Sometimes I wish I could have grown up some place colder than the central coast of California; some place where they play hockey.
I’ve played my fair share of sports, but never hockey. I do know, however, that I love the idea of being able to get back at somebody or get rough with someone in a sport without being penalized severely for it.
And I’m not talking about a Marty McSorley-like incident here. I’m talking about the kind of physical and verbal “”extracurricular”” activity that might get you an ejection in a basketball or football game. Hockey players do the kind of stuff during games that I always wanted to do playing other sports. So I thought I might have been good at hockey, except for one problem: I can’t skate.
Before I ever went to a hockey game, I watched it on TV and enjoyed it for the most part, especially during playoff time.
An argument could be made that some games like football and basketball are better on television; but then I saw a game live. Two years ago I went to see a minor league hockey game — there’s no comparison — really. I was a changed sports fan.
I couldn’t believe how cool it was (no pun intended, although the Zambonie is the coolest machine in sports): how everything seemed to happen at a different speed and on a different level than most other sports. I went to a UCSD hockey game later in the year and loved that as well.
Whether you’re sitting down close to the boards, or up higher in the stands where you can see the action a little better, the grace and togetherness of the skating combined with the striking roughness with which the game is played (the fights are always cool) is unmatched and may be why hockey is the most underrated spectator sport.
In hockey, the same player could skate through three defenders with ease, fire a slapshot past the goalie, and two minutes later be involved in a full-fledged melee, for which he only has to sit in a separate place for two minutes, at which time he can go back into the game and play more.
It’s a game where heart, hustle, grit, toughness and determination (all traits that are being lost to some extent in many sports) matter every second of a game and are still put at a premium.
Playoff time in hockey has come to Southern California once again. The local San Diego Gulls are in the West Coast Hockey League playoffs and Southern California’s own Anaheim Mighty Ducks are doing well for themselves this year, hoping to advance in the playoffs.
We even have a club hockey team here at UCSD that is fun to watch. Maybe you don’t understand all the rules. Maybe you’re turned off by the fact you can’t see the puck on TV. But hockey is more fun to watch in person than it is on TV. My point is that if you’re looking for a great sporting event to attend, perhaps for the first time, go to a southern California hockey game, and give yourself a chance to experience it. For my money, it is definitely the most overlooked value in sports.
