Travel Blog

I was never one of those people who, before heading to Europe, sewed a Maple Leaf onto my luggage.

But Sunday night, watching the closing ceremonies, I thought about the advantages of being Canadian. It would be a simpler (if colder) life. No stigma of slavery. No "Canadian Go Home" graffiti when you traveled abroad. Universal health care. And how can you not love - and in a way want to be - the people who throw a parade of giant inflatable beavers?

But then Michael Buble appeared, singing The Maple Leaf Forever. It's not a bad song, but as he sang it I wondered: What will he sing next? His career has been built on music from south of the border. And these were Canada's games; he couldn't break into Rags to Riches. He suddenly looked rather handicapped, like Apolo Ohno crouched at the starting line in a pair of loafers. There is no Great Canadian Songbook.

I felt very fortunate to be an American.