This topic was just being discussed on my local Basketball website. I'm A toronto Raptors fan and there playing a preseason game against the Greek national team. Toronto has a HUGE Greek community hell its got huge communitys as the most multicultural city in the world.

So the boys on the raps board were saying how its bound to happen that Tons of Greek flags are going to show up at the game. Whats everyones thoughst on this?

If your a Canadian I would say you sould be supporting the home team with Canadian flags not hauling out your Greek flags. This happens all over the sporting world for national team games. If your a citizen of one country I think its totally disrespectful to cheer for an opposing nations team based on some form of heritage. Any thoughts?

Since when do you "belong" to any team?
You support the team you like, regardless of where you live or where you work. I've never in my life supported a team originating from the town I currently live in (well not since I was five anyway) because I root for the teams from my town of origin.

If I moved to Canada, I wouldn't cheer for Canada in any sporting event. I'd stand up right smack dab in the middle of the canadian cheer squad during a Canada-Sweden hockey game and scream "rip 'em to shreds" in swedish.

Ok now living here and being a citizen are 2 different things?

If you became a Canadian citizen you'ed still cheer against Canada?

Of course.

I sure would if it was the team I liked or enjoyed watching. Its sports and nothing more.


Ibudin

See now thats what I don't get, If you choose to immigrate and become Canadian or you are Canadian with another heritage. Why would you cheer AGAINST the country that provides you with the standard of living you have and all the benifits of being a citizen of the country. Frankly if you can't find it in yourself to cheer for the Nation that provides for you then move the hell back to where you came from cause obviously you don't have the respect to support your own fellow citizens.

If it was sports and nothing more I doubt people would care much about the olympics. Many countrys take sports seriously its a symobl of national pride. Hockey in Canada is more important than Healthcare for god sakes lol.

Ehh..
Sports are fun... keep politics out of sports..

I live in New England.... but I root for Chicago Bears over regional teams when they meet...

Besides.. ys need someone in whos face you can yell "BOOOYA" when Vince slams one down on some greek foward.

You make it sound like rooting for another team would be betraying the nation. How could it be so? It's sports. You cheer for your favorites for your own reasons.

I used to cheer for the Dallas Cowboys :( I don't even live in the god damn country, I just watched the games on satellite. Does that make me a traitor?

You take sports way to seariously.

Considering some of the history of this forum, this thread is WAY ironic.

Its not so much about reginal teams its about National teams, teams that represent your country. I assume were all proud of where we live and our country and I just think its pretty disrespectful to root against a National team if your a citizen of that nation. When the olympics are on I assume Kiv your not cheering for the US?

Correct, I'm not :)

But consider this, I'm born and raised a swede. Even if I'd move to Canada it'd take literally decades before the spent time in Canada would rival that of my spent time in Sweden.

Now you might want me to be "all canadian", or I'd like me to be "all canadian", but in reality that's a choice the community and the immigrant make in conjunction with one another.

Frankly I'd call any immigrant moving to any country a sell out if they started cheering for the current patron nation's national team the second they got their green card.

//Kiv

I really need to learn to stop slapping my nick on every post... I put it in my sig :(

If there home nation was so ingrained on them culture wise then why move?

You can work on Visa's and retain your citizenship.

And edit works too :b

On the subject, Kahla ask yourself the same question. You are becoming next week an USA citizen, and there is this hockey game Chicago / Toronto next saturday. Who will you support? (And you can extent to national teams, or even olympics event)

Because "Nation" doesn't necessarily play a part at all.
Hell I don't care where I work, or where I live. I'm not attached to Sweden at all. Nor would I be very attached to Canada as a nation if I was a citizen there. I'd pay my taxes, I'd obey the laws... I might even consider myself canadian, but I still wouldn't have a problem with moving on.

Now why would I root for Sweden? It's pretty indoctrinated into my personality. And besides, it's fun watching your neighbor get all puffy because you're cheering for another team because in the end... it doesn't matter, now does it?

Why get stuck in "it's us versus them"? Cheer for what you like. If you have problem with greek flags at the game, get some friends together and buy a canadian flag. Don't knock others for not showing YOUR team support, back your team up harder instead.

//Kiv

God I put that fucking //Kiv there AGAIN :(

I'll extend it to national teams since paid pro players who are out for themselves is a differnet matter.

