Danko Jones: Canadian

“Sound Of Love“; ‘Born A Lion’ (2002)

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I’m Going To The Show Baby, Private Box…

a fridge full of beer, all the smoked meat sandwiches I can eat and… oh yeah, Game Three of The Stanley Cup Finals between The Ottawa Senators and the Anaheim Ducks at ScotiaBank Place.

Fuck yeah. The last playoff game I managed to get myself into was back in 2003 when Ottawa beat up on the Flyers in the Conference Semi-Finals. Despite the Flyers hanging their goalie, Roman “the bipolar goaler” Cechmanek, out to dry — then blaming him for the loss — it was a pretty good game… but, Holy Fuck, what an atmosphere. I’ve been to a lot of NHL hockey games, but nothing like that.

I’ve even been to a couple of regular season games where the crowd felt like they were too drowsy to cheer. Back in 1998 or 99 against Edmonton the person I was at the game with was actually nodding off between periods… now, a lot of that had to do with Edmonton and Ottawa both using “The Trap”, but still. In most games I’ve been to there are bursts of energy where, for a few minutes in each period, the energy spikes and you feel like the roof is aboot to be torn off this mother… but then the Music Idiot jams in his Gary Glitter CD and sucks all the energy out of the building because a constant 130dB from the sound-system kicks the shit out of the 120dB we can muster for five minutes.

Then there are the rare Regular Season games where the crowd has that perfect mix of leaders and followers and the chants are coherent and the game flows perfectly and the refs aren’t assholes and maybe the sound guy has a clue and there’s a constant roar. I love those games, and — I’ve seen all the Big Ones except US College Football, NFL and NASCAR — the most exciting are in hockey.

But then… there are the Playoffs. I was at Game Five versus the Flyers. Ottawa had finished first overall, the Flyers in fourth. Sports franchises today are not stupid… except for the Chicago Blackhawks. They have a staff of people whose only job is to manufacture specific emotions in us, the fans, through highlights and multimedia presentations. And from start to finish I was quite happy to be manipulated on certain levels. But at the base of it all was the constant screaming and chanting and believing and desire of 22,000 Ottawa Senators fans. The game was fast, intense and unrelenting and Cechmanek let in two bad goals but the Flyers were outmatched and on the way out to our cars we were a family of 22,000.

This time it’s the Senators who have been outmatched but, whereas the Flyers had been beat up and bruised and injured by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the previous round, this time it’s a nine day layoff between beating the Buffalo Sabres and starting this series against the Ducks. If the Senators can win two games at home then it’s a series again, but they’ve played their two worst games since Christmas and I’m not sure I see anything or any reason that’ll change now.

So, fuck this. I’m going to Game Three tomorrow night and I’m going to scream my fucking lungs onto the floor and drink beer and eat sandwiches and maybe buy a shirt for a friend. And maybe the Senators will win and then maybe they’ll win another and maybe another after that and then one more and then we’ll have a parade worth attending.

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If you find a broken link, or the YouTube stuff isn’t loading
properly, let me know and I’ll find an alternative…
I’m Canadian, it’s what we do. Off the ice.

It’s Aboot Fucking Time…

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