"Hockey Feelings" for caddyeverafter7
Hey Caddyeverafter7,
Congrats on your playoff brackets!
You wanted a750-word LJ post and specified "just let out your hockey feels? Try and stay positive, though, like no outright bashing of other teams :)"
Don’t worry, I won’t bash any team. Because I love them all. I can't promise that it's all positive, though. Well, it's very pro-Hockey at least. There is also a lot of German soccer in here, which I felt neccessary to make my point. Please, bear with me, because to understand what I feel about Hockey, you have to know some things about me and some things about where I come from.
1. Me
I love things that are fast, brutal and sort of random. For example, I spent the bigger part of my teen years as a hardcore fan of Sumo wrestling (which is a beautiful and powerful sport once you manage to look beyond the fat guys in diapers aspect of it). I love Jet Li and beautifully choreographed fight scenes and I consider them vastly superior to ballet or modern dance. Most fight films are simply dancing with a purpose.
Hockey was a revelation. There was speed and skill and then John Scott hit someone (Westgarth? I don’t actually remember) in the face and I was IN HEAVEN! Everything I have ever been attracted to in one neat bundle. And the people! Hockey players! So so many of them! (I love John Scott the most of all and I don’t care that he’s practically useless on skates. He’s funny and a giant and that is enough to make him my favorite.)
So, I’m not into hockey as a sport. I’m into hockey as performance art.
And that brings us to the next point.
2. Why the NHL is great
I’m from Germany - a country where soccer rules supreme and other sports don’t even have chance. German soccer doesn’t have franchises, it has clubs. And all the different leagues are connected, from the First Bundesliga where players can cost up to 40 million Euros (that’s 52 million dollar and what FC Bayern Munich just paid Athletic Bilbao to trade Javi Martinez) and earn up to 13 million per year (if you want to earn 31 million a year you should play in Spain), to the smallest rec leagues where a village with a population of 800 plays against a village of 799, wins and feels superior.
And all of these can potentially play in the Bundesliga because each year the top three get promoted to the next highest league and the bottom three get relegated- even in the Bundesliga.
And I repeat:
“In theory it is possible for even the lowest local amateur club to rise to the top of the system and become German football champions one day.” quote from Wikipedia
That also means that it's possible for the Champion of 2012 to be out of the professional leagues by 2016!
Can you imagine what that means for a club and its fans? The thrill and the excitement that comes with a good season when it’s possible that your team can make it and get promoted to the Bundesliga?
Click to viewThat’s a video of my beloved FCA and his final game of the 2010/11 season, when he clinched the promotion. And yes, the FC Augsburg is universally referred to as a single male entity (“Have you seen the FCA play on Friday? He won’t ever learn…” Usually followed by a sad sigh).
And then, the tears and despair that come with relegation. When you know that there is a real chance that your club, that extension of your soul, will now sink into obscurity and that nothing of its former glory will remain.
The first 2 minutes of this are heartbreaking beyond any language barrier...
THEY DON’T HAVE THAT SHIT IN THE NHL!!!
Seriously, I know that’s weird as hell but I love love love that it doesn’t matter how much Columbus sucks this year or Edmonton or whoever. If anything it gives them better chances at the draft!! Fail for Nail, guys!
THE DRAFT! I love that! Here a promising youngster gets bought by the club with the most money *cough*Bayern Munich*cough* and that’s that. There is no draft in German soccer!
The idea that good young players go to bad teams to help them eventually suck less... Well, my mind was baffled when I heard that first! That’s such a smart idea and it’s so much more fun this way. I even think that Salary Caps are great! It gets so boring when the same guys win the Championship year after year after year.
I know that in return, NHL hockey fans have to deal with lockouts and stuff but, seriously, at least you know that your team will be there in the end and that it would take more than a bad season, a couple of injured players and a crazy coach to utterly destroy your franchise. You’re safe, NHL hockey fans. You’re safe.
(Sorry, Atlanta.)
In conclusion: I love hockey because
- it’s beautiful to watch
- it doesn’t routinely break my heart