The Greatest Game on Earth

From my Tumblr Blog: http://tuckerstertiary.tumblr.com/

The Greatest Game on Earth

Hockey season is upon but unless you are of an extreme northern clime or in one of the rare ‘hockey towns’ you most likely had not noticed.

The game gets short shrift from many, if it gets any attention at all, despite the drama and unrelenting action three twenty minute periods provide.

I do not come from a hockey family. If we watched sports at all it was the ubiquitous NFL or college basketball, neither of which really drew me to the television or had me checking the sports pages for the latest standings.

I remember the exact moment that the game became more than just something we played when on a frozen pond -(remember when ponds used to freeze over every winter?). I was given the gift of a 13” black and white television as reward for - finally- doing well in school. (Ninth grade was a turning point for me both academic and personal). The TV while in my room had some very strict rules attached to it. It was not be be turned on until my homework was done and would be taken away if my grades fell below a B average. It was just after finishing some geometry problems that I walked over (remember remotes were not a standard item back then) and flipped on the TV only to find it was on channel 9 (WOR-TV) with the New York Islanders battling the Buffalo Sabers early in the second period.

The broadcast was a revelation, even squinting into the tiny colorless screen it was like meeting the love of your life from across a crowded room on a chance glance into her eyes. I must have stood there through the rest of the game because only when it ended did I notice that the clock read 10 pm. I will admit that I did not entirely understand all the rules just then and often lost track of just what was going on but it fascinated me like no other sport. Why am I so enamoured? The action is continuous - it flowed where other sports seem to drag, it is fast and yes aggressive.

Hockey does have some road blocks to gaining a more populist following -

It starts the official season in the midst of Baseball playoffs, the start of Basketball and a critical time of the early football season. The airwaves are congested with sports news and hockey’s third or fourth tier status slides it further to the periphery.

The season is just too damn long. Even for die hard hockey fans the 80 game per team season stretching into late May and mid June boarders on ridiculous. Honestly I would love an October to March season, but the team owners will never agree to a loss of home games.

It is violent. Sure other sports have contact as a main component of the game but hockey is only behind Rugby and Boxing in the degree to which violence is essential to the game. The echos of late 70’s hockey as exemplified by the movie Slapshot! still defines the sport, not entirely unjustly so, for many. The reputation for fighting was so pervasive in the early 80’s that many found truth in the joke ‘ it was an exciting night, I went to a boxing match and a hockey game broke out”. The league has made a good deal of effort to reduce excessive fighting by officially shunning enforcers ( players whose only role is to be able to skate passably and target other players).

Hockey’s sub tier status can also be a part of its allure, this small semi secret club where fans recognize each other and will commiserate with that nod or a four hour discussion on the merits of one goalies style of play over another. We even have a secret handshake, no really.

Like all other sports it is the drama and personal story lines that drive the emotional connection to each game - I have a favored team, the New York Rangers -(my Islanders fandom is viewed by my friends as a folly of youthful indulgence. Something to rib me about but not hold over my head. Heck, I have friend who has season tickets to both the Rangers and Islanders)- it is the game itself that I am truly fascinated with

I wept openly when Ray Bourque finally won the Cup.

If you are unfamiliar with the story of Ray Bourque- a quick summary. Bourque was a franchise player, a rarity these days, who was associated with the Boston Bruins nearly as much as the City of Boston itself. Passion and dedication showed every time he stepped out onto the ice. This was not just a personal quest, it was a promise to the city, to the fans. Despite Bourque’s, and the teams, best efforts over his 20 year career a championship did not come to the city.

It was with a heavy heart and high hopes that the team and fans released Bourque to play for the Colorado Avalanche a team with extraordinary chances to win. The Avalanche wooed him to play just one more year. It actually took two.

 

 

Watch the video. It shows the presentation of the cup and is as strong stuff as there is in sports. Again if you are unfamiliar with hockey, some things to note. The Cup is given to the captain of the winning team who skates with it first, a tradition nearly unbroken in the modern game. Not here, not this time. Joe Sakic, the captain, nearly yanks the cup out of the commissioner’s hands before the official photo-so eager was he to get it to Bourque. Listen to the crowd roar as #77 gets the cup- this is not just for the city, the man but for the game. again, I wept openly at this as I did with the 94 win with the Rangers, but that my friends is something I cannot begin to describe - the emotions are too great.

This is why I watch.

And if that does not do it for you, we also have Don Cherry one of the most colorful, and may I say snazziest dressers in all of sports.