Thursday, October 4, 2007

An Ode to Hockey

I have to admit that the buildup to the new NHL season this year was without the fanfare that past seasons have held. A crappy new Lightning logo, an arena sound experience that borders upon brutal, and two huge weekend football games would seemingly overshadow the opener tonight at the Ice Palace Forum in downtown Tampa.

Hockey's opening week has always fallen during football season, and things don't really get serious until after New Year's, sure. But you know what? It's still hockey. I still woke up this morning anticipating the game tonight, I've still been talking about it all day, and even with the Gators (along with me and The Chelsea Bee) about to head up to Baton Rouge for a huuuuuuuge game with LSU, for two and a half hours tonight, nothing else will matter, and it'll all come rushing back, and I'll realize why I became so enamored and fascinated with this game at Expo Hall on a January night in Tampa 15 years ago.

In years past, I have tried to extol the virtues of the most exciting sport in the world to anyone who would listen. Even as people would (sometimes gleefully) point out sagging television ratings for the game, or when idiots in the media made the same tired jokes about no one paying attention, it didn't matter to me. I've said this before - hockey is the ultimate heart sport. I think that goes not only for playing it, but for caring about it too. There are no casual hockey fans. You're either in or you're out. You have to want to be there, and you can't fake it. That's probably part of the reason we all love it so much. It's like our own little club.

To quote ESPN hockey writer John Buccigross, there are four main hockey values: heart, courage, mental toughness, and artistic expression. Some sports have two or three of those, but give me another sport that has all four. You can't do it. From my favorite sport of football, which lacks artistic expression, down to hobbies like ultimate frisbee, which has three of the four but requires no courage, not one sport has all four of those values woven into its fabric - except for hockey. So even as the "mainstream" sports world revolves all around us, never seemingly ready to stop even for a little while for hockey, I'm ready to set aside some time each week for odd man rushes...the sound of a puck hitting the crossbar...slapshots from the point, deflections off a body in front, battles in the corner, and power play goals. You've got to love power play goals.

In short, I'm ready for hockey, and if you are too, then stick with me and I'll stick with you. And you and me and the most exciting game in the world are all we're really going to need.