I don't normally watch Oprah because there's better things to do at 4pm on a weekday...like checking my facebook account or getting nasty text messages from our fine TGOR producer Kenny Walls, but today the Queen of daytime TV got it right and Canadians can learn from it.
Oprah wasn't giving away new cars or exposing cheating husbands, today she invited all of the USA athletes from Beijing who won medals to show them off before a large outdoor crowd in Chicago. What did we do for our Canadian athletes when they came home? Friends, family and a few fans (plus the media) welcomed them home and likely won't need a soundbyte from them until 2012 rolls around. Yes, the company that I work for has the rights for the 2010 Winter games but how come we didn't have a massive rally on Parliament Hill for our 18 medals? I realize 7000 folks didn't just come out to see Michael Phelps and wanted an opportunity to be on the Oprah show, but I'm sure in our typical insecure Canadian way we could have pulled off something similar right? Ahh who am I kidding, I'm the same guy who looks at the Canada Day lineup on the Hill and says, "I'm not leaving the cozy confines of the suburbs to see that guy with a guitar that I've never heard of". After all, the closest thing we have to Oprah in Canada is what....Don Cherry?
Could we not have organized some kind of national welcome home party for these athletes?
