C. P. Blakely Elementary School Grade 4 and 5 students spent a class period standing to form the words ‘GO JAYS’ for a photo and to support the Toronto Blue Jays earlier this month.
They are not the only ones supporting the Blue Jays, as Grade 5 teacher Regan Lynn explained the whole school is boarding the band wagon to support the only Canadian team in the playoff games.
“They are in the second round and if they win this series, they will go to the world series,” Lynn said.
He said the students and teachers are excited and happy to support the Blue Jays as they haven’t gone this far in years and it’s the only Canadian team in major league baseball.
Many of the teachers were around the last time the Blue Jays had this much success and Lynn said it is a nice team to support, with the students and teachers keeping on top of the scores.
“The students are aware of it and it is a bit of their conversation,” Lynn said.
The students are enjoying being a part of the team spirit and are proud to support the baseball team.
What is different about supporting this team is unlike the NHL where the support of a nation’s people is divided between people’s favourite teams such as the Oilers, Flames and Montreal, everyone in support of the Toronto Blue Jays is helping to unite the nation as they are the only Canadian team.
“This is a chance for the country to get behind the team in a way that’s more like the Olympics rather than everybody having their own individual favourite team they are cheering for,” Lynn said. “They are Canada’s team, it’s our chance to show our support for them.”
The students have a firm understanding of this as these concepts have been discussed in class and Lynn said it is nice to see their enthusiasm.
“It doesn’t matter what kind of hockey or football fan you are, the country is behind this team,” Lynn said.
Being a baseball fan himself Lynn said he has been consistently following the successful team and tries to watch the games as much as he can.
“They are an exciting team to watch and it’s been easy to find time to watch them,” Lynn said. “It has been a long time since this has happened and you never know when it will happen again so enjoy the wave as long as it happens.”
Lynn said what is most remarkable is how even though hockey has started, the Blue Jays are still on the news.
“It’s the beginning of the hockey season but the Jays are dominating the headlines and that is neat to see as well,” Lynn said.
Even if the Blue Jays season soon comes to a close, Lynn said he thinks the students will support the team when they start playing again next year adding the Blue Jays have made more fans this year than ever before.
“Even if they don’t make it, they are doing something they haven’t done in a long time and hopefully they can keep it going,” he said.
reporter@sylvanlakenews.com