We once had a guest from the mid-west here for lunch. He didn't know me very well, so the conversation came around to hockey, in particular, the under-representation of coloured players in the NHL. I can listen to people talk hockey for hours. Just wake me up when they're done. I can also fast-forward through the sports news quicker than Gretzky on ice. Therefore I had no idea that racism in hockey was a thing. I just assumed that we Canadians were the good guys, socially responsible, politically correct; so our national sport must be good clean fun for kids learning teamwork.
Yes, but what would you expect from kids engaged in a meaningful activity like slapping a rubber disk into a net while the other team tries to stop it, with the prospect that someday the best of the best might be earning seven figures? They aren't learning respect, restraint and reciprocity. It's aggression, intimidation and smack-talk, because that's what the fans will pay to see: raw entertainment for folks who are tired of being nice and want a fight without getting hurt or going to jail. It's standard human behaviour because we are winners descended from winners. The losers are extinct.
That's evolution.
Yes, but we can't win alone. We need teammates who can skate and stickhandle and bodycheck and pass and score and throw a punch. Because we need each other to win, we have discovered ways of coexisting without murdering our mates.
Yes, but we can't win alone. We need teammates who can skate and stickhandle and bodycheck and pass and score and throw a punch. Because we need each other to win, we have discovered ways of coexisting without murdering our mates.
That's evolution.
Yes, there's always another game
when the gloves come off
and the crowd goes wild.
But behind the primal make-believe,
if we so choose,
we winners and losers of every colour
may sweat out our ambition
immersed in the joy of practiced performance,
Yes, but without losers there is no game, which means sometimes we take a turn as losers. We squabble a bit until it's over, and then, win or lose, shake hands. That we survive is proof that the ancestors learned how to lose and win gracefully so they might play another day.
That's evolution.
Yes, but did you ever wonder about nations at war bombing cities flat? They need hockey: skates and pucks in place of tanks and missiles. We do hockey (some of us) because it blunts our aggression so we can win and lose and survive with or without ears attached while the arena remains standing. The next day, we go to work, and get the job done together, and fill the coffee breaks with hockey talk. Until the next game.
Yes, but did you ever wonder about nations at war bombing cities flat? They need hockey: skates and pucks in place of tanks and missiles. We do hockey (some of us) because it blunts our aggression so we can win and lose and survive with or without ears attached while the arena remains standing. The next day, we go to work, and get the job done together, and fill the coffee breaks with hockey talk. Until the next game.
That's evolution.
Yes, there's always another game
when the gloves come off
and the crowd goes wild.
But behind the primal make-believe,
if we so choose,
we winners and losers of every colour
may sweat out our ambition
immersed in the joy of practiced performance,
the contest transcended by friends in the zone
playing together.
playing together.
Yes, I hear you:
we're not quite there.
But we have a choice.
That too is evolution.
we're not quite there.
But we have a choice.
That too is evolution.
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