So the World Cup has finally come to its conclusion and with that we see the end of 1) Vuvuzuelas, 2) 0-0 sleeper games, 3) British announcers who make watching paint dry seem like loads of fun, and 4) The various car flags seen throughout the city.
Why do we have car flags?
It is our chance as a sports fan, or as a supporter of our country to say, “This is our team/country, and we’re damn proud of it, and we’re gonna let everyone know even when we’re driving places.”
Usually in Winnipeg, we see car flags during NHL playoffs, the World Cup, and the Olympics. But can they be used for more than just sporting purposes? That will be discussed later.
Before you go out there and slap a flag onto your car, however, there’s a few rules you should follow. Here are some do’s and don’ts when it comes to the use of car flags .
DO
Enjoy some friendly banter with people at stop lights. If somebody pulls up next to you at a stop light, and they give you a dirty look, or a thumbs down because of your flag, roll down the window and defend your team. Tell the guy beside you that your team is the best no matter what he thinks. And then the light will turn green, and the guy behind you will rear-end you because you’ve gotten too involved with the guy beside you. Then you can have another conversation with the guy that hit you as you exchange information. Man, these car flags are a great way to meet new people.
DON’T
Leave the car flag up after your team has been eliminated for 2 weeks. You look like an idiot and it looks like you have no idea what is going on. This will infuriate people. It was interesting about a week ago (July 6th) when I saw a car flapping an England flag (eliminated June 27th) and the back of the car was completely smashed up. Coincidence? I think not. I saw Portugal flags, Slovakia(?!?) flags, and Italian flags flying well after their teams had been knocked out of the World Cup. As soon as you can,after your team loses, TAKE THE FLAG DOWN, and save it for next time before someone rips it to shreds.
DO
Attach the car flag to your front window. When the Montreal Canadiens made their improbable run to the Eastern Conference Final a few months back, my car flag was waving , but from the back window. 2 days before the start of the series, the window was rolled down by a friend who had no idea how the flag was attached and it whipped down Fermor Avenue almost causing a 10-car pileup behind us. The car flag was gone, and the Habs were gone soon after losing in 5 mediocre games. If it was attached to the driver’s side window, there would be no disappearing car flag, and who knows how many more games the magic car flag would have brought the Habs?
Don’t
Jump on the bandwagon. A car flag should not be attached unless you are a real fan of the team. If it’s the flag of a country, you should be currently residing in that country, or have some sort of blood relation to that country. In May, we were one week away from seeing handfuls of Montreal Canadiens car flags in the classic “Let’s cheer for the final Canadian team in the playoffs” scenario, even though those same people probably make fun of them the rest of the year. I watch my team for 82 games plus playoffs and you decide you’re gonna become a fan when they’re 3 wins from the Final??? Complete garbage. If you're in this boat, just buy a Canadian car flag and stay off the bandwagon.
Do
Come up with your own car flags. I’m surprised something like this hasn’t caught on yet, especially for those people who aren’t sports fans. What I mean by this is buying a plain white car flag, or somehow creating your own white car flag and writing your own messages. Wouldn’t this work during elections when you wanted to make clear who you were supporting? Just imagine this coming October in the mayoral race… a KATZ flag flapping in big black letters on one’s car… a JUDY flag flapping in big black letters on another car. On second thought, this might cause more harm than good but, hell, it’s worth a shot, right?
Don’t
Put more than one car flag up. You’re not JFK riding in his presidential motorcade where flags were waving everywhere. You can show your support quite clearly with just one flag waving because more than one will cause many others to look in disgust and anger. And you don’t want to mess with angry Winnipeg drivers because the last thing you want is to end up like JFK did in his final motorcade ride.
So with the 2010 World Cup coming to a close, another Winnipeg car flag session has ended. So get prepared for the next big event and get your car flags. And if it was up to me, the next big car flag event would be Sam vs. Judy in October. Make this happen, Winnipeg.
Excellent advice.
ReplyDeleteBut doesn't every fan start out as a "bandwagon" fan? How can you tell a "real" fan from a "fake" one?
Haha...the section I wrote about bandwagon fans was myself just being bitter more than anything.
ReplyDeleteBut you're right. The downside to car flags is that we'll never really know if you're a legitimate fan or not unless someone chases you down and asks you, which sounds tempting but probably won't happen too often.
But deep down inside, these bandwagon jumpers should feel some guilt for what they do.
Haha, great post. A side note: I actually learned Spain had won from car flags: I was out that afternoon, and followed a large contingent of Spanish-flag-bearing, loudly-honking vehicles up Route 90.
ReplyDeleteSo in the "news" department, for me that day at least, car flags beat both the radio news and Twitter!