War of 1812 references make me nostalgic

[smg01]

Those flisters who frequented The Bronze* in days of yore will get why I got a little chuckle out of this. Bill Simmons and Malcolm Gladwell had a long email exchange (at espn.com) about many varied sports-related topics. At the end, came the topic of hockey. Which led to this:

(Gladwell): It's incredible, isn't it? What I don't understand is how a country that is obsessed with hockey and supplies the lion's share of players and diehard fans to the NHL allows its national sport to be run by an American working out of New York City. It's as if the Super Bowl were moved, permanently, to Winnipeg. I think the Canadian teams should simply secede from the league and start over. And we'd take any northern American teams that wanted to come as well, particularly those in the upper Midwest and greater Ohio Valley which, if you'll remember your War of 1812 history correctly, is an area that really ought to belong to Canada anyway. But maybe that argument is best left for another time.


*For those of you that are lost, an explanation in brief. Once upon a time, The Bronze was the official Buffy posting board. There, great debates broke out on a regular basis. Debates of earth-shaking importance such as:

Wouldn't Giles (being British) refer to a jelly donut as a jam donut?

Did Drusilla, in fact, kill the magic shop owner if we didn't see it? (A deluded subset maintains that he's happily tripping through daisy fields whistling a happy tune rather than the more reasonable conclusion that he's pushing up daisies. But I digress from my digression.)

And, relevant to the above quote, who did win the War of 1812?

Comments

[aurora-novarum.livejournal.com]

And, relevant to the above quote, who did win the War of 1812

Depends who you ask. ;-) (And I'm only saying that *partly* in cheek).

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

There were indeed varying answers to that question at the board. ;)

[amberlynne.livejournal.com]

Hee! Yeah, when I was in Ottawa, I noticed they are pretty proud of beating us back or whatever. There was even a question about it during during trivia at the bar we went to.

[lovelypoet.livejournal.com]

Alive. He just left town.

[aurora-novarum.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit fuzzy on it myself, it's not my forte in amateur history reading. Even the reason it *started* depends on who you ask. (Border disputes with Canada, US getting too cozy with France. Trade/piracy issues. Britain wanting to take over the country again).

The US definitely wasn't faring too well in a lot of the war. I mean, the British burned down Washington, D.C.! Then again, they didn't get Baltimore (which is why Key the poem that became the American national anthem). But there was a peace treaty that was face-saving on both sides (and I think gave the US back some territory the Brits won for Canada or something. There's still some question for part of Maine, perhaps--silly surveyors!). Plus the fact that Andrew Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans right at the end so gave the US a victory right when morale was very low...

When I read Canadian history books (and some call the war by a different name), Canada/Brits won. When I read American history books, the US won the war (or at least never "lost"). What's the old saying about history written by the victors...?

*uses icon of pretty Canadian and American actors*

[aurora-novarum.livejournal.com]

I love your icon!

[amberlynne.livejournal.com]

Heh. Thank you! It's by grrliz_icons and shareable, so feel free to snag and credit her.

[amberlynne.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha. *fist bump*

Canucks iz Smrt.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

y'all are still quite certifiable.

Dead. and not in a deadonia kind of way.

also, we won that war, Suzanne

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

Maybe he did leave town. In the casket in which he was resting. (Resting the rest of the dead, I hasten to add.) ;p

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

What's the old saying about history written by the victors...?

Or at least those who claim victory...

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

Oh hey, in the course of their hockey discussion, between asserting that Gary Bettman is the worst thing to happen to the NHL one of them raised an interesting idea. Reduce the NHL back down to 24 teams, divide them half and half between Canada and the U.S., and have the finals be a border showdown between the Canadian division winner and the U.S. division winner. It actually sounds like an intriguing idea to me.

[amberlynne.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, I am more likely to marry ASkars AND be crowned queen of Sweden then that happening. :D

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

It's been my observation that being a good idea is almost an insurmountable obstacle when it comes to sports business. (disclaimer: I don't have the hockey background to know whether the above is a good idea or not.)

[cosmicbob.livejournal.com]

Fix the bad grammar:

You're darn tootin'!

[sg-betty.livejournal.com]

Bettman is a disaster, and that's definitely a good idea.