Canadian Crossing

ESPN's 30 for 30 showcases amazing life of Terry Fox

Canadians of a certain age know who Terry Fox was, but Americans of that same age might have a vague idea of Terry Fox and his story.

Well, Americans have a chance to catch up on that story thanks to a documentary — Into the Wind — co-directed by NBA star (and fellow British Columbia native) Steve Nash.

Fox was an athlete in his own right until a diagnosis of cancer forced Fox to lose his leg. At the age of 21 in 1980, Fox decided to run across Canada with his artificial leg to raise money for cancer research.

While Fox's run didn't get much press early on, soon that changed, and perhaps the attention became too much.

Did Fox get across Canada? How much money did he raise? Those and other questions will be answered in the documentary.

To give you an idea of where Terry Fox ranks among Canadians, consider that Fox came in second to Tommy Douglas in the 2004 CBC program The Greatest Canadian.

The original airing was last night, but there are repeats still to come. (All times Eastern)

• Thu 9/30 Midnight ESPN Classic/Mon 10/4 11 pm ESPN2/Sat 10/9 1 pm ESPN Classic

For the love of poutine

In my first few visits to Canada as an adult, I did not eat poutine. I figured it was more of a Quebecois dish, though in my first trip to Montréal in 2002, I did not eat poutine.

I got the French fries part and the gravy, of course. But the cheese curds threw me off. I knew it wasn't the cheese curds (deep-fried pieces of cheese) I saw at the Wisconsin State Fair. And I knew it wasn't quite like the curds and whey of Little Miss Muffet fame.

I'm not even sure when I had my first plate of poutine, but I now eat it when I get the chance.

I'm still not crazy about the cheese part, but I do recognize when I'm getting good cheese. I do tend to judge poutine on the strength of whether the fries are well-cooked and the consistency, temperature, coating, and taste of the gravy.

On this last trip, I discovered a poutine house – Smokes – in Toronto that serves nothing but poutine. In fact, it serves about 20 different varieties of poutine.

I am still experimenting with the regular versions of poutine for me to tell how good variations might be. The only major variation I've had, amusingly, has been in Chicago where a place serves it with elk meat.

I did eat at a burger place that offered free gravy with fries. The deck was set: regular vinegar, malt vinegar, ketchup with no high-fructose corn syrup, and a gravy boat filled with nicely warm gravy. I was in fries condiment heaven.

I went with a sprinkle of malt vinegar – okay, several sprinkles, Then I would dip the fries into the gravy boat. Was this the variation of poutine I was searching for?

The fries and gravy made for a nice twosome. I have nothing against cheese curds, and realize the curds are the protein of this awkward protein-carbohydrate-fat triangle appetizer. But my allergies don't always tolerate a huge amount of cheese.

Poutine, in is traditional form, is vegetarian depending on what gravy is used, though finding a pure vegetarian version will be difficult.

Now that I am comfortable with poutine, I do want to experiment in the future. Experimenting is only appreciated once you get the essence of the classic dish, and why it works – or doesn't.

Of course, if you are just starting out, and you have overcome your sense of what poutine is, you are encouraged to try it. Start slow, and share it with a friend. You probably shouldn't eat it every day, but as an occasional treat, poutine hits a spot. And you can tell your friends that you ate a real Canadian dish.

Toronto's Jose Bautista joins prestigious 50-HR brotherhood

Jose Bautista has just become the first player on a Canadian team to hit at least 50 home runs in a season. Bautista hit number 50 this afternoon in the first inning at Rogers Centre, a solo shot that provided the game's only run, as the Blue Jays beat Seattle 1-0.

Bautista hit his record shot off one of the better pitchers in the American League, Seattle's Felix Hernandez.

Bautista had set the Toronto single-season record, surpassing George Bell's 47 HR from 1987.

Cecil Fielder is the only other 50-HR slugger with a Canadian connection. Fielder hit 51 HR in 1990 for Detroit in his return to MLB after spending a season in Japan in 1989. Fielder started with Toronto and played for the Blue Jays from 1985-1988.

The American League record for most HR in a season is still Roger Maris in 1961. Even for Bautista, making that mark would require a lot of effort and a little luck.

picture credit

Canada has tiny billboards compared to the United States

I was waiting for the free improv show following the late program at the Second City in downtown Toronto. There was a family from Barrie — cottage country north of Toronto. Barrie is a small town, though it was nice to see this family made numerous trips down to the big city.

When I ask Canadians about their country, I expect back questions about the States, and am always amazed by what I get asked. The family had twin sons about 17-19.

One of them noticed that when traveling through the States, that the billboards were so huge. He wanted to know if the billboards were that big elsewhere in the States.

