you don't.

In the United States, a mass shooting involving 15 people is almost a ho-hum moment. In Quebec and Canada, the Ecole Polytechnique shootings were a big deal for the gender targeting and that 14 innocent people were murdered in the prime of their lives. It was, and still is, a big deal 22 years later.

Sports is sports, and real life is real life. Sports writers and editors (and I have been one) don't always get the difference. The folks at ESPN didn't set out to upset the people of Montréal and Quebec and Canada, but they should have been paying more attention to their copy. Normally, having a Canadian writer means Canada won't get as slighted as sometimes happens in American journalism. But journalism means double and triple checking, even when things are obvious.

NHL notebook: Hockey players also struggle at Customs

A story of two teams: Carolina and Winnipeg played Friday night in Winnipeg. Each team flew out to the next city. The Hurricanes reportedly got to Toronto at 2 am while the Jets got to Detroit at 4 am. The instinctive guess was "Customs."

Kelly Hrudey: "Customs"
Ron McLean: "Maybe, customs. Two hours in customs?"
Hrudey: "I've been there."
Glenn Healy: "Only in Montréal when you land, that's when they keep you on the plane for two hours, no place else."

Well, McLean got Elliotte Friedman to go on the Twitter and find out. Friedman's research?

"Carolina landed in Toronto at 2:25; Winnipeg landed in Detroit at 2:55. Must have been some extra time at Customs and also it's a bit of a hike from the Detroit airport downtown to probably where they are staying."

Before we found out the answer, McLean had another customs point about the line on "Have you visited a farm." The joke was on Friedman since he has been to a few farms to interview players for "Inside Hockey."

Detroit Metro Airport is just east of Ann Arbor, a good distance from Detroit. While Pearson is a long distance to travel by subway and bus to get downtown, the actual kilometres distance isn't as far. The other unsaid part is that Detroit is closer than Toronto from Winnipeg. Then again, we don't know when the flights took off.

Given that the Customs line isn't very long at that hour, any Customs delay would be unfortunate.

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This was the weekend of CBC musical chairs. Bob Cole was reunited with his old partner, Greg Millen, in the Montréal matinee. Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson split up, Hughson followed his old team, the Vancouver Canucks, to Ottawa with former Senators color guy Garry Galley and Simpson hung out with Mark Lee for the Battle of Alberta. Only Dean Brown and Kevin Weekes had previously worked together this year, this past week at Joe Louis Arena for the Winnipeg game.

Mark Lee has now worked with Kevin Weekes, Daryl Reaugh, Cassie Campbell-Pascall, and Craig Simpson so far this season.

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Though the Vancouver-Ottawa game was limited in the United States to those who could pick up the CBC feed and in Tampa and Philadelphia on the NHL Network, we missed having two women ice-side for the game. Cassie Campbell-Pascall worked in between the benches, and Andi Petrillo was the sideline reporter. This means Cassie has her own hat trick already this year, having worked as a sideline reporter and a colo(u)r commentator.

The old Versus used women as sideline reporters, but the current NBC/Versus coverage features no females on air.

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I can tell you first-hand that Windsor has its share of Detroit Red Wings fans. Windsor also has its share of Maple Leaf fans and those who root for former Windsor Spitfires players, such as Edmonton's Taylor Hall. So when the CBC features the Detroit Red Wings, you can be sure that CBET-9 in Windsor will have the game.

Those who cable in the Detroit area in the United States can get every single Red Wings game through Fox Sports Detroit, Versus, and NBC. Fans in Windsor have no access to Fox Sports Detroit or Versus/NBC Sports Network, but can watch NBC on-air and through cable (3 games this year) and possibly 2 more games that will air either on NBC or the NBC Sports Network. This year, TSN has 5 Red Wings games and CBC has 3 games.

This forum mentions that CBET did NOT carry the Jets-Red Wings game in Detroit, instead running Vancouver-Ottawa on Saturday night. This goes against the original schedule. Unfortunately, I don't have way to confirm one way or another, but if CBC in Windsor didn't carry the Red Wings, that would be a surprise.

The person on the forum is from the metro Toledo area, so the signal would be via cable. It's possible there was a split feed, offering the Detroit Red Wings over the air and Ottawa Senators via cable. Again, we offer that as a long shot.

Since the Red Wings are only on cable in Detroit (except for NBC telecasts), American viewers in Detroit could have had the Red Wings on over-the-air TV on Saturday night. Then again, if that was a problem, it could explain why the game wasn't on in Canada. If you are in the Detroit area, please weigh in on this in the comments section.

