Of course, hockey is superior to American football in many ways. It's more athletic. Hockey players play a long season - 82 games in regular NHL season play, compared with 16 for the NFL season. Hockey's fast pace is more appealing, too. It's the fights, though, that leave me most uneasy with my affection for the game and the players.
It's hard to defend some fights as justified while others are dirty, but that's pretty much how it goes. Defenders of the fisticuffs that break out during games will say that fighting is a means by which hockey players police each other, by letting things get a little out of control, safety and sanity is maintained:
It's hard to defend some fights as justified while others are dirty, but that's pretty much how it goes. Defenders of the fisticuffs that break out during games will say that fighting is a means by which hockey players police each other, by letting things get a little out of control, safety and sanity is maintained:
There are certain players, certain rivalries that can be counted upon to provoke this sort of "accountability," and I can pretty much overook the occasional donnybrook because I get pulled in by the excitement of cheering on "my" team, through good times and bad. It's a distraction, a diversion, and, for me, at least, a harmless foray into fandom. For the most part, though, witnessing a fight on the ice makes me uncomfortable.
But not as uncomfortable as losing to the Canadiens on home ice . . . . Grrrrrr!
For once, I have nothing to say. How about...WTP...What the Puck!
ReplyDeleteAw, c'mon -- it's not like I confessed to something really shameful, like having a crush on Ted Cruz . . . .
DeleteHA! Well, he IS a "wild and crazy kinda guy".
DeleteWith the emphasis on "Crazy," for sure.
DeleteI am also a Boston fan... since forever!! I Hate hate hate to seem lose to anyone, but especially to the Canadiens. GRRRR indeed. Thanks for the big nod to hockey, one of Canada's national religions. I am not a big fan of fighting or the bullshit that accompanies it... ( lots of scholarly papers written on that ....) but it is a great game.
ReplyDeleteand Ted Cruz..... eeewwwww.
Oh, THANK YOU, Harlequin -- Now I don't feel so alone. (Plus it's good to know that if I do move to Canada on the heels of a Trump inauguration, I won't be the only Boston fan!)
DeleteOne time someone asked me what my favorite position was, and I replied "Goalie." I don't think that was the answer they had in mind :-)