I hadn't really thought about it. Other than the view I had on Via Rail from Montréal to Quebec City in 2009, I hadn't seen that many Canadian highways lately. But I did remember that when I have driven on Canadian highways, their views aren't obstructed by large signs saying "eat here, stay here, gas up here."

I did assure the young man that in the States, billboards were huge everywhere you looked. He sincerely looked puzzled as to why that would be. To me, having huge billboards always made sense as companies had to fight for your eyes to frequent a specific establishment.

In Canada, there was much less pressure on your eyes when traveling. Sure there were signs, but those signs were more basic. And the exit signs were more simple as well.

I did later observe the Queen Elizabeth Way between Toronto and Hamilton in both directions on this trip. If that is what you are used to, this would explain the young man's question in terms of the United States or Canada.

There wasn't really a comment as to whether one method was better than another. But this was a nice exchange of cultural difference, opening all eyes involved to the merits of tiny signs vs. huge billboards.

Being able to easily switch countries shouldn't be magic

In one corner, a waitress from Toronto. In the other corner, a tourist from Chicago. Each wanting to live in the other's city. Yet the path for them to do so is rather difficult.

The beauty of travel is meeting people from different perspectives and backgrounds. But when you travel somewhere, you usually meet people who like where they are.

But if you find someone who lives in the country that you're from, there is a different kind of kinship. It almost feels like you're in some Disney movie where you are about to switch bodies.

Rather than going to the extreme of switching bodies, genders, and countries, it would be better if people could go where they want to live.

Now there is a divide in terms of immigration: countries want what they don't have and gear their immigration philosophies accordingly. Individuals who want to move but don't fit a certain ideal have to work a lot harder, if they make it at all.

The waitress from Toronto was rather determined to find a way to make it to the United States, specifically to Chicago. The tourist from Chicago wanted badly to find a way to make it to Canada, living in Toronto is a very pleasant option.

Wouldn't the two cities be better off if those people could be in a positive frame of mind, and contribute well to their new cities, instead of moping about not being in the place where they want to be?

'Rudolph has a red nose, eh?' Canada's impact on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Don't worry, the classic Christmas song is still purely American. The story was created by an employee of Montgomery Ward in his job with the department store, and the Christmas song was written by a Jewish man. Truly an American saga.

But the TV show that CBS shows every year — the Rankin/Bass production with Burl Ives — has a heavy Canadian influence.

As we found out when Billie Mae Richards died this week at the age of 88, the voice of Rudolph, along with most of the other voices, came from Canadians.

The producers reportedly came north because there were more radio dramas in Canada, lending more radio voices, than in the States, and also because it would have been cheaper.

That a woman starred as the young male reindeer isn't a huge surprise now. After all, June Foray is the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Nancy Cartwright is the voice of Bart Simpson. The voice of Rudolph was credited to "Billy Richards" likely in an attempt to mask the gender.

I often wondered even as a child why the voice actors weren't the usual famous people used in American productions. This explains a childhood mystery, and gives proper credit to Canadians for giving voice to an American Christmas TV classic.

photo credit

Seeing the CFL experience from a smaller city — Hamilton, Ontario

Until this past trip, I had seen CFL games live in person in the three major Canadian cities: Toronto, Montréal, and Vancouver. This wasn't necessarily on purpose: happened to be in those cities.

But my impressions of the CFL is that the smaller cities have the most enthusiasm for the sport, and I thought it would be a good idea to see the game from that level.

Since I was already in Toronto, I wanted to see how viable it would be to get to Hamilton. And my timing was rather good in that the city is debating the fate of a new stadium, and depending on what happens with that, the fate of the team itself.

Turns out getting to and from Hamilton was the easiest part of the journey. The GO system — suburban buses and trains — runs an express bus from Toronto to Hamilton. And since I was traveling on Labour Day, the system was running a holiday schedule, but still ran buses on the hour going there and on the half-hour going back. I couldn't get that quality of service back home, even on the regular schedule.

If you are used to seeing big cities in Canada, Hamilton will bring you to a slower pace. Resting on Lake Ontario just like Toronto, Hamilton is a steel town, known for its industrial history, working-class people, and its sports. Hamilton and Toronto have a rivalry but it's mostly one-sided, with Hamilton having a "Toronto Sucks" mentality, and Toronto barely acknowledging Hamilton exists. And if you're offended by "sucks," I saw a few people in shirts in Hamilton that had that word in rather large letters.

But I am used to small towns, and have been in several smaller Southern Ontario towns in my life, including London, Stratford, and of course, Windsor. Downtown Hamilton was about what I thought it would be: where the action is in the city. There is a square that features the hockey arena (the city is a slim possibility for a NHL relocation), a spot for a farmers market, the public library. The city wants to build the new stadium downtown, and quite frankly, I can see why.

