Blue Jay Pride Uniting Canadians Nationwide
Walking into a sports bar and having 32 TVs tuned into a Blue Jays game is not what you would expect in Windsor – especially in October.
“That’s definitely a first,” said Tim Wills, motioning with his right hand to all of the televisions set to the Blue Jays first post-season game in 22 years.
John Max Sports & Wings fills quickly as the game starts, with many fans sporting Blue Jays gear.
Cheers erupt as Jose Bautista’s homerun cuts the Texas Rangers lead to one at the bottom of the sixth. An aged gentleman grabs his comrade’s glasses, filling each to the brim from their shared pitcher. Clanking glasses and nods celebrate the simple victory of spending an October afternoon rooting for the Blue Jays with friends.
“It’s really exciting to have baseball to watch in October,” said James Langley, who is wearing his Jays jersey. “I always try to root for Canadian teams,” he continues, “it’s important.”
His patriotic sentiment is shared, as several other fans expressed how important they felt it was that Toronto had finally made the play-offs.
It only seems appropriate that the hashtag stringing the Blue Jays post-season tweets and social media together is #cometogether, often followed by a maple leaf icon – because bringing Canadians together is exactly what they are doing.
As the Blue Jays are Canada’s only MLB team, the majority of Canadians tend to lose interest in baseball as a whole once the regular season is over, as the Blue Jays do not have much recent success in making it to the post-season. This season, things are different.
Even the players themselves feel they are playing for Canada and not just the city of Toronto, according to Dalton Pompey, who is one of the Canadians on the team.
While Canadians often have a reputation for getting fanatical about their hockey teams, that can be divisive, as most fans are loyal to specific cities. The Blue Jays are offering all Canadians an opportunity to band together and rally support not only of their team, but of their country.
Blue Jay pride can be seen in the approving nods between strangers both donning Toronto gear passing one another on downtown sidewalks. It reaches farther than that, though. It is connecting east and west coast, and giving some awkward relationships a boost.
“I actually have something to make small talk with my father-in-law about,” Justin Krebs, a 34-year-old Windsor man says with a smile.
While baseball certainly is not going to replace hockey in the foreseeable future for anyone living in the great white north, Canadians seem to be pulling hard for their team to go all the way. With the Blue Jays taking the championship last time they made it to the post-season, the fans in Windsor have big hopes for their boys in blue.
While the Blue Jays fell 5-3 to the Rangers in the first game of the American League Division Series, Canadians remain hopeful. Krebs said the game was just a warm-up and tomorrow afternoon’s game is when the Jays will really start playing.
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