Monday, February 19, 2007
A Plug
I've mentioned A Theory of Ice before. This fellow is a die-hard Montreal Canadians fan who also happens to write consistently (meaning almost every day), intuitively, and with a great amount of wit and passion, the latter being a deadly combination.
He wrote recently,
"The fact is that I’m a very angry Habistani these days. I’m angry at the Canadiens, not so much for slumping but for absorbing so much of my affection for hockey in their half-crazy, improbable, fragile game, and then taking that game and shattering it into a million pieces right in front of me. I’m angry because they’ve put my beliefs at odds with my better judgment. I still believe in them, I still believe that they’re a good team that will come around and play well again, and that makes a mockery of any claim I might have had to really, objectively understanding hockey. It more or less exposes me for the complete idiot I am."
" Everyone said that Milroy was brought up to give the Canadiens some scoring. He hasn’t done that yet, but the new 4th line with him, Lapierre and Perezhogin does some interesting things, mostly just skating like crazy in all sorts of directions, grabbing the puck off the Jackets, and generally tossing out manic, demanding energy like they haven’t gotten laid in a month, which I would assume they have, but it’s the best simile I could come up with. I suppose this is what they mean when they say that sometimes you just need ‘new blood’ on a team."
"Being on a losing streak is more or less exactly like being lost in the desert. It’s terrible, because it tricks you while it kills you. In the beginning, you’re all full of resolve and purpose, you’re going to find your way out. After all, we were winning once, right? So all we’ve got to do is start doing exactly what we were doing then, and it’s all good! It’s not that hard, you tell yourself, I’ll just retrace my steps, and eventually I’ll get back to civilization. But the days pass, you start getting filthy and sunburned and dehydrated, you look around and all you see is the same bleak, bleached landscape in every direction, nothing but emptiness. You start chasing after mirages, the vague shaky hints of something improbable you think that maybe you can see in the distance- that next line combination that just might work, that crazy motivational technique that might finally awaken something. Days are passing, though, and eventually, you know you’re really lost, and you’re going to die.
It turns out, however, that the desert is not an entirely miserable place, once you’ve accepted that it's where you are and there ain't no getting out. Yeah, overall, it’s brutal, but it has its charms. Scarab beetles, for example, are incredibly entertaining little creatures, and cacti have lovely flowers, and there are some really gorgeous sunsets. You’re exhausted and suffering from heat stroke, and you know you’re not going to make it out alive.
"
When he's writing about Les Habitants, perhaps a dose of the Cubbies beat would be in order. Blind passion is what's called for there as well.
He wrote recently,
"The fact is that I’m a very angry Habistani these days. I’m angry at the Canadiens, not so much for slumping but for absorbing so much of my affection for hockey in their half-crazy, improbable, fragile game, and then taking that game and shattering it into a million pieces right in front of me. I’m angry because they’ve put my beliefs at odds with my better judgment. I still believe in them, I still believe that they’re a good team that will come around and play well again, and that makes a mockery of any claim I might have had to really, objectively understanding hockey. It more or less exposes me for the complete idiot I am."
" Everyone said that Milroy was brought up to give the Canadiens some scoring. He hasn’t done that yet, but the new 4th line with him, Lapierre and Perezhogin does some interesting things, mostly just skating like crazy in all sorts of directions, grabbing the puck off the Jackets, and generally tossing out manic, demanding energy like they haven’t gotten laid in a month, which I would assume they have, but it’s the best simile I could come up with. I suppose this is what they mean when they say that sometimes you just need ‘new blood’ on a team."
"Being on a losing streak is more or less exactly like being lost in the desert. It’s terrible, because it tricks you while it kills you. In the beginning, you’re all full of resolve and purpose, you’re going to find your way out. After all, we were winning once, right? So all we’ve got to do is start doing exactly what we were doing then, and it’s all good! It’s not that hard, you tell yourself, I’ll just retrace my steps, and eventually I’ll get back to civilization. But the days pass, you start getting filthy and sunburned and dehydrated, you look around and all you see is the same bleak, bleached landscape in every direction, nothing but emptiness. You start chasing after mirages, the vague shaky hints of something improbable you think that maybe you can see in the distance- that next line combination that just might work, that crazy motivational technique that might finally awaken something. Days are passing, though, and eventually, you know you’re really lost, and you’re going to die.
It turns out, however, that the desert is not an entirely miserable place, once you’ve accepted that it's where you are and there ain't no getting out. Yeah, overall, it’s brutal, but it has its charms. Scarab beetles, for example, are incredibly entertaining little creatures, and cacti have lovely flowers, and there are some really gorgeous sunsets. You’re exhausted and suffering from heat stroke, and you know you’re not going to make it out alive.
"
When he's writing about Les Habitants, perhaps a dose of the Cubbies beat would be in order. Blind passion is what's called for there as well.
Comments:
<< Home Verging on Pertinence Just some more disposable thoughts clogging up the hinterlands
It could be worse: he could be a Leafs fan - which, let me reiterate, I am not. But I'm not sure which maddens me more: the Leafs or their fans. How can a franchise that has fared as poorly as it has for the last forty years still fill its arena nearly to capacity for every single game?! Even die-hard Habistanis have the smarts to stay home and watch the game on TV when the Canadiens are in a slump. Heck, they stay home when the Canadiens are doing well, too. Leafs fans, on the other hand, just can't wait to let go of a hard-earned buck.
WP,
I see you one Leafs fan and raise you a Rangers fan. Having been a Rangers fan back when helmets and teeth were out and hooliganism and Bobby Orr were in, I can safely vouch for the crudity/stupidity of a Rangers fan. I am more mature and even-handed now and am a Devils fan (though no fan of their Stalag 13 style hockey arena located in the swamps of Jersey.) There was no day more odious than the day the Rangers (barely) beat the Canucks for their first Stanley Cup in 199 years. I felt like 2X4-ing each and every Rangers fan I came across. Thank God it won't be another 199 years (by which timne the only NHL teams left will be the Thunder Bay Teakwoods, the Churchill Scavenging Bears, and the Baffin Island Buffaloes due to global warming) beforer the Rangers again drink from Lord Stanley's Cup.
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I see you one Leafs fan and raise you a Rangers fan. Having been a Rangers fan back when helmets and teeth were out and hooliganism and Bobby Orr were in, I can safely vouch for the crudity/stupidity of a Rangers fan. I am more mature and even-handed now and am a Devils fan (though no fan of their Stalag 13 style hockey arena located in the swamps of Jersey.) There was no day more odious than the day the Rangers (barely) beat the Canucks for their first Stanley Cup in 199 years. I felt like 2X4-ing each and every Rangers fan I came across. Thank God it won't be another 199 years (by which timne the only NHL teams left will be the Thunder Bay Teakwoods, the Churchill Scavenging Bears, and the Baffin Island Buffaloes due to global warming) beforer the Rangers again drink from Lord Stanley's Cup.
<< Home Verging on Pertinence Just some more disposable thoughts clogging up the hinterlands
