So, a columnist in Buffalo is disillusioned by us Canucks... What I don't get is why Americans get hung up on tipping so much. I find the pre-occupation to be bit obsessive.
Disillusioned by northern neighbors
Updated: January 9, 2011, 7:27 AM
It is a good thing that the World Junior hockey tournament did not last any longer. Another week, and we might have had a border war.
Even as it was, I think we saw a different side of the normally placid, polite, patient good neighbors we thought we knew. Buffalo was invaded by a sea of red. The tide has receded, leaving behind some hard feelings, shattered stereotypes and an aftertaste as bad as the backwash from a warm Molson.
Whatever happened to the polite, humble, rule-respecting folks we thought we knew? Where were the civic-minded citizens who dutifully wait at the street corner when the traffic light is red, even when no cars are coming? Wherever you are, we want you back.
I am not sure if it was the insufferable sense of hockey superiority, or the pre-and post-game beers, but this tournament brought out the inner lout in a lot of Canadians. Arrogant, loud, drunk, obnoxious — if I didn’t know better, I would have thought that they were, well, Americans.
From the guy arrested for punching an American fan at the USA-Canada game, to the sea of red that adopted any team that the USA played, to the drunken red-clad louts at the New Year’s Eve ball drop (staggering, middle-aged, red-clad lady I saw clutching a half-empty bottle of vodka, this means you), to the legions of lousy tippers at bars and restaurants — a lot of Canadians wore out their welcome long before Russia shattered their gold medal dreams. Believe me, there were not a lot of Buffalonians crying over that outcome.
It was, well, dismaying. I have always enjoyed the peaceful co-existence and mutually advantageous relationship we have with our cold-climate cohorts.
Buffalonians like our weekends in big-city Toronto. We enjoy the better side of Niagara Falls. Many of us appreciate cross-border culture, from the Shaw Festival to the Canadian ballet. We relish pounding on Toronto’s hockey team, one of the Sabres’ few longtime whipping boys. And we forgive Torontonians the sterile Rogers Centre, as it is the closest viewing site for WNY’s legion of Yankee fans. We even overlook their use of “eh” as punctuation and their affection for the underwhelming Peace Bridge.
In return, Canadians like our 4 a.m. bar closing and our wings and the bargains at our malls and our City of Good Neighbors affability. As a demonstration of our generosity, we even share our football team with Toronto — although as gifts go, it ranks with the holiday fruitcake.
Make no mistake, we were more than happy the past couple of weeks to have Canadians sleep in our hotel rooms, eat in our restaurants, drink in our bars and shop in our malls. We love the uncommon smell of outside dollars. All we ask is that you do not be obnoxious about it.
In some cases, it was too much to ask. I talked to workers at a downtown bar/restaurant that will remain nameless, to protect the place’s cross-border business. By tournament’s end, they had disdain for all things emblazoned with a Maple Leaf. The main complaint, and this is not new, is a lot of Canadian hockey fans are awful tippers.
“They would have a few beers and leave like a quarter or 50 cents,” said one bartender, who for job security reasons asked that his name not be used. “Servers said they were getting two-dollar tips on a$25 check.”
OK, chronically bad tipping is not cause for a diplomatic crisis. But multiply it by a few thousand visitors, and you leave behind a lot of irritation.
So I think it is a good thing that this thing is over. I look forward to getting back to our usual, cozy, mutually beneficial relationship. Aside from everything else, it is tough to stay mad at the nation that gave us Molson’s and Labatt’s, eh?
desmonde@buffnews.com
Disillusioned by northern neighbors - Donn Esmonde - The Buffalo News
Meanwhile, on the north side of the border, reaction is a bit wounded...
Hockey fans feel high-sticked by columnist
Local News
By MONIQUE BEECH , STANDARD STAFF
Posted 2 hours ago
A column written by an American scribe taking aim at the "sea of red" that swept into Buffalo during the world junior hockey tournament has some fans this side of the border seeing red.
