The Vancouver 2010 Olympics will have to save Hockey Canada.
Our world junior team lost in overtime to the USA squad we’re so used to beating, we are staring at a horrible gold medal free streak on home soil, and a mega corporation from Carolina is attempting to give us a nationally identifying cheer.
How did the best hockey country in the world get into this state of affairs? Pepsi must be losing sales in the United States, because it would be the only way to explain their attempt to develop a stranglehold on a market of only about 35 million people. If anything it’s a very strange campaign in the cola wars. Canada is not exactly a businessperson’s dream when it comes to consumption.
So an eastern seaboard cola company that was once called “Brad’s Drink” has claimed to create an encouraging cheer for all of Canada, something we are supposed to chant when Steve Yzerman’s team goes for gold on home ice this coming February. Anybody else think this seems a tad weird?
It is easy to see what the plan was for this hockey Canada chant. Months prior to the winter season, people were submitting ideas to Pepsi executives in a national contest. The World Juniors Tournament was supposed to be the coming out party for the cheer, and by the time the Olympics rolled around, all of Canada was supposed to be yelling “Eh Oh Canada Go!” and chugging down sugary black cola out of cans with a beach ball logo on them.
Some good has to come from this cheer, and it truly isn’t all bad. Imagine if Harper had spent taxpayer dollars on developing an athletic cheer for arena crowds? Hiring “creative professionals” to hang out in a board room eating Chinese food until they came up with something worthy of the Olympics. There is no possible way that would go over well, and it would make Canada look ridiculous on an international scale. A private company partnered with The Sports Network and made an attempt to give the country a unique chant to cheer on its team. It seems innocent enough, but it does not quite work.
The cheer’s staying power, or lack thereof, was shown during the WJHC, when the Saskatchewan crowd (which is notorious for being arguably the loudest fan base in Canada) simply went back to “Go Canada Go!” and kept with the classic slow chants of the opposing goalie’s last name.
If you actually like the cheer, please email me at alex.wickwire@thebruns.ca. I really would love to hear differing opinions.
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