Buffalo, for example, raises ticket prices on games where they host the Leafs because they know Leaf’s fans are willing to pay good money to cross the border. The Sabres organization uses this as a way to make money, and has complete disregard for the fact that the only thing that makes their team the home team is the line changes.

Now with that said, there are regional rivalries. San Jose and Anaheim fans are not fond of each other, nor are Toronto and Ottawa fans. But these rivalries are more based on appearances in the playoffs and competition rather than solely on geography. We can all remember that it used to be a Toronto-Montreal rivalry, but that quickly changed when Toronto encountered Ottawa 3 times in 3 years (i think) in the post-season. Toronto fans being able to cheaply infiltrate Scotia Bank Place for $50 also helps raise tensions.

But I certainly agree with what you said. People can choose their teams at whim here. Last year in my student house there was a Devils, Red Wings, Penguins, and Leafs fan — all Ontario natives who chose their favourite team many years ago and stuck with them.

I had heard of the whole issue of hockey in Belfast before and it is fascinating. If I knew more, and I hope to know more somewhere down the road, I would love to research into it as a case study. Then again, there is a great documentary that delves into the subject at great length. It’s called “When Hockey Came To Belfast” and here is a link for more information:
http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=51357
Needless to say, I’d be loathe to retread this ground without some new insight, but it is intriguing.

In writing this I found myself often torn in being too favorable to the North American style of sport. Indeed, sport in Europe is just like you’ve said in the last two lines, and our Canadian and American spirit of sport follows much the same in international play – when rivalries are most fierce. It would be nice to move farther back to the ancient Olympic tradition of cheering more for the prowess of individual athletes than simply associating them with our own nationally formed identities, but it is hard to disentangle these two aspects.

The perennial idealist in me looks to the potential of sport at its best, while the academic and teacher in me tries to make the reality function towards a goal. In much the same way that Simon Schama in his recent book “The American Future” uses American history to attempt a realigning of the future made from the best of the past, I too seek to find some origins and give us the most optimistic tangent towards the future. It is a bit pretentious, but we may as well strive.

Again, your contrasting point at the end about the best and worse of sport is a wonderful summation to all that I attempted to say within, and coupled with the societal aspect you ended on… well said sir.

Firstly I’m a Scot, born and living in Glasgow and actively supporting one of the ’soccer’ teams you mention in your piece. To say there is an identity issue and historical significance in this is to understate sport in Europe quite considerably. However I’d point out that North America by not having this regional identity link in sport is the exception. Africa, Asia, South and Central America also follow the European ‘model’ in regional and nationalist identities in their local sports team. Whether this is good or bad is moot.
The one area where this hasn’t really happened is when North American sports are launched in Europe. For example Belfast, a city more striven by nationalist identity you would be hard to find, has a professional ice-hockey team called the Belfast Giants. They have so far managed to avoid any association with a specific part of the community. They are unique in this regard where all other sports clubs in the city are very clearly aligned with one group or another.

I suppose the immigrant nature of Canada and the US have led to a different mind-set, both countries are basically continents rather than countries in the European sense at least and perhaps the shear size of your countries has led to a less parochial attitude.
All that being said at its best European sporting passion and rivalry is energising and exciting but at its worst it can be violent and sectarian. This may of course simply be a reflection of the society around it.