California is hardly known for its ice rinks, so as a child, I followed the best team in the world - Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers. With Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey and Grant Fuhr, the Oilers were the greatest show on ice. At the time, it wasn't uncommon to watch Sunday afternoon hockey on ABC. This was before the days cable television took over the airwaves and well before the days of the San Jose Sharks. Before the Sharks came along, Gretzky moved on, leaving Canada, for Hollywood with his beautiful blond wife.
They were a couple made for California -- well before David and Victoria Beckham took over the tabloids earlier this year. I was never a die hard hockey fan. Any Californian prior to Gretzky's trek west to the Los Angeles Kings that told you they were was a) either lying or b) not a native Californian. Gretzky made Californians leave the hockey highlights on while watching Sports Center, but not much else. It didn't change anything within the culture. I've always been a believer that unless you come from a state with real winters you cannot be a true hockey fan.
This opinion has only strengthened since I moved here. While the North Stars left for warmer clients, hockey never left the blood of Minnesotans. I love seeing both hipsters and aging, graying sports fans in retro Minnesota North Stars jackets. Even at the lowest level of fandom - fashion -the North Stars are still in the hearts of many Minnesotans. I should make it clear. I'm talking about the North Stars and not the bastardized version now playing in Dallas. If the Sharks ever left San Jose for another city, I know that the same love would not still be there for the team. There would not be retro Sharks jerseys worn by hipsters on Haight Street. You'll never hear a San Francisco Giants fan debate the merits of the Cow Palace and HP Pavilion (the Sharks former and current arenas) with a panhandler as I did last year at a Twins vs. A's game. I pretended to stare off searching for my friend, but instead I was amazed the common denominator that can be met between Minnesotans of all socio-economic backgrounds.
Tonight the Sharks thrashed the Wild 4-1 - finally looking like the team the pundits and the fans expected the Sharks to be. The Wild play the most boring style of hockey imaginable. Only in Minnesota would fans permit such a boring style, substance over style. The most entertaining part of the match was not Steve Bernier two goals, but the stark difference in the way the two teams local newspapers covered the match.
The San Jose Mercury's upbeat, anything is better than yesterday, we're on a roll theme balanced against the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune's doomsday, we're never going to win again, this is the end if things don't change theme was hilarious.
Give them a read... SJ Mercury and the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune.
I'm not the biggest hockey fan. Then again I did grow up a 49er fan with Jerry Rice as my hero, so who can fault me for being a California boy at heart?
2 comments:
My name is Alex Ward, and I am a fantasy hockey addict.
There, I've said it.
The other day I was out with some friends and somehow the topic came up from somebody about how her co-worker was lame because he was into "fantasy baseball."
The horror.
When I quietly interjected that I have been playing fantasy hockey going on five years, the response was this amazing look of combined disgust and incredulity that through its shear immensity of proportion was momentarily enough to make me question my very morality as a being on this earth.
I don't get it.
Now I could get into the ins and outs of my addiction to hockey, but that's for my blog (3kmne.com- *seldom updated*), not jeremy's.
The point is that it is such a pleasure to see one of my old dear friends waxing philosophical in a way that only a true sports fan can.
*insert Ode To Hockey here*
Good ta read ya lad;)
-alex
umm... 3kmne.blogspot.com, rather
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