The shootout, then vs now
Today is not the end of the year. That comes on the thirtieth of June, next. I work in the education sector. For me, the concept is clear.
However, I will watch some of the television programs that review the last twelve months of public activity. It’s my right. Already, the local news broadcast made it clear that we live in a city where it’s “All mayor, all the time!”. Even if he takes a vacation, we are reminded that he’s only a moment away. Somehow, I’m sad about that.
Just watched some of the junior hockey tournament, where Canada lost to Sweden in a shootout. Why bother playing the game, when you’re bringing it back to the level of my buddies and I playing road hockey in the lot behind the Dominion Store. One on one, mano a mano. Nothing to do with team sport and everything to do with hubris. And a hockey stick that wasn’t broken, or the wrong hand.
Had a discussion about road hockey at work. Thirty, forty years ago, we all played. Even my sisters, in rare moments of madness. Every porch had a stick or two, leaning against the wall waiting for the call. And then, the composites arrived. Have you checked the price of an “average” stick in your local sports emporium? Even with a full-time job in the minimum wage world, a kid can’t afford to drag one of those works of art up and down a concrete lot. Road hockey, as I knew it, is gone.
