also: reactionary illinois-bashing is the best idea i’ve heard in awhile. chicago — it’s the new seattle!

stupid. i had totally forgotten.

Interesting note on the results from the NC competitors… not sure but I think there were a lot of time penalities there. They’ll get better. And murky… many of us think Ryan was a bit under the weather although Nick claimed no. Not Ryan’s A game, which we saw at the MARBC. He’s good.

But hey, let’s talk about the real news… Pittsburgh, #25! W00t. And it looked like all the judges downed her entire fig sig.

uh, no. i’m not trying to america-bash. but sometimes the difference between our tendency to define things in “rock-star barista” terms and the intellectual humility of a troels or wendelboe is just too stark to escape notice.

Specialty coffee, the “third wave” it’s a very slow concept taking off outside of the PNW, mainly because of how ingrained Timmy Ho’s and Second Cup is in Eastern Canada. If you think Starbucks saturates the market in the US, you ain’t seen nothing yet until you see how Tim Hortons dominates parts of Canada. But, that too is changing. There’s even cafes in Ottawa now that I can recommend, whereas two years ago, it looked hopeless.

Yes, it’s true that the CNBC right now is about primarily the PNW region. Just like how, up until a few short years ago, the USBC was primarily about the PNW region. But Nick, while most Canadians who follow these things are very aware of the regionals in the US (and no, not because you’re “the US” but because they find it interesting to follow other national comps), your comment shows a certain ignorance about what’s currently going on in Montreal and Toronto, just to name two places, in Canada.

In fact, I’d be very surprised if we didn’t have at least two or more in the top six at this year’s CNBC from those areas. And maybe the Canadian rep at the 2008 or 2009 AWBC (oops, slip) will be a Montrealer, or (gasp), maybe even a person from Halifax.

- speculation? behind-the-scenes whispering? Some people would call it open discussion. You seem to be advocating ‘circling the wagons.’ Very interesting
- Wanna know why the Scandinavians can have “everyone pitching in?” Denmark: 43,000 sq km, or slightly less than twice the size of Massachusetts. Norway: 324,000 sq km, or slightly larger than New Mexico. U.S.A.: 9,631,000 sq km. WBC-knowledgable folks from the Seattle area “pitched in” to help Phuong last year. Riddle has the full-support from WBC-knowledgable folks in the US as well. However, the sad fact is, geography’s a bitch.
- And as far as I know, and with all due respect to folks in Canada, the Canadian Nationals is all about Vancouver, isn’t it?

excellent point. and though i’m just bloviating as an outsider, i will attempt a vastly overreaching answer to your (rhetorical) question about why a canadian has to make the point about teamwork.

this country is about individuals. always has been. and i think it becomes a handicap on a global scale, where (as you pointed out) a more communal approach seems to come so much easier.

not to say americans can’t do it in the wbc, but for the culture in general it just doesn’t come naturally. don’t get me started on the examples. (bode miller, anyone?) this is one reason why, someday, i am going to live in europe. (no, none of this means i’m a bush-basher. got nothing to do with it.)

when i came back from france in feb., we did a little exercise in the detroit airport. we simply observed how americans walk in a public place. we observed how they talked, how they ate, how they looked around. and then we compared it to the way the frenchies conduct themselves in similar public places.

very illuminating. you didn’t ask for this, but i would submit that our problems in the wbc are but one tiny example of the individualistic competitiveness of americans in general, and how it tends to isolate. i may have inadvertently contributed to this mindset with my post … but that wasn’t my intent.

Why does a Canadian have to point that out Already, the phone lines and the texting are burning up a bit.

Wanna know why the Scandinavians always do well in world comps? Because once their nationals are over, it’s a national team sport, with everyone pitching in.

Ditto for Sammy (though to a lesser extent – Sammy really just is that good) – after Nationals, Sammy’s competitors and his company’s competition have come together in previous years to help him through judging flights, discussion about the comp, you name it.