Are Canadians Too MELLOW For Competitive Sports?

I was recently reading the blog post of a die-hard Toronto Blue Jays' fan - bemoaning the poor turnout at Toronto baseball games, despite - in many ways - having a good team... (Okay, they didn't go on to the championships - but how many teams have that honor in any given year?)

Reading this blog made me wonder whether the Canadians "personality" (if there is such a thing) is too mellow to care about competition - not only in baseball, but in many other sports. The only time we care is when we show poorly in the Olympics. And even there, we only care for the duration of the games... (We really don't want to look like losers...) But as soon as the Olympics are over, we stop caring again...

Why don't we care?

Is the Canadian climate to blame? Is there too much cold weather to create a hot-tempered people... ? Or does our bad-weather survival instinct cause us to prefer watching sports on TV...? ( It's so much more comfortable... and you don't have to drive so far...)

Or... (and this is hitting close to home...) are we Canadian parents to blame?!

I remember telling my kids, when they were young, that it didn't matter whether they won or lost (at soccer, baseball, basketball, hockey... whatever). The important thing was: Were they having fun?!

My two young sons would look at me, as if to say: Are you for real?! I thought the whole point of this was winning...

And their father - more competitive by nature - walked the middle ground in his message: Winning is good, but don't be a bad loser...

It was an eye-opener when he and one of our boys went to Scotland for a father-son vacation / soccer training session with my son's team. While there, they attended a professional soccer game...

When they returned, they recounted how - at the professional game - there had been two sets of bleachers - one for the fans of the home team, the other for the fans of the visiting team. Not only were the fans of the visiting team sequestered in a special area, they were surrounded by police security - to protect them from being beaten up by the fans of the home team!

Really?!! I found that hard to believe! Now that kind of behavior is definitely un-Canadian!

But.... Is that the kind of competitive brutality that fills stadiums?

There is one sport that exemplifies the Canadian sports mentality: curling. Notice the quiet demeanor of the players, the hushed tones of the TV announcers and the polite applause of the fans... Very mellow... Very Canadian...