You have a city right on the lakefront but when you're in the heart of downtown, you have no idea you are on a Great Lake.

Shuttles and regular bus service runs to the games, because the current stadium is in the east side of town. My gastronomical debate was whether to have lunch downtown or near the stadium. Logically, stomach-wise, lunch was best dealt with at the stadium.

Turns out, there is nothing visible near the stadium. This place is in the middle of a residential area. They say Wrigley Field is in a residential area, but Ivor Wynne Stadium really is. If you go north to Barton Street, you can find a McDonald's and a Subway.

Ivor Wynne Stadium is the pickiest place on what you can and can't bring into their stadium, a more difficult task when you are one of the few people without a car. I hid everything well except the empty bottle. That's right: an empty bottle in a place where they sell bottles was a threat.

The stadium is a dump, but a charming dump. Both teams are on the same sideline, but the crowd is close to the action. Both would presumably disappear in a new stadium. The Tiger-Cats usually sell out the Labour Day Classic with their arch-rivals, which is possibly why the team sold me a seat that didn't exist.

Seat 28 was hard to fine when there are only 27 seats in the row in that section. Fortunately, eventually, the fans helped me out. Finding an usher was a rather difficult task but eventually one was found. He offered to move me, but I figured as long as I could sit in the section, that was the best solution.

Fighter planes flew overhead after the anthem. The sold-out crowd was pumped, and the home team won 28-13. We got to see a blocked punt in our end. I was surrounded by rabid and friendly fans. This felt, albeit under a few strange circumstances, a more life-like CFL experience.

This was actually the third Tiger-Cats game I had seen in person, having seen the team in Toronto and Vancouver. So I had seen how intense their fans were even before setting foot in Canada's Steel City. But being in Hamilton made me understand why they are the way they are.

Good luck to Hamilton in getting a new stadium, hoping the stadium leads to other business growth around the new stadium. And if they don't build the stadium downtown, maybe they can come up with something to bring people and help revitalize the downtown area (some U.S. Southern NHL teams would draw better up here).

photos credit: me

CFL back on NFL Network

Okay, so you may not have noticed that the CFL had disappeared from the NFL Network airwaves. August is a tough month and there were so many NFL preseason games to be viewed.

I have missed the CFL and am glad to see that it is back.

The rematch of the battle of Alberta is this week's contest. Edmonton lost to Calgary 52-5 in Calgary on Labo(u)r Day, so the NFL Network (and the CFL) better hope for a closer contest.

Most of the teams in the first half of the NFL Network's CFL games featured Western Division teams. There will be more Eastern Division teams in the second half. We still won't see the BC Lions in the CFL mix in the States, but there will be more Montréal, Toronto, and Hamilton on TV.

The NFL Network will air the CFL Friday night game, whichever Friday night game that is.

Look for my detailed analysis of Monday's other game — Toronto at Hamilton — next Monday.

Deep-fried butter in Toronto: worth the wait

Traveling to Canada doesn't always involve deep-fried butter, but if you have a chance to try it, how long would you wait?

The wait wasn't that long at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, even if I should have had dinner first.

The warm, salty goodness that was deep-fried butter was covered in my sister blog, BalanceofFood.com. Here is that coverage.

There will be more from the CNE, Toronto, and yes, Hamilton in the coming days here at CanadianCrossing.com

Hilary Duff marries now ex-Edmonton Oiler Mike Comrie

This update was going to reflect the lateness of announcing that singer/actress/whatever Hilary Duff married Edmonton Oilers center (centre) Mike Comrie. The couple married on August 14, and it took me to go get a haircut to find this out.

But the newest news for the happy newlyweds is that Comrie isn't sure where he will be living. Comrie will shortly become a free agent from the Oilers.

Comrie is an Edmonton native, so Duff will be spending some time in Edmonton. But if Comrie gets an NHL job in the United States, Duff may not spend much time outside of the holidays in Canada.

There are 30 NHL teams and 6 of them are in Canada. So Comrie has a 24/29 chance of playing for a U.S.-based team. Comrie has played for 4 other NHL teams: Philadelphia Flyers, Phoenix Coyotes, New York Islanders, and the Ottawa Senators — so he is used to bouncing around. Comrie was out for about 10 weeks with mononucleosis last season, so his season wasn't terribly productive.

When Duff married Comrie (and vice versa), it was for better or worse, richer or poorer, U.S. and Canada. Hilary Duff — along with Scarlett Johansson, Carrie Underwood, and Vince Vaughn — are part of a growing club of celebrities marrying Canadians. We hope they will be fine ambassadors to tell people of the wonderful spectacle that is Canada.