I just listened to the Vancouver Canucks unveiling their new hockey jersey, and with 8,000 people paying money to go see it (seriously!) and live TV and radio coverage (seriously!), I began to feel a little sad.

8,000 people to see five guys skate around in a new jersey? Seriously?

I tried to go to the Province and Vancouver Sun websites (part of the Canada.com network – which is the nation’s largest internet portal) to actually see what it looks like for myself, but they’ve both crashed under the weight of looky-loos like myself.  

So what chance do our Vancouver Canadians ever have of making the big time when hockey gets that sort of turnout – paid turnout at that – for a ten-minute event?

Then I looked again at last night’s C’s crowd – 5,035 people. 

On a Tuesday night.

A chilly Tuesday night.

For short-season Low-A ball.

At a time in the season when we have no chance of making the playoffs.

I was flicking through yesterday’s Province and I found a full page in the sports section devoted to the appearance at Nat Bailey Stadium of the Famous Chicken, and more coverage a page later of the previous night’s game.

Then I remembered going to the grocery store yesterday, and nearly walking into a giant sign advertising C’s tickets for sale at $5.95 each. Then I recalled hearing an ad for the C’s over their PA system a few minutes later.

Then I opened The Richmond Review and saw a Canadians ad. This morning I saw a TV commercial for the C’s on one of the network stations in town, and a few days ago, in the shocker of our time, Mike ‘baseball who?’ Pratt actually talked up the C’s on his Sportsnet-simulcast radio show.

And now I’m listening to the nooner.

Vancouver is a hockey town, it’s true. But it’s also a baseball town. It’s also a football town. It’s also a lacrosse town, and a basketball town, and a soccer town.

In short, this is as rabid a sports town as you’ll find, and Grizzlies notwithstanding, if you supply a solid on-field product and don’t take the fan base for granted, Vancouver’s sports mad population will feed the machine and give you their hard earned.

This is a sports town, Jake Kerr. If you keep on building it, we will come.