Or, A self-confessed bandwagoner weighs in.
A little background: My twin brother, Patrick, is brilliant. He says all sorts of smart things and he’s usually right about them, too. He can get a little sassy sometimes, but that’s a story for another day.
So anyway, the other day, Patrick tweets:
I don’t understand why some people are so vehemently opposed to the hockey buzz in the city. It’s a cultural experience & celebration.
“YES!” I shout. Or at least I would be shouting if I wasn’t lying in bed wrapped up in my blanket, with one eye cracked half open as I read my Twitter feed and try to convince myself that it’s totally cool, even wise to stay in bed for another 15 minutes.
But the sentiment is there. And telepathically I am shouting and telepathically Patrick knows because we are twins and we share that power.
I don’t understand how you can live in this city and not feel alive and exited and proud! Sure, I can see people not being particularly interested in hockey during the regular season [raises hand nervously]. Here’s a confession: I didn’t even know until about three weeks ago that there were different lines. I thought there were like, five star players and a whole bunch of backups. What can I say? I’m a football fan.
But I digress.
I can see people not being diehard hockey fans, and I can even see people being said that their favourite team didn’t make it. But to be “vehemently opposed” – and indeed some people in this city are – to the vibe in Vancouver, to the snazzy sense of community it’s creating, just because it has to do with the success of the Canucks? That I do not get.
I always smile at people, but now people are smiling back!
I always start conversations during awkward, silent elevator rides, but now people are engaging me, rather than getting off three floors early just to escape.
But this story is my fave, and I think it perfectly illustrates my point.
Last night, I’m at the gym at my office building and not Downtown freaking out with everyone else in Vancouver, because, well, I haven’t been very nice to my body these last few years, and it needs the exercise more than it needs to be Downtown. I’m the only one in there, literally, so I have the game on both TVs and I’ve just finished running on the treadmill, so I’m looking really hot. And not the rawr kind of hot, the gross, sweaty kind of hot.
The dude who sings the Star Spangled Banner is wrapping up the song and I’m finishing some shoulder thingies* and a guy who works in the building comes in to grab his biking gear. He kind of hums along to “and the hooooooooooooome of the braaaaaaave”.
ME: We might as well stay standing, it’s O Canada time.
HIM: I’ll sing if you sing.
So there we are, side by side by the shoulder thingie machine. He’s in his work clothes and I’m disgusting and sweaty, and we’re singing our national anthem together.
That never would have happened under other circumstances and it’s because something very cool is happening in the city right now. How can you vehemently oppose that?
*that’s the technical name of the exercise.
