What about Canada?

First, regarding the closed topic. As an American, I feel angry about the ingratitude expressed by certain Europeans on this board. Our boys paid a high-price to liberate Europe from the Nazis. We continued to pay a high price during the Cold War. Granted, America is not perfect, but it would be nice to see continued 'bonds of affection' between America and those we liberated in WWII. Sadly, what one sees/hears (on the news and even on this board)is much-less than this, a certain 'contempt' for America that I don't understand. Frankly, sometimes I feel like "let 'em all go to heck", bring home our troops, cut-off our foreign aid, and let 'em figure it all out by themselves. My anger toward the French gov't is deep and real, and I'm not alone! And frankly I was deeply-disappointed in the Brits reception of our President a while back. (through venting, thank-you)

Now, regarding the Canadians. I don't know where the thought came that somehow Americans don't love the Canadians, but it didn't come from me, nor does it from most of us 'down here'. We share a common border, and a history as well. (We both have teams in the NHL, NBA and MLB!) Canadians also paid a price in WWII and Korea and Vietnam. Canadians 'smuggled' some of our people out of the Iranian embassy during the end of the Carter administration. I would think that generally, the attitude toward our Canadian neighbors is quite-good.

 

I wish we had merged our nations into one a hundred years ago!

 

First, regarding the closed topic. As an American, I feel angry about the ingratitude expressed by certain Europeans on this board. Our boys paid a high-price to liberate Europe from the Nazis. We continued to pay a high price during the Cold War. Granted, America is not perfect, but it would be nice to see continued 'bonds of affection' between America and those we liberated in WWII. Sadly, what one sees/hears (on the news and even on this board)is much-less than this, a certain 'contempt' for America that I don't understand. Frankly, sometimes I feel like "let 'em all go to heck", bring home our troops, cut-off our foreign aid, and let 'em figure it all out by themselves. My anger toward the French gov't is deep and real, and I'm not alone! And frankly I was deeply-disappointed in the Brits reception of our President a while back. (through venting, thank-you) [/QB]</font>[/QUOTE]Nice way to get in the last word Jude.

As an American living abroad I have generally decent feelings about Canada. I have never thought about them in a negative light. Just good neighbours, I guess.

 

Ooooh.....careful, now! That's the Canadian's greatest fear!

 

You're certainly entitled to make any comment you want.

 

My answer to the last one was not represented, so I decided I would post here:

The BB would certainly be poorer without some Canadians who still love America. The others would not be missed by me one bit.

Joseph Botwinick

 

I think Canadians are like everyone else...to dislike all people from one country would be wrong because no two people are exactly alike. Some people are great, others are prbably not as great, but we are all God's children!

 

And I can spell most of the time...not always I guess!

 

I think the last question should have had "Eh" for one of the answers; that would have been my vote.

 

If you are talking about Canadians who are anti-American, that is perfectly fine by me. You are still my friend, aren't you Bob? That's all that really matters...

The last question was designed to be NICE to our Canadian friends!

[/QUOTE]

I tend think that being nice is generally overated in today's society.

Joseph Botwinick

 

I've got it! Let's ANNEX Canada! Good idea, eh? Well, I think it would be great if I could call Red Green a fellow-citizen!

 

Trivia question: Did a Canadian invent the Baseball glove?


A: Some baseball historians suggest Art "Foxy" Irwin invented the baseball glove while others more cautiously describe him as having "popularized" the glove. Another source says Irwin was credited with inventing the "infielder's glove."At any rate, Irwin, also known as "Doc," was a baseball pioneer from Canada. He was born in Toronto on Feb. 14, 1858 and raised in Boston. He took up baseball and by 1880 was one of the best shortstops in the game. At this point in the game's development, infielders like Irwin caught balls with their bare hands. However, around 1883 a hard hit ball broke two fingers on Irwin's left hand and rather than waiting for them to heal, he bought a buckskin glove that was a bit too big, added some padding, inserted the fingers inside and kept playing. Within a couple of years several players were using what was know as the "Irwin Glove." For what it's worth, Irwin had an outstanding fielding percentage, well over .800 consistently. But Chip Martin, a London, Ont. writer, has been researching the early days of baseball and says a catcher, named Phil Powers, with the London Tecumsehs started using a primitive glove in 1878. Others were also beginning to try out new equipment at the time.
Nevertheless, Irwin was an interesting figure. He batted left, threw right, was five-foot eight-and-a-half inches tall and weighed 158 pounds. He played with a variety of teams in his 13-year career. In addition to his role in introducing the baseball glove, he led a player's revolt in 1890, managed a team in Toronto in the 1890s, was a National League umpire in 1902, introduced professional baseball to Cuba, and initiated the system of baseball scouting. Irwin was apparently depressed about having to handle two marriages at the same time and on July 16, 1921 jumped overboard and drowned while sailing on the liner "The Calvin Austin" between New York and Boston.

