Well, it's happened again.
Again, Canada has been reduced to a laughing-stock on the world stage. Again, we've proved we simply don't measure up against international competition.
It's bad enough that we Canadians have been on the outside looking in for much of this past month, as the rest of the world competes in the 2010 FIFA World Cup Of Soccer in South Africa. After all, it's no secret our national soccer team isn't good enough to beat anyone for a spot in the tournament, not even tiny Honduras.
But now, with the eyes of the world upon us this past weekend, Canadian athletes in yet another sport have proved they're not qualified to compete at the highest level. What sport are we talking about? Black Bloc. See the a bleak international assessment of our performance here: http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/06/28/g20-how-the-world-sees-toronto-in-the-wake-of-900-arrests-blazing-police-cars/
With the G20 summit held in Toronto in front of the world's international media, this was a golden opportunity for Canada's top black bloc boys to shine. All the conditions were right for them to strike a blow for our unique brand of Canuck anarchy and mayhem.
Think of it! Tens of thousands of anti-G20 protesters to mingle with and hide behind; the dense downtown core of a mammoth city as their playing field; a face-off against a multi-million dollar police presence with large numbers, but precious little experience in the sport.
Now, we ask you? With a lucky draw like that, what better chance to vault us into international prominence and really make the folks at the Federation of International Black Bloc Associations(FIBBA)sit up and take notice?
Sure, they started out well. Skulking in behind a large labour demonstration on University Avenue, then slipping into their black garb, the lads pulled out their street weapons and staged a technically perfect breakout onto Queen Street West. It was classic stuff right off of a coach's chalkboard.
They smashed windows as they went with reasonable skill and enthusiasm. We've even got to admit, dousing a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reporter with a noxious mixture of urine, honey and vinegar showed a dash of creativity even the top-notch German and Dutch black bloccers would've been proud of.
But let's face it. No matter how the bureaucrats and apologists at Black Bloc Canada try to spin it, our lads blew it in the latter stages of the game. They simply couldn't sustain the momentum they'd built up in that opening burst of vandalism.
In the end, the damage they caused to international companies like American Apparel and Starbucks was negligible, measured in the hundreds of thousands rather than millions of dollars. Then, they got penalized for accidentally smearing excrement on a mom-and-pop shop, instead of a massive multi-national chainstore. A rookie mistake, sure, but a critical error at the international level.
Admittedly, they nearly pulled the game out of the fire with the clutch torching of three Toronto Police cruisers. See the action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-h-YIj4jRw
But in the end, it simply wasn't enough.
By the time the final buzzer sounded, the property damage they'd caused paled in comparison to the legendary Battle Of Seattle and the G20 Summit in London last year, where at least one person was killed. And what's more, they didn't even get within sight of the security fence protecting the G20 leaders.
You could tell it simply wasn't enough to turn the heads of the jaded international reporters at the G20 media centre. They soon turned their attention away from the plucky but amateurish efforts of our boys to a World Cup soccer match.
So, now the questions begin. What went wrong? Are Canadians simply too polite and too nice for this sport? Is the fact that we recruited the team primarily from Quebec a problem? Were they simply not patriotic enough to do the Maple Leaf proud? Are we simply not pouring enough money, coaching and technical support into our team?
With yet another opportunity to qualify for the next FIBBA World Cup squandered, those issues will dog the brain trust at Black Bloc Canada for years to come. Let's hope they come up with some answers for the sake of Canada's sporting image worldwide.