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Professional Sports - The Home Team

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Ideas & Questions

Published: 25 June 2024

Hits: 517

Having paid attention to the Oilers loss in the Stanley Cup Final last night, rooting less for them than for Canada, I realize that the bulk of the players they're playing against are Canadian as well. Canada won either way. Some players from Finland, Latvia, the USSR and even the good ole USA, but by and large we were just publicly playing with ourselves.

Now this is something, that corporations buy up the best and brightest (?? maybe just "best") players from around the globe, assemble them in Florida, Las Vegas, New York, Wherever, and call them "The Home Team", when in fact nothing could be further from the truth. There were no players from Florida on the team last night that defeated the Oilers.

This annoys me. Shouldn't the "Home Team" be comprised of locals?

It seems to me that this is how we should be building pride in our communities and neighborhoods. Not by importing the best players world-wide to play on our teams, but by fostering our own talent and having them compete against other communities. 

This should be true for all sports, if you're born in or near Edmonton, then you play for Edmonton, not Calgary, Montreal, or anywhere else you choose to move in pursuit of the filthy lucre. Teams should reflect the communities they come from. This would increase fan base and give real cause for pride. This would reflect the core values of the sport, of the competition, and bring us back to our roots.

Anyways, just a thought, and yet another reason I pay little attention to professional sports.