Canada, second largest country in the world, 36th most populated, And best source of maple syrup and of course, Hockey. If there’s anything you hear about enough to want to rip people’s heads off, it’s gotta be hockey. The sport that people would die for. A sport that people would kill other people for. A sport so violent, so magical and filled with magicky magical magicness. It’s a huge part of our Canadian Culture, it has influenced hundreds of books, movies… One such artistic exploit is the legendary book and animated film The Hockey Sweater. the story of a young boy, An avid fan of the Montreal Canadians, who one day receives a sweater from his mother, a hockey sweater, not of his favorite team but of their sworn enemies. The Toronto Maple Leafs. Even today, talk about the Leafs to a Habs fan, you might get a bloody nose, if they’re crazy enough to do more than thoroughly insult you. Rivalries run deep in the sport’s history. Many controversies over the years. many fights. All of this in addition to hockey fans filling our air with their banter about last night’s game and how much carey price sucks, I say this merely after hearing it for myself from a hockey fan’s gaping maw. spare my life, angry hockey fans, I beg you.
Violent Hockey Hug
But as much as Hockey seems like an over-advertised, violent sport, interest and way of life. It still is a part of society and history that will never be forgotten. Hockey Legends like Maurice “Rocket” Richard, Wayne Gretzky and many others. Even small things like the hockey team sweater I mentioned earlier are very important parts of our heritage. People recieve these sweaters as children, keep them their entire lives. only to see what their childhood was like. Either if they still like the sport and look back thinking of the “good times”, or they see how much they wasted their time with it. The book I mentioned earlier The Hockey Sweater, by Roch Carrier, who you might know from the quote on the back of the canadian 5 dollar bill, It says: “Nous vivions en trois lieus: L’école, l’église et la patinoire; mais la vrai vie était sur la patinoire” ( We lived in three places: School, Church and the skating rink; but our real life was on the skating rink) this quote is said to be the most definitive and representative of Canadian culture, history and Heritage. Countries often depend on sports such as hockey, they bring tourism, fans, bring out potential talent in the country. Like in Brazil where soccer players are discovered without end. The world has learned to depend on sports. Some people’s entire lives depend on it. Be it their careers or purely devotion to their favorite team.
Sports are sometimes addictive, And just like anything, it’s fine in small quantities, but let it take over your life and you’re in for trouble. In the movie Big Fan, Robert Siegel’s directorial debut, Paul Aufiero, 35 year-old parking garage attendant from Staten Island, New York. Paul is the self proclaimed :”Biggest New York Giants Fan”, The movie details the sad story of a middle-aged sports man that still lives with his mother. Turned into a lifeless pile of sports trivia and hamburgers. The world is against him, society, his mother, his coworkers…
Patton Oswald and Kevin Corrigan in Big Fan
So let’s stop and think for a second. Sports like hockey have defined in many ways the way our society is now. Soccer is played in every single country in the world and Football gathers the most people in the world for the yearly superbowl. But people sometimes let it take over their lives, with horrible results most of the time. Those Hockey sweaters that Canadians wear. They must be magic or something, knitted by Fairies. Fairies that knit dreams. This is why our national sport is on the dollar bill. It’s built on dreams. And “Losers” like Paul Aufiero (who is a football fan if that much isn’t clear yet)don’t have the sweater made of dreams Big Fan stars Patton Oswalt and Kevin Corrigan, It will be making it’s way to DVD and Bluray on January 12th 2010.
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