In a Sunday column, Donn Esmonde of the Buffalo News wrote that several people in the U.S. border city were taken aback by uncharacteristically loud, brazen, drunken Canadians who acted more like "Americans" during the 11-day hockey tournament, which ended Jan. 5.
Esmonde cited examples of a Canadian fan punching an American during the USA-Canada game, being "lousy tippers" at area bars and restaurants and suffering from a major hockey superiority complex.
The international event brought out a "different side of the normally placid, polite and patient good neighbors we thought we knew," Esmonde wrote.
Several indignant hockey fans in Niagara, many of whom crossed the border for one or more games, told The Standard that Esmonde's piece highlights just a few bad apples.
Many compared the passionate maple leaf hockey fervour to Americans' rowdy zeal for football and baseball.
Team Canada devotee Dave White, who attended six junior tournament hockey games, said the majority of Canadian and American hockey fans were respectful and well-behaved.
"I think (Esmonde) is picking out the worst things that happened," said White, who attended games with his wife, Tracey, and sons Nathan, 16, and Devin, 12.
"Obviously when the Americans come over here and we have a big thing going on, we don't put them down. I think there's a lot of good things that happened over there, too, right?"
Some Niagara residents pointed the finger back at Buffalonians, who they say could have treated Canadians, who accounted for about 75% of tickets sold at most games, a little better during the tournament.
Several readers who attended games cited examples of Buffalo police being "excessive" in their authority, parking lot operators gouging visitors with rates of up to $60 and restaurants and pubs charging cover or 10% exchange rates even though the U.S. and Canadian dollars were virtually at parity.
n Jeff Blay's view, Americans just don't understand Canadians in general and their religious devotion to hockey in particular.
Buffalonians especially don't have a lot of interest in getting to know their cross-border cousins, said Blay, a 21-year-old public relations intern with the OHL's Niagara IceDogs who attended a few games.
"I go to Florida and California a lot and they're interested and they like to hear about Canadian culture, but in Buffalo they hate it and it's just a 40-minute drive from the border," Blay said.
"When it comes to hockey, they definitely think it's a little ridiculous how much we like it. But I guess it's because they don't respect the sport as much as we do."
In his column, Esmonde takes great pains to call the relationship between Buffalonians and Canadians a "peaceful coexistence" and "mutually advantageous relationship." He writes that many people from his city enjoy going to Toronto and going to the Shaw Festival and other cultural events in Ontario.
While many downtown restaurant and bar workers in Buffalo were glad to see the red tide recede, Esmonde wrote that Canadians brought in a lot of "outside dollars."
In an interview, Esmonde said he wasn't surprised his column ruffled a few feathers this side of the border. Esmonde said he wrote the piece as a good-natured poke at Canadians and had a little fun with it.
But Esmonde said his column did capture the mood of several people in Buffalo who "were a little bit put out by some of the behaviour that they saw."
Canadians seemed to be a "little bit too exuberant" rooting against the United States, no matter whom the Americans were playing.
Esmonde said the special relationship between Canada and the U.S. is still intact, despite some rocky times during the hockey tournament.
"Again, it's hockey," Esmonde said. "It's hockey fans. Everybody gets exuberant. Hockey and beer kind of go together sometimes, before and after the games. It's like the old expression after three or four days, fish and visitors start to smell a little bit. After 11 days, I think it's understandable that there might be a little bit of fraying of nerves. I don't think it was an international incident."
Some on this side of the border agreed with Esmonde.
"The writer pretty much nailed this one as even I was surprised at how some Canadians acted ... towards our neighbours to the south," Matt Day of Dunnville wrote on The Standard's Facebook fan page.
"But, after all, this is hockey we're talking about, and it's just common knowledge that Canadians take the sport seriously. We're not normally 'unruly' and I'm glad he specifically mentions that."
Hockey fans feel high-sticked by columnist - St. Catharines Standard - Ontario, CA