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Outside of Tampa and Philadelphia and those that can get CBC, American viewers were also shut out for Coach's Corner and the Hot Stove.

So you aren't deprived, here are the online feeds for Coach's Corner and the Hot Stove. Unlike After Hours, these two segments are easy to access for American viewers on their computer.

If you are having trouble with the Coach Corner's video, like the last minute of the segment, try this instead.

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Don Cherry brought up Tyler Seguin's healthy scratch for oversleeping a team meeting. The Boston Bruins were in Winnipeg and Seguin overslept, missing a meeting. Seguin blamed it on being on Boston time, not on Winnipeg time, for oversleeping. There is one problem with that theory.

If you are traveling west, you gain time, not lose it. If your alarm is set for 7 am Boston time and you wake up at 7, it's 6 am in Winnipeg. You would be early for a meeting, not late.

This would have been Seguin's first trip to Winnipeg as a NHL player, so he may not have known Winnipeg is on Central time. But if your excuse is that your alarm was on Boston time, that still wouldn't make you late. Yet no one else in the media picked up on that point.

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Depending on your Comcast availability, Thursday could be a busy hockey day. The NHL Network will have Philadelphia-Montréal from the Bell Centre. We are hoping for a TSN feed, though Comcast Sports Net Philadelphia is a distinct possibility. And some Comcast areas will get Washington at Winnipeg that same night. Coverage for that game will definitely come from Comcast Sports Net Washington. Unfortunately, this will mean Joe Beninati, hockey's worst PBP guy, will be spouting his clichés. Still this is one of the few times to see a game live from Winnipeg in the United States without Center Ice.

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Even in weeks where the NHL Network won't carry the primary HNIC game, the channel will still show Hockey Tonight (yay!). To offer a somewhat smooth transition between the two programs, the commercial break in between can run a little long. This week, the channel had a 6:10 break, rather long even by cable TV standards. If the CBC segment had run longer, the break wouldn't have been as long.

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Tomas Kaberle has been a frequent player on Hockey Night in Canada for his many years with the Toronto Maple Leafs. In the calendar year of 2011, Kaberle has gone from his only NHL home of Toronto to Boston (Stanley Cup) to Carolina (3-year free agent contract) to Montréal. Along the way, Kaberle got a new pronounciation of his last name. The name had been pronounced Kab-ber-lay; now it sounds like Kah-ber-lay. The Canadiens need help on the power play, if Tomas can supply that, they will call him anything he wants.

ESPN airs CFL legends fight, but no Grey Cup highlights?

Okay, the video of the minor scrap between CFL legends Joe Kapp and Angelo Mosca has gone viral. "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" had its fun with it last night as well as Chris Berman on "Monday Night Football."

The players have a history with each other that just kept going, even after all these years.

Mosca has been on the TSN CFL telecasts every so often, and comes across as a colorful character. The fact the Mosca was also a professional wrestler adds to his colorful persona.

Kapp is famous in the United States, having led the Minnesota Vikings to the Super Bowl. You note in the video that Kapp is the only QB to play in the Rose Bowl, Grey Cup, and Super Bowl. In Minnesota, Kapp played for Bud Grant, who coached the Winnipeg Blue Bombers before going to the NFL.

While it was fun for Bermann and former sportscaster Olbermann to have their fun with the CFL "fight," we are stil waiting for highlights of the actual game. If the only thing Americans remember from the 99th Grey Cup is a skirmish with a 73-year-old man (Kapp) and a 74-year-old man (Mosca) with a cane, while that would be funny, it would miss the significance of the game.

Then again, most Americans don't remember much of any Grey Cup, so a negative memory may be better than no memory at all. Hope they don't get used to the idea of two old men fighting before every Grey Cup.

CFL roundup: Home field winners advance as B.C. plays at home in Grey Cup

Not that I'm a genius, but I figured the home teams would win over the weekend. Home field advantage makes a huge difference, whether it be a -13° C temperature reading at kickoff in Winnipeg or crowd noise indoors in Vancouver. Having home field helped the Montréal Alouettes all these years.

Home field was tenuous as the Lions and Blue Bombers clinched home field on the literal last regular season game of the year.

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Thank goodness I only have to watch 1 more CFL game on my computer. Watching the West semi-final in a bar/restaurant and later my hotel room was light years ahead of watching the East and West finals on my computer.

One trick I discovered is that the browser makes a difference. I am in love with Firefox, but when I enlarged the screen, the "Press ESC to exit full screen mode." message constantly stayed on the screen. Not esthetically pleasing. Switching to Google Chrome got the message to go away.

