Thanks, Mick. However, I'm going to use your perfectly legitimate post to launch my second rant in two days.

There's a fine line between nationalism and provincialism, and sometimes we Canadians have had difficulty distinguishing between them. I knew two things about Terry Puhl in the early- to mid-'80s: he played for the Houston Astros, and he was from Melville, Saskatchewan. I knew the latter because pretty much every single reference to a 'Stros game in the Canadian press highlighted this fact.

"Nolan Ryan threw a four-hitter over eight innings, striking out nine, as the Houston Astros beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1. Terry Puhl of Melville, Saskatchewan, drove in a run with a double."

I don't even know where Melville is. Nor have I ever seen Maple Ridge, B.C., on a map, but because that's Larry Walker's hometown, we'll hear about it till the day he falls off the Hall of Fame ballot. And though I'm sure Anola, Manitoba, is more than just a widening in the Trans-Canada Highway, it's the Home of Corey Koskie, and will always have a place on the sports pages hereabouts.

It's kind of galling, the assumption that Canadian fans won't care about baseball (or any non-hockey sport) unless One Of Their Own was involved in the outcome, no matter how minor the contribution or how pinsky the achievement. It was the same for almost all sports I grew up with: "Todd Brooker of Waterloo, Ontario finished 45th." "Jacques Villeneuve of Montreal blew a tire on the ninth lap and did not finish." "Dave Barr of Burnaby, B.C. shot a six-over-par 78 and missed the cut." And on and on. In an effort to always highlight the Canadian's involvement, they only ever managed to drive home the fact that we pretty much sucked at anything that didn't occur on an ice surface. It was all part of the great Canadian inferiority complex playing itself out: maybe we're also-rans, but dammit, we're Canadian also-rans.

This doesn't seem to be as common anymore, and I put that down to both a possible easing of the complex (brought about by generational change more than anything) and the fact that we have, in fact, produced winners. Lorie Kane and Mike Weir have won majors. Jacques Villeneuve won the F1 racing circuit. Larry Walker won an MVP and three batting titles. Donovan Bailey was the World's Fastest Man. All of which is great: we should be proud of our champions and promote them to our kids accordingly. But highlighting the Canadian replacement-players of the sporting world -- the Bill Wenningtons and Rheal Cormiers -- serves no good purpose that I can see. Rant over, and I thank you for your time.

Don't forget the immortal Denis Boucher.

There should always be time made for Stubby Clapp.

http://economics.about.com
There's a fine line between nationalism and provincialism, and sometimes we Canadians have had difficulty distinguishing between them.

Couldn't agree more. That's one thing I don't miss about living in Canada. The U.S. leads the world in mindless flag waving, but Canadians have their own pointless nationalistic/provincial streak. It'd be nice to live in a world where people are judged by how they treat others and use the skills they were born with, and not on what colour their passport is.

MP

Whoo-hoo! A Frank O'Rourke sighting.

Serious question ...
Who do Canadian baseball fans -- of the casual, generic AND ZLC-like varieties -- root for more?

Canadian ballplayers like Walker and Puhl?

Or Les Expos and Da Box Jays?

I would have to say Jean & Joe lunchpail primarily root for the team ... unfortunately, that team is all too often the Yankees!

I get irritated easily (like all the idiot sports-yakkers who refer to a team having "clinched" a playoff series - grrr!), but referring to Larry Walker as Maple-Ridge-BC's-Larry-Walker doesn't bother me. What bothers me is when a sport no more than 10 people give a damn about (say, synchronized tiddly-winks, or professional skeet shooting) has a Canadian place in the top 5 and a mention is tacked on to a sportscast. Or an obligatory listing of the pathetic Canuck also-rans when running down a leaderboard or race result (Schumacher finished first, ... Villeneuve (Canada) DNF).

Who do Canadian baseball fans -- of the casual, generic AND ZLC-like varieties -- root for more?

I'd have to say Canadian baseball fans root more for Canadian teams like les Expos and the Jays than for Canadian players. The casual fan likely doesn't follow enough to know which players are Canadian (Chris Reitsma? Who's that?) and the hardcore fan cares more about good baseball than patriotic allegiances.

Personally, I care about the Larry Walkers of the league and enjoy seeing Canadians do well. But when Larry comes to SkyDome later this summer, I hope that American kid Roy Halladay makes him look like he should have stuck to hockey.