If I actually became an American citizen I'd cheer for the Americans. If I felt strongly enough to change my citizenship then I owe it to my new country to support them and cheer for them. As a citizen I'm reaping the benifits of being part of the whole and for that you gotta throw in with your new home. There the ones looking out for you now not your old home.

Saying sports don't matter is like saying EQ is just a game.

Canadians are pretty civil but lets compare Hockey here to Football in Europe/SouthAmerica/Asia. Those folks take there game seriously and it does matter to the people.

Yeah, here in Europe we behead supporters and drink their blood at their throat if they wave the wrong flag, that's so serious here! :rolleyes

See that's the thing Kahla, you're nationalistic.
I'm not.
I take more of a "world community" kind of approach.

I feel the same about national teams that you feel about regional teams.

True I am nationalistic, and until I can enjoy the same rights and freedoms and standards of living in every corner of the world then I will remain Nationalistic. Which is why to me its important.

Either way some good points and discussion was curious cause I'd had this same topic come up elsewhere.

Hmm...

The raptors are not a national team, they are an NBA team.

I thought you could play on the Olympic team of the country where you were born, regardless of where you currently held citizenship? A number of very rich sports figures hold citizenship in Monaco (is it?) to avoid paying taxes in their native country- but would play for their native country in the Olympics, I bet.

Monaco allows double citizenships. And yes you have to be a citizen of said countries to be in the national team, being born somewhere nowadays doesn't mean alot.

Like the poster stated above Raptors are a professional team.

12 Rafer Alston (FA) G 6-2 175 7/24/76 Fresno State '98 4
14 Maceo Baston F 6-9 215 5/29/75 Michigan '98 1
Mengke Bateer C 6-11 290 11/20/75 China 2
Matt Bonner** F 6-10 240 4/05/80 Florida '03 R
Chris Bosh F 6-10 210 3/24/84 Georgia Tech '06 R
5 Michael Bradley F 6-10 230 4/18/79 Villanova '01 2
15 Vince Carter G-F 6-6 225 1/26/77 North Carolina '99 5
33 Antonio Davis F-C 6-9 230 10/31/68 Texas-El Paso '90 10
11 Lindsey Hunter G 6-2 195 12/03/70 Jackson State '93 10
1 Chris Jefferies F 6-8 225 2/13/80 Fresno State '03 1
2 Voshon Lenard (FA) G 6-4 205 5/14/73 Minnesota '95 8
4 Jelani McCoy (FA) F 6-10 255 12/06/77 UCLA '99 5
Jerome Moiso F 6-10 235 6/15/78 UCLA '02 3
00 Eric Montross C 7-0 270 9/23/71 North Carolina '94 8
21 Lamond Murray F 6-7 235 4/20/73 California '95 8
39 Mamadou N'diaye C 7-0 255 6/16/75 Auburn '00 3
Milt Palacio G 6-3 195 2/07/78 Colorado State '99 4
24 Morris Peterson F-G 6-7 215 8/26/77 Michigan State '00 3
Ramon Van de Hare** C 7-2 220 5/23/82 Netherlands R
20 Alvin Williams G 6-5 190 8/06/74 Villanova '97 6
13 Jerome Williams F-C 6-9 225 5/10/73 Georgetown '96 7

Look at that line up...see a significant Candian background in any? Didn't think so.

Your blowing steam for no reason BUT if the greeks are booing the Canadian Flag and or desecrating it then you have a problem and I would suggest taking violence to them with a beer bottle up side the head and nice curbing wouldnt hurt either.


Ibudin

Yes the Raps are a pro team and it was just the topic starter that got us going on a broader issue on my Raptors boards that don't have a much broader flavour of opinons as does Ayone Ro.

I'm not really concerned over this one isolated game I'm saying expand that to National games where it still happens ect...

Your blowing steam for no reason BUT if the greeks are booing the Canadian Flag and or desecrating it then you have a problem and I would suggest taking violence to them with a beer bottle up side the head and nice curbing wouldnt hurt either.

What happened to freedom of speech and expression? You just smack everyone up that has a different opinion or supports a different team?

To continue with the discussion about supporting.
What if I was visiting Canada on holiday and wanted to see a nice baseball game and bought tickets for that match.
Am I then allowed to support any of the teams involved?
And if so which team should I support?
Should I support Greece because I'm European or should I support the local team since I am visiting their country?