The video quality came in mostly at one bar, though sometimes I had 2 bar and occasionally 3 bars. Of course, stretching out the computer feed reduces the quality of the feed. When the feed is a good one, the TV screen almost looks good enough for a SD feed.

Turns out, the CFL has made another deal with the America One stations to carry the CFL playoffs including the Grey Cup. Reportedly, Altitude 2 in the Denver area is also carrying the playoffs and the Grey Cup. Good for you if you get an America One station, but the CFL needs to come up with a real postseason TV deal for its American fans.

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Winnipeg went from worst to first. B.C. started 0-5 this year. Winnipeg QB Buck Pierce got his start with the B.C. Lions. The Lions are playing the Grey Cup at home.

No CFL team has won the Grey Cup at home in the 21st century. Edmonton lost to Montréal in 2002 and the Alouettes lost to Calgary in 2008. However, the last home team to win the Grey Cup was the B.C. Lions in 1994 as Lui Passaglia became a B.C. hero by kicking a last-second field goal to beat the Baltimore Stallions 26-23.

The only time Winnipeg faced B.C. in the Grey Cup was 1988 at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa as the Blue Bombers edged the Lions 22–21.

All the fun starts at 6:30 pm Eastern from Vancouver on TSN, the America One stations, Altitude 2(?), and ESPN3.com.

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Mark Donnelly had double duty Sunday with the national anthem at B.C. Place and Rogers Arena. Kickoff was 1:30 pm in Vancouver and tipoff was 6 pm as the Canucks battled Ottawa. Then again, the two buildings are right next to each other, so hopefully Donnelly was able to stay and watch the game.

As fun as the ritual is to watch in a hockey arena, having double the usual number made a glorious sound.

NHL notebook: Sidney Crosby return bumps Habs off Versus

The big news on Sunday was that Sidney Crosby, Canada's best player, will finally hit the ice tonight against the New York Islanders.

CBC and Versus jumped on the chance to carry Crosby's return. Unfortunately for Habs fans, this means Versus won't carry Boston @ Montréal as scheduled. Don't hold your breath that the Canadiens will get another game down the road. The only question is whether Versus has to give up a Pittsburgh game down the road if its allotment of Penguins games is at its maximum. (I'm sure Versus is under its allotment of New York Islanders games.)

The NHL Network has already scheduled Pittsburgh at Montréal for Hockey Night in Canada Saturday night. Any time Crosby is in Montréal is significant, but this Saturday night will be huge in both countries.

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We knew that those in Chicago wouldn't get to watch the CBC feed of Edmonton's 9-2 win over the Chicago NHL franchise. Instead we got the nice treat of Washington at Toronto from Saturday night, courtesy of the CBC. We got the 2-hour condensed version, but since we had Coach's Corner and the Hot Stove on the New York Rangers-Montréal Canadiens telecast, we didn't miss a thing.

A blackout for the game is understandable, though I would rather have heard Mark Lee and Kevin Weekes than Pat Foley and Ed Olczyk. (Kudos to WGN for showing both national anthems.) Why the NHL Network blacked out After Hours leaves me very confused. Okay, I wasn't surprised, but After Hours is not hockey and isn't coverage duplicated in any form by Comcast Sports Net Chicago.

For those affected by this or other blackouts, you can find After Hours on the CBC Sports Web site. Here is the link for this week’s After Hours, though it may not be posted for awhile.

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If you've never seen a hat trick (three goals by a player in a game) on TV, much less in person, watch the Edmonton Oilers on Hockey Night in Canada. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a hat trick against Vancouver at Rexall Place earlier this season. Last night, Taylor Hall had a hat trick against Chicago, again in Edmonton.

If you sell hats for a living, you can get rich in Edmonton.

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While Boston also won't be on national TV on Monday, the Bruins have a visit with the Red Wings on NBC Friday afternoon as the network carries its first game in the first half of the season for the first time in anyone's recent memory.

If the Canucks had won the Stanley Cup, Vancouver still wouldn't be on NBC the day after the American Thanksgiving.

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Glenn Healy wasn’t between the benches in Toronto Saturday night. Healy was in the studio instead of P.J. Stock. “Game Day” was pre-empted due to the afternoon contest of Philadelphia at Winnipeg, and co-host Andi Petrillo was the sideline reporter at the Air Canada Centre.

Healy is sometimes wasted between the benches since he is very strong no matter where he goes. Versus/NBC finally has decent people on their broadcasts though it took a long time for that to happen. TSN has rather good people, though losing Pierre McGuire has hurt them. For those who criticize CBC’s coverage, their roster is amazingly deep.