| The Calgary Flames are on their way to the Stanley Cup finals this week, something that nobody predicted. What I, and a million other people could have predicted, however, is the way that our city has reacted to this. I am one of many Calgarians who moved away from my birth home in search of broader horizons, and tried to assimilate myself into another city's culture. And yet, is it not a person poor in spirit who can so easily assimilate themselves into another culture without losing the very character of their identity?
I did my best to become a Montrealer, but have found, six years later, that no matter what I do, I can't escape the Calgarian in me. People often scoff when I tell them that I am from Calgary. Most blindly assume it lacks the innate big city coolness of Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal, and misses out on the small-town city charm of Halifax, Winnipeg and Charlottetown.
I am from Calgary and now, because of the Calgary Flames, it seems OK again. I can tell people where I'm from these days and they don't reply with a dismissive, "Oh." They say, "Congratulations." As misdirected as complimenting someone on the spoils of their local sports team is, the word rings true for those who grew up there.
In the cradle of the Rocky Mountains, sprawled out like a giant picnic over the foothills, Calgary has the beautiful Bow River winding through its core. The patchwork fields of prairie farms are a fitting analogy for Calgary's citizens who hail from hundreds of different ethnic backgrounds. Congratulations indeed.
I don't want to get too sentimental over a sports team, because really, it is just a game, but there is a real connection between Calgarians and the team they are cheering for these past weeks. Calgary is a city of people who work hard and play hard. We don't call in sick after a late night of boozing. Hell no, it's "up and at ’em" the next day and off to work. Hungover, but at work.
If there is one city that defines Canada, I suggest that it is Calgary. Calgary is a young city, just as Canada is a young country, and it defies categorization. It is not merely an oil town, a farm town, or a boom town; it just is. Half of Calgarians don't even come from there, but the prairies have been burned into them like the cattle brands that mark the ranchers’ stock not spitting distance from the city limits.
Go Flames go.
Paul Spence is that guy from the movie FUBAR. |
Copyright ©2004 FFWD. All rights reserved.