Hockey was in the news around the world this week, but I discovered a story written by a British journalist that was off the beaten path from most of the stories I read. Alisdair Reid, a columnist in the London Sunday Times, wrote, ‘Is it a coincidence that the country which produced the inexplicably popular Celine Dion should also come up with a sport that is almost unwatchable? If you actually see the puck, you might see the point, but it zips across the ice invisible to the naked eye, the whirling antics of men wrapped in bedspreads stop to have a fight, and all are sent off.’
Two different cultures; two different experiences. The biggest fan I know (other than you, the readers of ‘A Fan For All Seasons,’ of course), is my British-born and -raised friendĀ Tim Burgess, who moved here to Canada seven years ago and adopted hockey as his sport of choice. In fact, while writing this, Tim e-mailed me on a flight from London to Toronto, asking me for results of last night’s contest against the Canadiens. But Tim also loves cricket, and not only do I not understand it, but I have no desire to understand it.