I’m most likely the last person in Canada to post something about the Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC) theme being under threat [gam]. To be honest I wondered what all the fuss was about, it’s only the theme music to a sports show after all. I didn’t think Canadians got particularly agitated about anything, but this seemed to touch an exposed nerve (check out Miss604. You can count on Rebecca to have the nations pulse firmly under her thumb). So, lighten up Canada was my first thought.
And then I started to think a bit more. As a relative newbie, having only just lived through my first full NHL season I really didn’t get in to the national sport that much. The matches were so frequent that to be honest I simply lost interest, I became saturated in NHL games. The Canucks games were not a special event to me, just another game, and when there’s 2 or 3 a week at times it becomes a so what experience.
However, this is Canada and hockey is the national sport (not Ice Hockey, it’s hockey, the other hockey is Field Hockey, not Hockey, if you follow me). This led me to thinking about football (not ‘chuckball’, real football). What if the English national sport lost it’s most recognisable theme tune? What would happen if Match of the Day lost it’s tune because the guy who owned the copyright upped the fees.
How would the English feel? I guess that’s when I suddenly understood how a Canadian that’s in to hockey feels. Certain aspects of our popular culture get embedded in to our consciousness. It’s not a theme tune, it’s part of being Canadian or English in MotD’s case. Even though the BBC have been in a situation in the past where the broadcast rights were lost, when MotD returned, so did the theme tune. No makeover, just the classic. The HNIC theme seems to be very much the MotD equivalent
I then remembered the debate at Charlton when it was decided to replace the song the team runs out to (Red Red Robin). Absolute outrage, it’s part of the clubs history, okay since the 50’s, but that’s still a pretty good run, and supporters didn’t want it consigned to the history books. The song remains the same.
So, I’m now treating this whole furore as an educational experience. I’m finding out a bit more about being Canadian.