Q: Was the first baseball game played in Canada, and not Cooperstown, NY?
A: Good question, and one the folks in the southern Ontario community of Beachville have been asking for some time. Some fans may not know it, but the first recorded game of baseball took place in Canada, a year before Abner Doubleday supposedly "invented" the game in Cooperstown, New York. Beachville, about 40 kilometres east of London, Ont., boasts of itself as the home of baseball in Canada because it was here on June 4, 1838 that a game of baseball, or at least a form of the game as we now know it, took place in front of several spectators. The basis of this claim lies with a lengthy letter published May 5, 1886 in the Philadelphia-based Sporting Life magazine. The letter, entitled "A Game of Long-ago Which Closely Resembled Our Present National Game," was written by Dr. Adam Ford of Denver, Colorado, who had grown up in Beachville. What sets Ford's letter apart from other reminiscences of early ball games is details on the date, the way the game was played, and the names of players who participated. Most historians agree baseball flourished before 1840 and that Doubleday's claim of invention is pure bunk, but there seems to be little evidence on specific dates and places of the games. Although Ford's original letter is in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, officials there have never formally recognized the validity of his claim for Beachville. Two researchers from the University of Western Ontario examined the validity in a 1988 article for the Journal of Sport History. Nancy Bouchier and Robert Barney wrote: "The question remains: How credible is Adam Ford's letter relative to the early history of baseball? A thorough investigation of Ford himself, his sport involvement and the context of his times all suggest that his reminiscence is valuable."
Research of county records and tombstones in the area indicate most of the players would have been boys and men 15 to 24 at the time of the game, again making his recollections believable, say the researchers. Baseball is often thought of as deriving from the English game of rounders, and there is evidence to suggest variations of baseball were played as long ago as the Colonial period in the U.S. Given the thousands of United Empire Loyalists who emigrated to Canada during and after the Revolution, it's likely some brought a form of baseball with them. In fact, in Jane Austen's novel, Northranger Abbey written in the late 1790s, she writes of a character: "And it was not very wonderful that Catherine should prefer cricket, base-ball, riding on horseback, and running about the country at the age of fourteen, to books." But it's Ford's letter, which also includes a diagram of a five-sided playing field, that sets down for the first time the specifics of a game. There were distinguishing features to Ford's game: there was territory to show where fair and foul balls were, or "fair hit" and "no hit" as he called them. And the number of men on each side had to be equal before a game could be played, usually between seven and 12 players per team. Finally, some aspects of Ford's personal life may have fueled controversy surrounding the letter. Because he was born in 1831 and only a youngster when the game was played, some have questioned how a boy could have remembered such specifics. And Ford was also involved in a sensational murder scandal in St. Marys, Ont in 1878, when a Robert Guest who was the secretary of the St. Marys Temperance Association died mysteriously after drinking in Ford's office. A coroner's inquest was held behind closed doors, and Ford was not brought to trial. However, the incident prompted his move to Denver in 1880. Ford supposedly had a history of alcohol and drug problems and died virtually destitute on May 17, 1906. In 1988, a stamp was issued recognizing 150 years of the sport in Canada. As well, a match was held that year between a team in Beachville and one from Cooperstown, playing by the rules outlined by Ford.

 

You know your from Manitoba, Canada, when....


1. You only know three spices - salt, pepper and ketchup.


2. You design your Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.


3. The mosquitoes have landing lights.


4. You have more miles on your snowblower than your car.


5. You have 10 favourite recipes for moose meat.


6. Canadian Tire on any Saturday is busier than the toy stores at Christmas.


7. You live in a house that has no front step, yet the door is one meter above the ground.


8. You've taken your kids trick-or-treating in a blizzard.


9. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled in with snow.


10. You owe more money on your snowmobile than your car.


11. The local paper covers national and international headlines on 1/4 page, but requires 6 pages for sports.


12. At least twice a year, the kitchen doubles as a meat processing plant.


13. The most effective mosquito repellent is a shotgun.


14. Your snowblower gets stuck on the roof.


15. You think the start of moose season is a national holiday.


16. You head south to go to your cottage.


17. You frequently clean grease off your barbeque so the bears won't prowl on your deck.


18. You know which leaves make good toilet paper.


19. The major parish fund-raiser isn't bingo - it's sausage making.


20. You find -40C a little chilly.


21. The trunk of your car doubles as a deep freezer.


22. You attend a formal event in your best clothes, your finest jewelry and your Sorels.


23. You can play road hockey on skates.


24. You know 4 seasons - Winter, Still Winter, almost Winter and Construction.


25. The municipality buys a Zamboni before a bus.


26. You actually get these jokes and forward them to all your Northern friends.

 

"Our boys paid a high-price to liberate Europe from the Nazis."
It is closer to the truth, that the Russians did most of the work defeating the Nazis and that the Americans stopped the Russians from conquering the whole of Europe.
Thanks for doing that by the way, I don't mind speaking German, but Russian on the other hand...

 

Hey Jude,

I really enjoyed your list. I don't live in Manitoba, but a whole lot of them apply for us, too.

My neighbor did actually have a grizzley on her deck, cleaning off the burnt juices on the barbecue--and we live in town.

 

"Boy, Mioque, THAT is truly offensive to me."
Sorry Bob, seems that you'll have to adjust your worldview. The Commies would have licked the Nazis eventually without US support.
And afterwards they probably would have turned the whole of mainland Europe into vassal states.
Ofcourse they would have lost a huge number of soldiers compared to the already large US losses doing this.
You see invading Russia without preparing for the Russian winters is a monumentally stupid idea and the Germans did exactly that.

 

We spend so much time fighting each other and forget that WWII was a joint effort in the final analysis. I like to tame the Yanks a little when they get this "I won the war attitude". but we are all grateful that all the free nations were there at the crucial moment.

So far as Canada is concerned, we really don't care whether another country loves or hates us. Just leave us alone is all we ask. We like the middle road until we are provoked, and then we become an army of repute.

Cheers, A Canadian by choice, not birth,

Jim