How about me being offered a well paying job in Canada, because they want my expertise. I go there and work and produce in Canada for a Canadian company. My motive for this move is mostly cash and a challenging job. I marry a Canadian and become a Canadian citizen.
Does this mean I have to throw away my whole heritage and forget where I came from? My parents, my family, my friends abroad?
The team I have been supporting since I was 6 years old?

Really I don't see it.

Sports is universal and surpasses all man made boundaries.
Therefor I believe you can support any country or team you like regardless of the place there from.
You support them because they appeal to you.
Nothing more nothing less.

The quote you took and decided to use, you are miss interpereting it. Since when is it common practice to boo and desecrate your countrys flag during a sporting event? First off it was an example and isnt happening in this particular thread..and second off even if it is freedom of speech it doesn't actually protect you from those who disagree with you..especially when your talking about your countrys flag.

Your fucking kiding yourself if you think you can do that in ANY US stadium/collesium. They would eat you alive. But once again this isn't the case with this thread was just a hypothetical situation.

Ibudin

I used the quote because I thought you where advocating violance against supporters of different clubs.
Even if they desecrated you're country's flag or booo'ed you're team, that does not give you the right to beat them up or kill them fysicly.

I personally would never desecrate another county's flag, however if someone did that to my country's flag I would be mad but not revert to violance.
There are laws to deal with that.

I appologise for the miss interpretation.

I went to a USA vs Mexico soccer game last year.

I had no problem with the fans that were there rooting for the Mexican team, in fact I considered buying flags from both countries to wave during the game.

What got me upset were some of the ( a fair amount of them btw) Mexican fans booing, harassing and cussing at fans waving the American flag. Their conduct was disgusting, one almost knocked my 4 year old down the stairs in the stands because he was too busy cussing and flag waving Americans to notice her. It did make we want to say to them, you hate America so bad...go back to friggan Mexico at the time.

In hindsight, I'm betting The US flag waving would have probably acted similarly, had the US team been losing. Also, I would bet a lot of those fans were not citizens of the US and still represent a tiny minority of Mexican Americans. The lesson I learned though.....spend the extra $30 bucks and get club seats :')

Unfortunately, this is soccer. Heh.

On the plus side, I don't think I've read about a riot at a soccer game in a while.....

over here soccer is the main game ...

But when our national team plays against let's say a Turkish team (we have a lot of Turkish peeps), the Turks are for their team aka the Turkish team because these are their roots and we Ducthies respect that and have a great time out... But .. when the Turks get kicked out of a tournament they start to cheer for the Dutch team ...

It's very simple .. even if you are an immigrant you are still a born x y z nation... Not cheering for that nation I would see more as you trying to forget where you came from.
But .. i you don't like where you came from I can understand you wanting to cheer for your new country.

A lot of people don't immigrate because they like to .. but because they have to to support their family ... so They are in their hearts what they are no matter if they work or live in another country.

I cheer for the team that i find is the most exciting, and its naturally my home team most of the time.

Take the raiders for instance, i had a friend who i've known for 8 years, we live in san diego (big rivals of the chargers), and last season he was really thick into foot ball and rooting for the raiders hard core. I figured he was rooting for them because they were (in his view) the most kick ass team at the moment. What i later found out is he has been a raider fan since he was 10. So its all in what you want to do, sports is sports, it should not have a greater meaning hidden inside in which you can judge people.

What i hate is when people choose their favorite team, on who has the most wins or who has the most division championships.

We got a lot of soccere here in Phoenix too. Regularly I get trucks and cars circling the stadium (which I live by) waving the Mexico flag.

I don't see a problem with pride in a heritage. My heritage is from the US, mostly. My family, generations ago, comes from a part of Germany that once was Austria (or the other way around). I don't consider myself Austrian or German, because my parents were raised here, and I was raised here.

So, you won't see me waving the Austrian flag at the olympics.

I am a NY Rangers fan(gives me something to work out in therapy) and I root for them no matter where I am. I went to Boston Garden to watch them play the bruins. I wore a Ranger's Jersey and hat. I screamed the " Let's go Rangers!" chant at the top of my lungs,surrounded by Bruin's fans.
If i went to Canada to watch ,oh say, the US Olympic Team play the Canadiens, I would bring an American Flag. It is not a political statement,just showin support for the team I like.