It is interesting how different corners of the world are preoccupied by unique items of interest. Take Montreal, my "home town". There is a long history of hockey here and recently the whole town has gone Berzerk. You see unlike Boston and the Red Sox, Montreal not only has a historic team, but everyone here knows a hockey player. For example the great Mike Bossy went to my high school (note that he never graduated). After leaving the Montreal Suburbs, he played with the NY Islanders and won four consecutive Stanley Cups with them. Unfortunately he had to retire extremely early due to a bad back.
It's been 15 years since the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup and this year the Habs have a great team. You might be wondering Habs? Whao are they? Once upon a time the Canadiens were known as Les Habitants, or Habs for short they then changed their name but have kept a small "H" in their logo that serves as some sort of vestigial appendage.
This year they finished first in their division with one of the best records in the league. During the playoffs they beat the Bruins. In fact when they played in Boston, Montrealers filled the streets of my adopted home. After they beat the Bruins, there was a riot in downtown. Cars were burnt. People were arrested. Montreal it would seem has Hockey hooligans. Don Cherry, the Pat Buchanan of hockey announcers, has apparently criticized the Canadiens for ... well lets just say that Don Cherry is a xenophobic, french Canadian hater from Toronto. This year, as a result of a some of the comments he made, Montreal Anglos are boycotting CBC's broadcasts of the game and switching to the french channel, RDS. The announcer there, Bob Cole is the newest celebrity in town. When I arrived yesterday, I noticed that the Canadiens logo was everywhere. On buildings. On little flags that hang off of every car. Last night we had dinner with my parents and my brother's future in laws and the topic of conversation was - the Habs. Everyone I've spoken with over the last two days has the fever, even my mom!
After dinner we switched on the TV and everyone was glued to it. After the first period we headed out to a pub to watch the rest of the game. That brought back many memories. Unforetunately the Habs lost and have split the first two games with the Flyers.
Hopefully they'll do better in game 3.
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The idea that they were once called 'les habitants' is a common legend... The 'H' in the logo stands for 'hockey', as in, 'club de hockey canadien'. Their previous logo had a 'A' instead of the 'H', as in 'club athlétique canadien'.
U,
The funny part is that my Dad just told me the same thing, although he claimed that "Habitant" was a derogatory term. He claimed that Anglos once used this word when referring to French Canadians.
Well, wiki has an entry on the term. :)
Ah, on days like today, I miss the Nordiques...
Having just spent 5 days in Habs-land, I can concur the fever is real. As we drove onto St. Jean Blvd in Dollard Thursday night, where my in-laws live, there was a pack of screaming fans on the island in the middle of the boulevard roaring just seconds after Montreal beat the Flyers.
(last night, in constrast, was pretty subdued)
When I stopped into the local SAQ, my mother just had to tell everyone there I was from Boston. Sheesh, did they pour it on....
;)