Why American media can’t help but belittle Canada and Canadian sports teams any chance they get to.
“Close, but not close enough.” It is a familiar phrase for those who are fans of Toronto sports franchises. Whether it be through literal sports successes, or through chasing the dream that would lead to success. With the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes saga, Toronto sports fans would leave as heartbroken as when Kawhi decided to leave for the so-called ‘greener pastures of LA’. Ohtani would choose to sign in the same city. A wild plane chase the day before that led to nothing but a Dragons Den/Shark Tank investor basking in Twitter glory, it is easy for Blue Jays fans to feel betrayed, broken, and furious at Rogers for not committing to him all the way. If you’re not first you’re last as they say.
However in the midst of all this, there is something else that Toronto sports fans, and Canadian sports fans in general should be absolutely furious about. That is the fallout of the event being used as an opportunity for American sports media and analysts to talk trash about their neighbors to the north.
As of the last couple of hours, The New York Post’s (a truly non bias news tabloid) MLB insider Jon Heyman recently wrote an article about why Ohtani’s signing in LA was a good thing for the sport of baseball, and lets just say he left Canadian sports fans in the dust.
“No offense to the Toronto Blue Jays, rumored in the final days to be making progress, but this is much better for Major League Baseball. I know I will be accused of being an American but the Dodgers are a storied franchise, the franchise of Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax and Vin Scully. Baseball will be better for it.”
Toronto/Canadian fans and even the Blue Jays Colorado-raised ace Kevin Gausman would make their opinions heard after such sentiments.
Whenever American analysts have to talk about the concept of a big time free agent coming to Canada, the scenario usually always plays out where they say some stuff like “Canada, great country, Toronto, great city, I love visiting, but any player going there would be a cardinal sin against the sport in question” Even in success, like when the Toronto Raptors won the 2019 NBA title, the first ever title won outside of the USA, a final where most of the country wanted to see the Raptors succeed in their conquest was met with hostility from the American media.
Image Credit: Daily Hive
Video Credit: Yahoo
The only exception to this disrespect is in the NHL where 7/32 teams are Canadian and it is mostly Canadian media that dominates. Also you could bet if an NFL team existed in Canada, the disrespect would be tenfold. So the ultimate question is, why? Why must American sports fans be so hostile towards Toronto sports teams that either win or try to win by acquiring big name free agents, most of the time coming up short. Well to be completely honest, that is just the reality of being an American on American news agencies.
Blind anti-Americanism, and viewing America as inferior is in many ways a playful part of Canada’s culture, much in the same way our southern neighbors joke about their ‘inferior neighbors’. Then again Canadians do tend to respect American sports franchises for the legitimate markets they are. Unless we are talking about teams like the Coyotes or Commanders who have not done their markets justice, Canada tends to show respect to their American sports counterparts and the fact is that in all accounts, they tend to be more successful. With US sports fans however, that is generally not the case. The same way certain Canadians are upset about Torontonians considering their city as the centre of the universe where all of Canada’s media attention is given, there should be a somewhat equal sentiment felt towards American sports media considering themselves as not only the centre of the universe, but dismissing the legitimacy of Canadian sports simultaneously. It is due to that ‘centre of the universe’ principal that they believe anything good that happens to their sports leagues outside of the country would be ‘bad for the sport.’ Yes, the Dodgers getting Ohtani is good for baseball, and Soto going to the Yankees is good for baseball, but the idea that any player going to the Canada isn’t good for their respective sport has become common ideology in specifically MLB and NBA media. Yeah, let’s completely ignore the massive TV ratings that the Blue Jays draw from across Canada every year. Ignore how Toronto was ranked 8th in overall attendance in the league despite a lower overall capacity due to stadium renovations. At the end of the day, the Blue Jays not only host a passionate fan base, but a massive one, similar to those at the upper echelon of American sports, and we do not get a similar benefit of the doubt.
What American media seemingly fails to understand is that the sport isn’t just for them, despite their audiences being generally considerably swayed towards an anti-foreign franchise mentality, the spread of basketball and baseball worldwide has amplified the struggles many American networks, reporters, analysts etc. have faced in committing to having it be for anyone besides just their American audiences. Ohtani has become an embodiment of Japan, a personification of all Japanese sport represents. There is a whole tournament celebrating how the sport is popular all around the world. If you’re willing enough to have the leagues expand to Canada, the least you can do is treat them like normal a normal team. Simply put, if the only teams that are allowed to have respect are the one’s within US borders to you, what is the point in even having Canadian teams in the first place?
Ultimately, we really shouldn’t take any offense by this, cause it is just the American media’s jobs to provide their narrative that their followers accept as truth, and are the only people that matter in their dollar sign ridden eyes. Let them look like clowns and just ignore it. All that matters is that the rest of the world sees what a sort of respect a country like Canada, and a city like Toronto generate internationally from a sports capacity, while bias-based clouded judgment can be projected elsewhere.