Okay, so you probably won’t see me with a maple leaf on Canada day, and I probably won’t remove my hat for the Canadian national anthem. I boo Blue Jays fans while chanting USA repeatedly, and only find myself watching CBC for the Olympics and the Simpsons. And although I don’t want to live in a place where you have to go 110 yards to score a touchdown while dodging an on-field goalpost, there is one thing I love that Canada brought to Seattle. Hockey.

Or at least had brought to the city. Since 1977, the Seattle Thunderbirds, known as the Seattle Breakers until 1985, have been taking the ice at Seattle Center every winter to face the toughest junior competition from the northwest and Canada. Their league, the Western Hockey League (WHL), is one of the largest funnels for the nationally famous NHL, offering a substantial amount of players to the league’s draft every year.

However, before this newly begun 2008 – 2009 season is finished, Seattle will be without another franchise that called Key Arena home. The T-Birds will be relocating south of the city, and unlike in the case of the Sonics, sleazy owners are not to blame for the loss. Bennett had been having tea parties with David Stern for years, and when he first bought the team I couldn’t help but think that the Sonics would soon be no more. But the loss of the T-Birds is not the owner’s fault, it’s the fans’ fault, or in this case lack thereof.

For years the T-Birds have been playing at Key Arena, and for years no one has come out to see them. The upper bowl of the stadium is completely closed off and curtained, while the majority of the lower bowl is not colored T-Bird green and blue, but rather Key Arena empty-seat red. The only fans that show up are the faithful season ticket holders and die hard fans, the away fans from Canada loud and proud, and those who just want to get drunk in public off eight dollar beer. Unfortunately that won’t cut it.

As a result, team owner Russ Farwell, a man who is the polar opposite of Clay Bennett, had to move the team. I can’t blame him for doing it, as Everett has shown that a smaller city would more likely support the team. However speaking as a fan for over a decade and someone that cant just travel all the time to see the team play, it really stings.

I’ve been going to T-Birds games since Randy Johnson and Ken Griffey Jr. were rockin’ the Kingdome, and the games are an absolute blast. My dad still has a picture in his office of me not as tall of my doorknob with my face painted T-Bird blue and green. Fights can break out at any time, which is just awesome, and in games against heavy rival Portland, someone always throws a fish onto the ice before games end.

In the past decade, my voice has gotten lower, but I haven’t ever stopped yelling “Portland sucks” at T-Bird games. If you think refs get heckled in football or baseball, you haven’t seen anything like a T-Birds hockey game, as many makeshift “(Insert ref’s last name) sucks” signs are held high all over the place. The fan base is fun to be around, including such characters as a guy with a “Portland sucks” glow in the dark hat, and a homeless-looking guy with a foot long beard tooting a horn and raising a “Let’s Go Birds” sign every fifteen seconds. T-Birds hockey is truly a great experience that no one has appreciated.

And now it’s over. Seattle has lost another team, and although a southern suburb is not Oklahoma City, it’s still a shame. The team didn’t move due to bad ownership, or players who weren’t committed, or a lack of success. It’s simply that the people of Seattle didn’t care. They say that Seattle can’t catch a break this year and that it sucks to be a fan. That may be true, but if we were truly fans and supported all Seattle had to offer athletically, the T-Birds would still be here.