Quote:
Originally posted by Cards4ever
"We will cheer for a Canadian team over an American team because we are Canadian"
So, do you only cheer for the Canadian players on the Canadian teams? Do you see what I'm getting at? It sounds like you are cheering for the Canadian Army or something.
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I don't think this sort of behavior is odd, unusual, inconsistent, or whatever. I think it'd be quite natural. It doesn't happen so much in North American sports, as in most cases there are only a handful of Canadian teams in each league. Hockey is Canada's national pastime. It's their game. It's their passion. Of course they would like to see a Canadian team win. Especially given the current climate of the (their) sport which has seen US cities take Canadian teams, US TV stations alter schedules of national traditions (imagine a Canadian television station buying the rights of Monday Night football and scheduling the game for Tuesday afternoons), and the currenty economic state of the game has long handcuffed most (save Toronto) Canadian teams success (large salaries/payrolls). So of coruse Canadians are going to rally around a team from their country.
As for the slippery-slope argument (see: Canadian players on the Canadian teams), it's pretty much a given that in sport the team is what counts, more so than the individual player. There are, of course, exceptions, but most fans are more team-focused than player-focused (i.e., I hated Chelios, loathed him, he became a Wing, and one year later... Same with Hasek.)
You find this sort of thing MUCH more common in European soccer. With tournaments like the UEFA Cup and the Champions league, fans will almost always cheer for the team from their nation. Unless it's THE hated rival, most Brits will support the English squads (even if not outright fans and the team has French, Spanish, Brazillian, etc. players) over teams from Germany, Italy, or Spain. Same goes with the other nationalities.
Quite common.