NHL: Get Your Priorities Straight

A fight during last night's game,
via Denver's Facebook page

  I've been checking out some local minor league hockey games lately because of the NHL lockout that has persisted through three months of what would have been the regular season. The team here is actually pretty good--the games are fun to watch, and the atmosphere is pretty entertaining. Yet, it's not quite the same. I miss watching hockey on TV, and I miss the pace of NHL hockey. These games are a little more lawless--the refs seem to play favorites even more than in the NHL, meaning guys get away with stuff a lot more often.
    Some of the entertainment (contests, t-shirt tosses, giveaways, etc.) is a little cheesy, but it's all in good fun. The way the arena is set up, it's more like a football game than a hockey game, and it allows for more entertainment options than a game at the other ice arena. the mascot gets a lot more involved. The entire experience is much more personal than an NHL game, but somehow, the NHL games are more exciting. There's more at stake, and the players stand out more.

Angry hockey fans, via CBC

    All of which makes the lockout all the more upsetting. These guys are douchebags dividing up all this money and they are just being greedy. I would rather support a smaller team by attending the games because they can't fill the house. Not even close. They play even though they don't make millions of dollars a year. They get whacked in the face with a stick more often because the refs don't call as much and there's no league calling for major reprimands and fines when it happens.
    So, if Bettman gets off his ass and does his job to protect the SPORT and not the owners, if everyone involved realizes that the fans care about the sport, and won't want to support a game or a team that shows it's more interested in their money than their entertainment, maybe the season can be salvaged. If not, I'll be happy to see it come back next fall. But I will be doing it from my couch at home.
    I am not paying continually higher ticket prices, abominable concessions and merch prices, plus extra for parking at the fancy arena, to go see a team who continues to send the message that their paychecks are more important than the game, than the fans. You don't need $2 million a year to get by. You don't need an 80 thousand dollar car. You don't need two houses or fifty thousand dollar pieces of jewelry. If that's more important than the game, go be an investment banker. Go open a corporation that makes jumbotrons. But don't participate in a sport that means so much to so many people and pretend like you care about more than those matching Rolexes for your birthday.

Get your mind of your money and your money off your mind.

The Holiday Spirit Appears Early

  I used to insist on waiting until Thanksgiving was over before I even started thinking about Christmas. I even skipped Christmas one year (i.e. did not buy presents or ask for any or put up a tree or anything--though not everyone listened when I said I didn't want anything) to protest the level of commercialism it had attained.
    However, sometimes after you go without something for long enough, the next time it comes around makes you appreciate it even more. (One case in point, the NHL lockout a few years ago made me realize how much I enjoyed watching hockey, even though I had not watched too much of it in the previous couple of seasons.) Case in point two: I really missed Christmas after I skipped it that year.
    I enjoy shopping for Christmas presents and making cookies and putting up the tree and singing Christmas music. Even the people who are hard to shop for, I don't mind as much because I enjoy the season. The lights and the colors and especially the movies. I know there aren't too many people who get to have a happy ending Hollywood version of Christmas anymore, and it has become overly commercialized over the past few decades, but it's still a lovely thought. Thinking about children believing in Santa, families coming together, forgetting all your misanthropy and cynicism and giving in to the holiday spirit, and spreading good cheer and good will towards men (PC term=humanity).
    I already started searching for Christmas presents, as I plan to do a lot of my shopping online this year. I'm hoping that 1) this will save me a little bit of money, 2) I can find things for the hard-to-shop-for people a little easier, 3) this will help me get most of my shopping done earlier rather than last minute, and 4) this will allow me to find a few things that you just can't find at a Target or a JC Penney's.
    I blame this recent surfacing of Christmas spirit on the huge snowstorm we had in my neck of the woods this week. I woke up on Thursday and said, wow, it looks just like Christmas! While most of it's melted already, as the temperatures shot back up into the fifties again, it doesn't change the fact that I'm already dreaming of a white Christmas (despite that we maybe get one every ten years here because it refuses to snow ON Christmas--it always snows too early or too late and it's all melted by the Christmas day arrives).

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

What are your thoughts on this (somewhat) impending holiday? 

Love it? Hate it? (FYI: If you say you hate it, you will henceforth be known as the Grinch.) 

What's your favorite, or least favorite, part about it?
Share in the comments.

A Shameless Plug for the Playoffs

If anyone out there--and based on my calculations, there probably aren't too many of you--follow hockey, I implore you to watch the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs this year. They are tons of fun, and they last from now until June. If you are not a hockey fan, or just don't get it, give it another shot. The best time to learn is in the post season because those who do know will be tickled pink to share their knowledge and love of the game with you in hopes that you too will get a little Cup Crazy.
    I'm a different breed, being raised on hockey, raised to believe that ice hockey is the greatest sport ever, and the Stanley Cup not only is, but deserves to be, the most sought after trophy in sports. My objective today is to convert a few of you out there to believe in hockey the way I do.

How To Become a Hockey Fan
Step 1: Turn on your TV. Versus and NBC (along with local affiliate stations) will be hosting the games live this year. You can pretty much count on games being on at 7pm ET every day of the week for the first round, which will last about 1-2 weeks from today. The best way to learn is to see it in action. (Pay no attention to the men behind the microphones who will favor Detroit no matter who's playing.)
Step 2: If you're not a lifelong puck-head like me, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_hockey and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nhl to learn more about the game.
Step 3: Check out http://www.nhl.com/ to find out which games are scheduled, as well as stats, polls, news and more.
Step 4: Choose your loyalties!! There are 30 to pick from, you can go with whoever's in your state, or nearby, or just pick one with a cool name, excellent players, or a stellar record.


Some Vocabulary: 
1) Dropping the gloves--There will be a fight. Yes, they pretty much box on skates.
2) He iced the puck--The puck was shot down the length of the ice in order to delay the game, drawing a penalty.
3) Drawing a penalty--Getting (see manipulating in some instances) the referees to call a penalty by making it obvious you were impeded during play
4) Five for fighting--Five minutes in the penalty box (or in the locker room if the period is almost over) for participating in a fight
5) Penalty shot--The rare reward for a penalty in which a player for the team who was impeded during the play gets to take a free shot at the opposing team's goalie to try to score a goal
6) Period--Hockey is divided into 3 periods of play, not quarters, or halves. It's Canadian, what can I say?
7) Goal--They're called goals, not points, when someone puts the puck past the goalie into the net.
8) Hat Trick--When a single player scores 3 goals in a single game.
9) Gordie Howe Hat Trick--named for Gordie Howe, a retired Detroit Red Wing player; when a single player gets an assist, a goal, and a fight in a single game
10) Five Hole--Beating the goalie through one of the five holes that his body creates between him and the net; Also a style of goaltending

There are more terms, but I can't go into every single one of them here. You can probably find some of them on the aforementioned websites, or learn them as the game is played. The commentators like to explain things more during the playoffs for people who are new to hockey.

Guide to Being a Hockey Fan: 
1) Fights are a part of the game. Just go with it. They rarely get too gory or dangerous.
2) Pick on the referees. They aren't perfect, and if they slight your team, they deserve all the insults you can throw at them.
3) Cheer loudly, whether you're at a sports bar, in your living room, or at the arena itself. The team deserves your support no matter where you're watching from.
4) Don't be a fair weather fan. Cheer and support your team through the good games and the bad. 

Lord Stanley is coming to town. WAY better than Santa Claus.