Patriotism, Eh?
By Dan Freshman
For years, the Boston Cannons, wearing red, white and blue, sported a Bud Light sticker on their sleeves. It meant they like beer.
This season, the Toronto Nationals wear two flags on their sleeves. That means they…um…like those countries?
“I think it’s a pretty prideful squad. The team is primarily Canadian. The American guys that we have on our team I wish were Canadian,” Nationals midfielder Geoff Snider said.
The Nationals were formed under the slogan, “Two nations, one team.” The United States isn’t one of those nations. The Nationals roster is less than one-third American—if those exiles can even be considered “Americans” anymore. Meanwhile, the Bayhawks, Cannons and Machine don’t suit a single Canuck on their roster; The Outlaws and Lizards dress just one apiece.
Before Toronto’s debut season even began, the team couldn’t deny some sort of connection and/or conspiracy.
“We had looked at the national program and the MLL team, and it just came together and made a lot of sense," Nationals GM and President Stu Brown told US Lacrosse Magazine last May. "There were tons of synergies between the two. That being said, there's no direct relationship. You don't have to play on the Nationals to be eligible for the Canadian team, but there's a logical connection that people will draw in terms of developing players for the worlds.”
So, keyboard lax warriors around the country have begged the question: how Canadian is the MLL’s first Canadian team? How big is nationalism for the Nationals? Are they so “national” that the Nats are merely a primer for the real “Canada’s Team” next summer…
…eh?
“It sort of snuck up on me,” Lizards assistant and Team USA assistant coach Tony Resch said. “We saw them the third week of the season, and certainly I don’t know all the Canadians and all of their personnel, but it seems like a lot of guys playing for the Nationals, unless they’re hiding a lot of other guys, would be the guys they’re relying on for the World Games. I think that was kind of interesting with how that worked out.”
More than halfway into the 2009 season, here’s how it worked out: the Nationals are run by the same man who runs operations for Team Canada. The Nationals are coached by the same man who coached Team Maple Syrup in 2006—and will be again in 2010. The Nationals are made of nearly 50 percent players who kicked American ass in 2006. The Nationals are hording 92 percent of the players in the league that know the lines to “Oh Canada” by heart.
And most impressive of all, the Nationals have created awkward moments for 22,679 American fans thus far at away games, who have had to stare at an American flag while their home team was forced to play the Canadian National Anthem.
“O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!” the singer repeated to 7,532 confused fans in Boston last Thursday.
The MLL’s prohibitive Team Canada has considerable stakes in other impressive categories as well. Though less than 15 percent of players in the MLL are Canadian, they account for nearly a quarter of the penalty minutes in the league this season.
Does that added aggression mean that there’s more at stake—like a nonexistent border war—when the Nationals invade American soil? Are Americans in turn humming “Blame Canada” before they march onto enemy territory?
In other words, are there bragging rights bigger than just a loonie and a double double for who gets to call the other guy a hoser before ya whip out a two-four at the end of the day…wait what?
“In the Canadian guys’ mind it’s maybe a little bit of team Canada,” Snider said. “But we’re just out here trying to win a championship and trying to come together as a group, the same as every other team in the MLL. It just so happens we’re in Toronto.”
For Resch and the Lizards, playing up that angle could stir up a bit of a Kerfuffle in the washroom.
“I think if the players want to play that card, it might work,” Resch said. “The league is so tough that the guys don’t need much motivating to get them focused and fired up to beat whoever it is. Plus, we have our token Canadian in Zack Greer who’s been a great addition to the team … I apologized to Zack in case I stereotyped him in any way. We have to be a little careful with the U.S. versus Canada angle so we don’t hurt anyone’s feelings.
So maybe pitting country against country is a bit more complicated than expected. Token Greer, fittingly, was instrumental for a bunch of gorbies beating the Nationals on their dooryard, a 13-9 triumph for America just over a month ago. The foreign import tallied five points in his first professional game, leaving some non-experts to believe that the only way to beat the international Rattlers was to match newfie against Quebecker.
Since then, teams found it was a bit easier than suspected. The Nationals are riding a three-game losing streak and have yet to beat a team with a winning record this season. Maybe the alleged Team Canada isn’t as unstoppable, or unfair, as it seemed. It even remains up in the air as to how similar the Nationals roster will look to that other Canadian team in a summer.
“It’s too early to say,” Nationals coach Dave Huntley said. “There are a lot of great Canadian players on the Nationals roster and there are a lot of great Canadian players not on the Nationals roster. As for playing style that will be dictated by the players we select in October.”
Nevertheless, some tensions still must exist as Team Canada defends a World Lacrosse Championship for the first time in nearly three decades, right? For one, Team USA’s Paul Rabil compared next summer’s American edition to the Team USA Basketball’s “Redeem Team” in 2008’s Summer Olympics. That makes John Grant Junior…an 18-year-old Spaniard with a mullet?
Again, the analogies may not line up either. And even if the Nationals roster may not be so similar, necessarily, to Team Canada, at least they get an advantage playing together a summer beforehand?
“As a coach, the more opportunities you get to play together and practice together, that will help with the continuity of the team,” Resch said. “Will it be a significant advantage? I guess we’ll have to see and wait it out.”
Who knows what happens at BMO Field. The converted soccer stadium has become a Mecca of no banality, banning backpacks, large flags, banners, drums, noisemakers, lacrosse sticks, hockey sticks, Frisbees, inflatable objects, fun, apple pie, country music, Sacajawea dollars, freedom, democracy and hammocks.
(Sidenote: one of the smartest and generally most attractive girls I met at my Ivy League alma mater this year could not pronounce the word “hammock” for her life. She was a math major and knew multivariable calculus like the back of her hand, but was physically unable to say anything other than ham-mawck. I wonder how Canadians pronounce it.)
Coaching both of the teams, Huntley will likely know best. According to Huntley, playing together with the Nationals is no greater of an advantage as it is for the Cannons or Outlaws playing as a team this summer.
Also from Huntley: the relationship between the Nationals and Team Canada organizations? None, beyond himself and Brown.
Any patriotism representing a Canadian team wearing Iroquois and Canadian flags? None.
Any differences between the American and Canadian players on the field? None.
I guess that solves it, keyboard warriors. American teams aren’t playing like they’re against Team Canada. They’re not as dominant as we thought they’d be. The tensions next summer might be there, but not right now. And who knows how much this team will help them next summer.
Even Snider, who wears more than just an Iroquois and Canadian flag on his sleeve, backs Huntley up.
“I think we’ll get to the team Canada stuff in October when we’re trying out and focusing on defending our title.”
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee…
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