I need to think on this.

  • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    In Canada, hockey is a little bit weird culturally. It's very much still a rich (or at least middle class) white sport, primarily due to costs of equipment and rink time. It's also culturally the Canadian equivalent of the NFL, in that it exists nearly everywhere in Canada, and in fact most players tend to be from large cities or their suburbs, but it's coded slightly culturally conservative and associated with small towns. That being said, every lib I know is into hockey. It's whiter than NBA fandom, and I think Canadians of color would more likely be a raptors fan than fan of any Canadian hockey team, but it's still the national sport and largely crosses identity lines.

    Edit: its worth noting that even the conservative friends I have into hockey are very much the American equivalent of Democrats... They're really Liberals by Canadian standards too, they just grew up in a culturally conservative area and consider liberalism to be some weird thing arrogant torontonians are into. Generally they're believers in a milti-ethnic canada, support lgbt rights, etc etc. But also the giant sampling bias I have is that the overwhelming majority of my social circle is millenial and younger. Older hockey fans are probably shitheads.

      • eXAt [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        The Don Cherry litmus test is a good one.

        For those who don’t know who Don Cherry is he was a (formerly) beloved commentator on Hockey night in Canada, known for wearing goofy and extravagant suits on air as well as speaking in a very stereotypical way, think sayings like “good ol’ Ontariyuh boys”.

        He was a few years ago fired for going on a weird anti-immigrant rant on air. He was very old school in that he seemed to also be racist against white European players, believing that they were a bunch of ‘sissies’ .

      • Wertheimer [any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        If we think you're talking about the jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, do we win anything?

    • blue_lives_murder [they/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      When the NHL union joined the NBAPA wildcat strike in 2020 it really tested the limits of that belief in a multi-ethnic Canada.

      Even on here there were folks with garbage takes about Canada not being white supremacist like the US.