A New Beginning

This writer needs to be honest. There was a time when I was fully prepared to watch every single game the Montreal Canadiens played and then report on it. Other reports on the Habs would come at a rate or one to two per week – maybe more – as needed. The reality, though, is that hockey has dropped in my estimation rather drastically.

The first issue was the year lost to the lockout. There was little to no respect given to the fans that ultimately drive the sport. I wonder how all these spoiled athletes would survive their three mortgages and five sports cars if the buildings were empty when they played? The whole affair left a sour taste in my mouth.

Additionally, covering the Canadiens is probably the most difficult thing you can do – in any sport anywhere. Why? Well, other than the fact that fans seem to think the Cup is their right, and ignoring that every fan knows best (yes, I know that’s true for all teams, but honestly, I’ve followed sports all my life, and Canadiens fans are the most informed… and by far the least informed of any out there), the biggest issue for me was the media.

How ridiculous does that sound when I was ostensibly covering the Canadiens.

In sport, though, Montreal is a fairly unique market: it’s bilingual. But it’s not just two languages covering the sport, it’s two political points of view and a segment of the population that doesn’t want to even be in Canada. It’s the litany of completely ignorant comments from both spheres, including my favourite: Saku Koivu is not French enough to be captain. Honestly, when you factor in the utter ignorance of people working in places like 110%, a French show covering les Habitants, with the disrespect of the French culture shown by many of the English speaking media, and being associated with the Canadiens is nothing more than a trial.

The tipping point for me, though, is the actual game itself. For a decade, enthusiasts have been treated to a butchering of the game through the trap and the associated failure of the system to call the game by its own rules. When they came back from their year-long break, the league was adamant that the game would be different; faster and more skilled with far less of that which was ruining the sport.

To my eyes, they’ve failed utterly. Clutch and grab has been lessened very slightly, at best, and as usual, whistles are pocketed late in games more often than not. Look at how the skilled players in the 80’s danced with the puck and made people look silly. Today, if anyone actually follows the rules, they’re benched by their own coach for not slowing down the opposition. The “fastest game on Earth” has been butchered.

Do I still follow the Canadiens and hockey in general? Of course. It’s like a smoking habit, you have to keep quitting over and over before you get it right. And I guess I’m hoping that before I quit entirely, they’ll find a way to fix what was once a fantastic game to watch. Maybe they’ll even make goalie equipment small enough so that you can tell it’s a person behind it all and not an ogre or sasquatch.

As a result of all this, I’m taking a new direction with this site and will look at the world of sport, rather than just focusing on hockey. I hope you’ll join me in looking around the world at the games that we play. From the ice to the fields, to courts and other venues, I aim to have a lot of fun and I hope you do to.