Canadian Professional Athletes are the Nice Guys in the Industry

Canadian Professional Athletes are the Nice Guys in the Industry

I was driving this morning and I heard that the Rangers and the Devils both lost in the playoffs last night. I was listening to the interviews of the players and they were so polite and gracious, it got me thinking about the Canadian athletes compared to athletes in every other country. Canadian professional athletes, for the most part, are great role models for any kid. Maybe that’s why so many parents have their children playing hockey. They are polite, will do anything for the fans and sign autographs until their hands fall off. And, they are rarely in trouble with the law. Compared to other sports, hockey has to rate as having the most behaved athletes of all sports. My guess is that it’s because most of them are Canadians. In my eight year tenure as the former Commissioner of the National Lacrosse League, I could count on one hand the problems I had to deal with when it came to the behavior of the players. It’s no coincidence that 75 percent of the players in the league were Canadians. I think it is their modest upbringing in many rural towns in Canada and they don’t forget where they came from. I am sure if you asked Gary Bettman he will tell you the same.