What makes American sports feel so strange to Canadians has very little to do with the games themselves. After all, sports like basketball and baseball feel rather familiar to those north of the border. What really confuses us is the culture around it all.
Whether it’s the rituals or the buildup, Canadians notice how Americans treat sports rather differently from them.
Here are twelve American sports culture habits that lots of Canadians mock. They’re normal parts of U.S. sports culture, and that’s exactly why they stand out. Which of these have you noticed yourself before?
Super Bowl commercials being “must-watch”
The Super Bowl is easily the biggest sports event of the year in the United States, and that’s one of the reasons the commercials for it are so popular. Companies will plan and tease their commercials each year, with some viewers tuning in simply to watch them.
That’s quite strange for many Canadians. They find it funny that America treats sports commercials as a feature, rather than an interruption, and they also find the post-game analysis of these ads pretty odd.
High school football stadiums that cost tens of millions
It’s completely normal in America for high school football players to compete in stadiums that seat thousands and cost millions to build. But it’s certainly not the norm in Canada. For us, the idea of a public high school having a venue like that is a little excessive.
It certainly doesn’t align with how Canadian school sports work, and it’s enough for many Canadians to refuse to believe it until they see photos.
Homecoming week built around a football game
Homecoming in the United States lasts more than a single night, as it’s actually a full week that includes themed school days and pep rallies. Don’t forget about the parades. The football game is a mere part of it, and it’s a little strange for a few Canadians.
They think it’s strange that Americans have an entire school calendar built around a single game. And a high school one, at that.
Fantasy football as a weekly lifestyle routine
You won’t find casual fantasy football players in America because people take it pretty seriously over there. They’ll schedule drafts & check their apps each day. As for the stats, people follow those obsessively, and it’s something that makes a lot of Canadians laugh.
Fantasy football does exist in Canada, but not to the same extent. They find it funny that people care so deeply about imaginary lineups and trades. Sometimes, they care about these more than the real games.
“World champions” language for domestic leagues
An American team that wins leagues like the NFL or MLB is often referred to as “world champions,” and that’s quite ironic. The leagues themselves are mostly American. Usually, there are very few international teams, so Canadians find the “world champions” language a little funny.
It’s something that would only really exist in the United States because most other places recognize that their games involve mostly domestic teams.
NIL deals for college athletes
One thing that Canadians find strangest about American sports culture is how college athletes can earn money from sponsorships connected to their name, image & likeness. Yet these games are meant to be amateur competitions.
Many Canadians find it odd that college sports include brand deals and paid promotions. It seems a little excessive.
NFL broadcasts with massive commercial interruption time
Sure, an NFL game broadcast will last over three hours. But of those three hours, only a few minutes are actual playtime, with commercial breaks being built into the schedule. That makes Canadians laugh.
They’ll sometimes joke that you can leave the room and make food without having missed much action. The playtime is a mere fraction of the entire broadcast.
Coaches throwing physical objects to challenge calls
Challenging a call is hardly something subtle in the NFL, as it involves coaches grabbing a bright red flag and throwing it straight onto the field. That action stops the game. The cameras zoom in on it every time it happens, but Canadians usually laugh about such a habit.
The reviews in Canadian sports happen somewhere else more quietly. There’s no need for anyone to throw something to pause the game.
Treating college sports as an identity
We also can’t forget how seriously many towns across the U.S. take college teams. There are whole cities that follow them closely & buy the merch, even going as far as planning their weekends around the games, despite their area not having a pro team.
It’s quite strange for a lot of Canadians. They can’t understand why adults would want to build their sports identity around universities they left years ago or didn’t even attend.
The post-win Gatorade bath on the coach
After they’ve won a game, a lot of American football players will grab a cooler of Gatorade and dump it over the coach’s head. It happens so frequently that everyone expects it. But while the fans wait to see the color, many Canadians joke about how planned it all feels.
They view the tradition as something being a little more calculated, not to mention completely messy.
Standing the entire game in college football student sections
It doesn’t matter that there might be long stoppages during U.S. college games. The majority of student sections stand from kickoff to final whistle, and those who sit down will likely be called out for it.
Many Canadians poke fun at that because they think it’s odd that nonstop standing has become a social rule instead of a personal choice. It doesn’t make much sense when there’s nothing actually happening on the field.
National Signing Day announcements staged for cameras
College sports recruits tend to announce their school choice on set days. They’ll dress up & sit at tables as they pick hats in front of cameras, with media outlets following the whole affair quite closely.
However, Canadians don’t understand. It’s weird to them that a teenager’s decision is a kind of public spectacle that includes countdowns and live coverage.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
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