We Heart Canada

The four of us have lived in southeastern Michigan for the duration of our lives.

To us, Canada is not so much another country as it is another city connected by a bridge.

Whether it was celebrating our 19th birthday in style, or extending the value of our dollar at the casino (right, Steve B.?), we spent a lot of time in this not-so-foreign country.

So as we prepare for our trip to Toronto on April 9 to catch the Tigers and the Blue Jays, we wanted to share our favorite things about Canada.

• Hockey Night in Canada – The rest of the United States might not care too much for the game of hockey, but in Detroit, the Canadian’s love of the game rubbed off on us. And, it helps when the home team is the Detroit Red Wings. Even though they got rid of the old theme song, it’s comforting to see some traditions stay the same.

• The Canadian Football League – Just like the NFL, only bigger! Why use 100 yards when you can use 120? Why put the uprights in the back of the end zone when you can place them at the goal line and increase the chances of high speed collisions? Why shouldn’t we award single points at seemingly random times? The visionaries behind the league asked these questions, then answered them. For that, we love them.

• Border Crossings – When you’re planning a trip to Canada, you must anticipate the potential delay caused by Canadian border crossing agents. While not as stingy as their American counterparts, they have been known to detain you in a shiny room while they eye you and your identification suspiciously. Meanwhile, a cadre of crossing cadets is rifling through your carefully packed luggage, looking for any sign of contraband. Since it’s in your friend’s sock, they don’t find anything. But just to be jerks, they leave your luggage in disarray.

• The Canadian National Anthem – There’s something about this anthem that puts all other national songs to shame. Maybe it’s because men in tuxedos usually sing it during the NHL playoffs, which makes you feel like you’re somewhere special. Or, maybe it’s because singers often intermix English and French during the same singing, which makes it sound even cooler. Or, maybe, just maybe, it’s because you’ve never heard 20,000 people sing in unison in such a way, and you got goosebumps. Whichever way is your way, just know we love you, Canadian anthem.

• Wayne Gretzky – Just kidding. Steve B. hates The Great One.

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Land of the Loonie

It’s official!

Your favorite road-trippin, beerwater-swillin, horseplay-causin’ dudes are locked and loaded to make the trip to the Great White North to cross off the sixth stadium on our list: Rogers Centre.

On Thursday, April 8, we’re taking in a matinee game between the Toronto Blue Jays and our home team, the Detroit Tigers.

We know we said at the outset that it’s all aboot the stadiums, but we decided to throw in a meaningful game. Is that okay with you, guy?

While we’re there, we might mosey on over to the Hockey Hall of Fame since we’ll have a free night. And nobody ever said you couldn’t mix baseball and hockey, eh?

But what’s got us crackin’ wind in anticipation is the prospect of adding another milestone seen to the trip: Gary Sheffield‘s 500th homerun. (Mad props go out to Steve B. for bringing up that one on our regular e-mail planning sessions.) Love him or hate him, anytime you can see a player punch their ticket to the Hall of Fame is a pretty cool thing.

If you’re one of our faithful readers (do we even have any?) be sure to check back often as we get closer to the game.

Also – you can follow us on Twitter. We’ll be updating in real time on the road.

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One Night Stands

I’m excited to write that we’ve finally decided upon Rogers Centre in Toronto for the first part of our 2009 trip, but we’ll explain more in a post-to-be-posted once we’ve shored up the details. (I am at liberty to say that the Toronto Blue Jays will be playing our beloved Detroit Tigers.)

For the second part of the trip, we’re enlisting you, the reader, to help us out.

After reviewing the baseball map, we came to the conclusion that, after Rogers Centre, there are four other stadiums that are isolated just enough to restrict us to seeing a game in that stadium, and that stadium only.

They are:

1. Turner Field in Atlanta
2. Chase Field in Phoenix
3. Coors Field in Denver
4. The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis

Our plan is to travel to one of these stadiums in September so that we can cross it off the list. Since, among the four of us, we have a lot of commitments this summer, doing two one-nighters seems like the best fit, but we can’t decide on where to go.

So, assuming everything is equal, we’re looking to you to help us out.

If you’re bored and have nothing better to do, you might as well vote in our poll. Leave a comment saying why we should pick the stadium you chose. If we like your reason, we just might go there.

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