Here’s an interesting article in today’s Chicago Sun-Times. I post it because, sadly, I am guilty of it. To those I’ve introduced to hockey, I humbly say… I’m sorry.
I’ll comment on this in a little bit.
New and longtime Hawks fans should just get along
Here’s the simple truth: Hockey’s not complicated
February 1, 2010
BY RICK MORRISSEY Sun-Times Columnist
The recent story about the Blackhawks who were three shirts to the wind produced much reader response.
Some of you laughed, along with me, at the relatively tame exploits of Patrick Kane, Kris Versteeg and John Madden.
Guess what? The Hawks bandwagon has room for fans who are both newcomers and oldtimers.
Some of you didn’t think photos of three shirtless Hawks in a limousine belonged in the newspaper or on television.
Some of you wished only people with doctorates in Hockey Knowledge were allowed to write about the sport. By that, you meant people like yourselves.
It’s that third group I’d like to address.
Dear Self-Styled Keepers of the Game:
Hockey is very difficult to play well but very simple to understand.
Thank you. Let’s keep in touch.
Sincerely, Mr. Hockey Jr.
OK, that’s probably a bit flippant. But I’d like you grizzled Hawks fans to look at the relative newcomers sitting near you at the United Center and not shun them. More than that, I’d like you to understand that, because of the nature of the sport, they’re not miles behind you in knowledge of what is happening on the ice.
Why? Because it’s a simple game. A wonderfully fast and athletic game, but a simple game. For a player, the difficulty of hockey is not in its strategy but in being talented enough to keep the puck away from the other team.
Skill plus luck the key
Many of you older Hawks fans don’t want to hear that because you take pride in knowing the intricacies of the sport. Here’s the thing about hockey: There aren’t a lot of intricacies. Players skate like madmen for 40-second shifts. The passing at the NHL level is crisp, a thing to behold, but it doesn’t take a genius to know where the puck is supposed to go. And a fan needn’t have a vintage Dennis Hull sweater to know it, either.
Maybe the kinder way to put it is that it’s as difficult as you want to make it out to be. You might want people to believe there’s a secret hockey decoder ring, but once a newcomer grasps what an offside call is, he’s on his way.
I covered minor-league hockey for two years, starting in 1984, and I can tell you that the general approach of the game doesn’t look much different now. And I’m guessing it didn’t look a whole lot different 25 years before that. The relative skill level is what stands out.
When coaches and players trot out the clich1/8© about the puck bouncing in crazy ways, they’re right. There’s a lot of skill involved but a decent measure of luck, too.
Jealousy quickly apparent
Football has gobs more strategy than hockey and is much more complex.
Basketball teams don’t win games because they trick other teams with plays or sets. They win either because they have better talent, work harder or are more fundamentally sound. It’s very much like hockey in that sense.
Baseball has lots of late-inning strategy but a pace that could put to sleep someone with a six-Red-Bull-a-day habit. But there’s more strategy than hockey.
Soccer might have more strategy than hockey. If only it had checking.
What we’re dealing with here is age-old insider vs. outsider stuff. We humans are jealous of what we consider our own, and we want to protect it. One way is to erect an electric fence. Another is to sigh and say, ”You’ll never understand the neutral-zone trap.”
The phenomenon of longtime Hawks fans with chips on their shoulders began appearing in earnest last season and spread quickly this season as it became apparent the team was a serious Stanley Cup contender. They love that their team is great but hate that their team is popular.
It’s not just the traditional sneering at bandwagon-joiners, either. It’s a holier-than-thou attitude: We’ve been fans longer than you, we know more about the sport than you’ll ever know and you look suspiciously like the Cubs ”fans” who go to Wrigley Field to drink and people-watch.
Hawks fans all in this together
These are the kind of Hawks fans who want you to know they wish they could do their grocery shopping at Gunzo’s, too.
Some of them are the same people who refused to go to games as long as Bill Wirtz was running the show. And that’s a good thing. If you don’t like something a team is doing, make it pay by withholding your money. More sports fans should do it.
But just remember that, like the newcomers who are showing up at Hawks games now, you didn’t support the team during thick and thin. Fair’s fair.
How about embracing the fact that the Hawks are selling out the United Center because of veteran fans and recent additions to the fan base? You’re all on the same team. If the Hawks win the Stanley Cup this season, the insane roar at the UC will have pushed them along.
The club can’t do it without you, Hawks fans. And you longtime supporters can’t make that roar all by yourselves. Make room for the new kids.
And explain the odd-man rush to them. Kindly.
