Oh Canada: Great in Hockey, Horrible in Basketball

Popular sportsbook Bodog has offices in beautiful Vancouver and eclectic Montreal. One of their top writers states the fairly obvious: that Canada is still the world’s best in hockey, but not so great in basketball.

Now if you are from Canada, you are probably wondering to yourself why this is even a topic.

But over the years the rest of the world has been catching up, and when you look at who is winning awards each year you really have to wonder if the kids from Canada are still No. 1.

Don Cherry would beat you down for saying it, but clearly the players from the former Soviet Union are right there in terms of the best players.

But Canada is still regarded as having the best, and will continue to do so simply because Canada is the birthplace of hockey.

Sidney Crosby is the latest in a long line of great Canuck players and he will be the star attraction when Canada takes on the world at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Heart and toughness has always been Canadian players’ calling cards, and that is what makes Canada’s hockey players the best.

Get our NHL Odds in the Bodog Sportsbook! Of course in making sports picks it’s about covering the point spread.

It is a little harsh to say Canada sucks at basketball, but when you compare it to the United States that really is the only conclusion you can make.

Canada has a lot of kids playing basketball at a grassroots level but so many of them don’t follow through.

It is not the dream of a Canadian kid to make the NBA. They grow up wanting to play hockey.

Steve Nash is an exception, but even he had to make it happen himself. He had to play collage ball in the US just to get noticed.

Canada only has the Toronto Raptors, so it is hard to grow a basketball culture. Until that happens, the money needed to develop young players will never be there.

College ball north of the border looks nothing like what the average American fan is used to; there is no glamour or betting on the college basketball betting odds