by FISHMONGER
Hockey has never been a casual thing for me. First saw it in a Pizza Hut after a Little League baseball game, and I’ve loved it ever since. That happened to be the Toronto series in 1993. Didn’t understand the game at the time, but I imagine it’s like meeting the right woman. You just know it.
One of the more appealing things to me is probably the fact that it isn’t wildly popular. It’s something that me and a select few can talk about and enjoy, that few people have the luxury of appreciating.
When I mention to someone, for the first time, that I’m a hockey fanatic, I get one of two responses.
Response 1 goes something like this: ‘That’s such a violent sport of thugs, how can you like that?’
This is generally the response I get. If I want to bother, I try to explain the finesse and skill required for the sport. The drive players must have to play through the pain. The fact that it is the toughest sport in the US (only rugby can compare) and how it has more perfect analogies that pertain to life than any other source. I’ve managed to get a few to convert. Others simply will never get the passion I have for it.
Response 2 is a very warm welcome, followed by a “who’s your team?” I’m generally excited enough to talk with someone regardless of who their team is (unless of course they’re Ducks fans, then I verbally rip them apart). The real fanatics, such as myself, are more than happy to spend a night talking about this, and nothing else. Few other obligations take priority over this. Even a casual acquaintance of mine knows this of me. It’s one of a few things that is a true passion of mine.
I wore an RBK Kings shirt to my walk-to bar the other night. I’ve seen that bartender dozens of times, never really spoke much with him. When he saw my shirt, he couldn’t help but tell stories about when he used to tend bar for guys from the old days. He was very proud of the jersey a coach got him with autographs from the entire team. When I asked him if they ever have Kings games on at the bar, his answer was an emphatic, ‘If I’m here, you better believe it!’
It didn’t matter that the Kings were last this last season. It didn’t matter that it seems even management has given up on the next (you don’t put a Stanley Cup in a system that’s ‘rebuilding’). It was the passion for the game, and more specifically this team that has carried us forward these last 4 decades.
Have plenty of fans jumped ship? Absolutely. That’s why they created the Ducks. To weed out the bandwagoners. To get the wimps away from my team.
It’s still fun to chat with people who know the game (Ducks fans excluded, of course). They simply understand.
Will get into more later, should the opportunity be given.
Until then, Play with Passion.
-Fish 
Fans' Eye View 
Dr. Naysay
