Homo Sum:
humani nil a me alienum puto

I have often said that I hate hockey. That’s a product of being a kid in a family where my dad played in two leagues, and my brother played, and did hockey school all summer. That meant that I was pretty much always at the rink. At least three nights a week one of them had a game, and most of the summer I had to sit in the rink while my brother did his various hockey schools. It builds up a kind of resentment, one that’s lasted.

This does make me kind of a bad Canadian.

However, listening to this definitely brings back a sense of being “at home”, with my Dad around. I can think of few themes that would cause stronger nostalgic reactions.

If even someone like me has a positive association with that theme, you know it’s doing the job.

Which makes this all the weirder:

A Toronto company that administers the copyright to the Hockey Night in Canada theme song says the CBC has rejected a new licence of the song, raising questions about the future of a tune many Canadians consider a second national anthem.

John Ciccone, president of Copyright Music & Visual, said in a press release posted on its website that CBC’s licence agreement ended with the conclusion of Wednesday’s NHL playoffs and that the public broadcaster has taken a pass on a new agreement in order to “move in a new direction.”

The CBC “has advised the composer, owner and administrator of the musical composition that it is not prepared to enter into a new license agreement with respect to the use of the theme,” the press release states.

…

Seriously, what can they be thinking? Do they have any idea what this is going to cause–I guarantee this will get more Canadians up in arms and writing letters than any of the crazy moves that Harper has been making. Check out the comments on that story. Or the comments on this Youtube page.

Seriously, even I know this is a bad idea. My wife, not one given to hyperbole, and not a hockey fan by any means, refers to the decision as “sacrilege!”. I can’t imagine what people like my Mom and brother will say. What are the CBC honchos thinking?

I now predict a rapid corporate strategy change, prompted by mass public outcry.

In the meantime, here’s the Shuffle Demons to wash that taste out of your mouth.

Tags: canada,Family,Music,nostalgia

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 5th, 2008 at 3:23 pm and is filed under Head-Explodes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.