OK… wait… I reread your post and though I might not agree, it appears that I may have overreacted. My apologies. But on first read it did seem a bit ‘prejudiced’.
Curious Canuck just demonstrated another irreconcilable Canadian / American difference … You Canadians are just too fuckin’ polite! 
Kiss my ass, you son of a bitch.
(just kidding. I think jshore is a snuggly bunny).
The Atlanta Braves have above average attendance every year. If you don’t believe me, look it up. It’s true.
As to the general issue, let’s be honest here; the Braves are doing great, the Falcons are an NFL team and so make a profit before they sell a single ticket, and the NBA’s doing better than the NHL. There are some Canadian cities that might be able to support an NHL team… Hamilton, perhaps. No other sport has any good prospects in Canada, except maybe the NFL in Toronto. Canadians will pay more to see hockey than to see other sports.
The reason the Jets and Nordiques moved to the USA is that they had inferior stadia. Like the L.A. football teams that moved out of the Coliseum, or the Browns 1.0 fleeing the Mistake By The Lake, teams that move these days are generally going to better STADIUMS, not better MARKETS. St. Louis and Oakland combined would not be half the size of L.A., yet they got L.A’s football teams. Houston is twice as big as Nashville and Memphis combined, but Tennessee got Houston’s football team. Baltimore is not the NFL market that Cleveland is, but got thier football team. Phoenix took a hockey team from Winnipeg despite the fact that nobody in Phoenix knows a puck from a duck. New Orleans got a basketball team from Charlotte despite Charlotte once having been the best supported team in the NBA. In EVERY case, a primary - in most cases, THE ONLY - reason for the team moving was that it could not get a new stadium in its old city. In fact, that’s the primary reason the Expos are leaving Montreal, too; nobody with a brain would go to Olympic Stadium to see the second coming of Christ, much less a ballgame.
Bah, Canada and the US should stay split. Canadians gets shortchanged in the deal! US get freshwater, oil, lumber, fish, cattle, ice, syrup and all the hot women and Canada gets drug dealers, annoying tourists, hicks, guns and Britney Spears.
No deal!
dont forget the Canada is decriminalizing marijuana too.
BC: The “other” Columbia…
While I agree with you in general, I would avoid complaining about the onslaught of American teen pop artists. Remember, we gave them Celine Dion - it’s only fair…
Not sure whether to say “Aw shucks!” or “Akkkk!!!” 
See even those crazy Albertans are all softies at heart!
No, just go “O Canada” and various combinations of “we stand / on guard / for thee” in a rather soft voice, raising it when you realize that you’re at that part of it – 75% of the song consists of those eight words, repeated! 
Y’know, if Canada chose to let the US annex it, there would be conditions. The US would have to convert to metric (so we could finish), mandate (at the least) universal Canadian-style health-care, and institute trilingual (English/French/Spanish) packaging. Keeping the current Canadian flag would be convenient as well; how the heck are you gonna fit 63 stars in the Union of the current US design?
And for that you get half a continent of resources. Sounds like a deal to me.
Of course, with the injection of novelty and official tolerance of diversity that an annexation or merger with Canada would bring, the way would then be open for an official annexation and merger with Mexico…
<disclaimer> This post is hypothetical and does not represent the official stance of Sunspace. </disclaimer>
If the U.S. were willing to make a decent offer I am sure we might consider having them become our southernmost province or territory.
But it would have to be a really good offer.
Actually, I want Canada to annex the US, but only if Canada first adopts US alcohol and tobacco tax rates.
Hmmm…
Y’know Windsor is starting to look nicer and nicer…
NO! Not that ugly monster of modern design. We refuse unless Canada goes back to the previous design. It’s far more dignified and attractive.
The maple leaf design looks like something that was chosen as the “everybody hates it the least” committee decision.
Actually, it might be easier to just teach everyone the Fringlish version of O Canada. You know, the half-of-each-official-language-so-we-don’t-offend-anyone version?
I was very shamed the other day when I realized I don’t know all the words in EITHER language.
Okay, repeat after me:
Fina Fianna Faoil…
And replace Reps/Dems with Canadian parties. Reps join the Alliance but can only run in Alberta, Democrats split between the PCs and Liberals, Greens to the NDP, Puerto Rico-Alaska join the Bloc. CNN will be shut down. NPR goes to the CBC. Charleton Heston gets deported to his country of origin. Cuba is then annexed and becomes the rave capital of the world. The former USA is re-partitioned into the Southwestern Province, Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Texas. All guns must be registered, except in Hawaii which is separated into a separate country. Arkansas, Colorado, and Rhode Island are turned into giant game preserves. Fences are torn down and the buffalo roam freely again. Buffalo, the city, moves to Kentucky.
I would rather see Buffalo actually torn completely down and rebuilt. I never thought I would see a place that disturbed me more than inner city Detroit.
If we become one country, where are the American refugees supposed to go?
Just planning ahead…
The old flag sucked. I’m sorry, but I don’t want the flag of a foreign nation on my country’s flag, along with a “Guess The Ethnic Symbol” coat of arms. It was boring and embarassing.
The Maple Leaf is a model of how to make a perfect national flag; It’s simple, uses only 2 colours, and yet has a distinctive symbol that no other countries’ flag has. It’s the perfect balance of simplicity and uniqueness - not too simple, like the endless parade of European “three stripes” flags, but not too complex, like many U.S. state flags or Commonweath flags. I can’t think of a better flag flying from any nation’s flagpole.