Well ...

Steve asks:

And I think the real answer is: What the hell does it matter?

Professional hockey, like basketball, baseball, football, et al, is become something much like polo: obscenely rich elites sucking off the meager wealth of the working class for raw, simplistic, violent, and ultimately meaningless vicarious entertainment.

But hey, did you buy your teeshirt; gimme cap; jersey; handee-dandee utensil and/or utility knife? I mean, that's what it's really all about, right?

Who cares. The Canucks have

Who cares. The Canucks have only made it past the second round twice in 40 or so years. They always choke in the end.

The season is far too long. They should go back to best of 5 for first two rounds and back to back games but I don't really watch hockey anymore other than the Owelympic ones. The NHL is just for the rich who can afford over priced tickets or those that can buy PPV.

Plus hockey sucks now, no cool people like Tiger williams, Bobby Clark, Bobby Orr, The Broad street Bullies and so on and so on. Nope hockey is wimpy now. All wear helmets, hardly any good fights.. If they want wimpy hockey maybe they should play on the bigger ice surface.

Yep, nobody much cares about

Yep, nobody much cares about the team that never goes anywhere

"And I think the real answer

"And I think the real answer is: What the hell does it matter?"

It matters because 1.3 million Canadians play hockey, and millions more are spectators.

I play sports but I just

I play sports but I just can't, for the life of me, understand this obsession with sports and in particular with professional sports. Is there something lacking in peoples everyday life to be so consumed? It seems to the local news broadcasters that hockey is the only sport that happens in this whole big world.

Pablum and Placebo designed to absorb and distract and fleece

the citizenry, or sheeple.

That is what pro sports is.

To distract people from the real concerns such as environmental degradation; social disintegration and economic piracy!

Besides, my Habs suck!

How about Ultimate Hockey?

I'd pay to see that.

Steve.Give up the DuMauriers

"How about Those Canucks? Cough, Cough"

"Cough, cough"??

Steve, I'd give up those DuMauriers.

bad-boy sports and big money egos

I grew up playing street hockey, watching boxing and now like many things, money has spoiled sports to the core.

on the other hand...

Yes obsession with professional sports is ridiculous but so is affecting the pretense that you're so much better than everyone else because sports don't interest you. Maybe you can rally your friends around you and start a social tsunami of excitement around the plight of Mexican lettucs pickers trying to unionize. Good luck.

The simple fact is cultures around the world, rich and poor, use sport to galvanize bonds between people who don't really know each other. This is a good thing. Yobbish hooligans excepted, watch how people celebrate the upcoming World Cup.

Just sayin'...

If I can't play hockey, I don't want to be part of your revolution.

Steve

I don't understand this statement :

"Of course, the conspiracy gang then had to explain why the Canucks were in on it."

You never explained it. How is it that the Canucks were "in on it"??

The game was delayed 10 minutes because the ex-King who declared it would be great if the Kings won the Cup decided to overturn a Canuck goal in spite of the fact BOTH on-ice officials said it was a goal. There was no crisis for the ex-King to moderate, he simply decided to intervene and help the Kings. He also told us there was no debate which begs the question as to why it took 10 minutes of the cameras showing us the LA ice girls.

His decision also flies in the face of the NHL rulebook but we're told there's a special double-secret rule that no one knows about that was violated.

Its like Colin Hansen has joined the NHL front office.

As for hockey

Most of the seats are at least partially paid for by the taxpayer.

Socialism for the haves, higher taxes for the have-nots.

after the revolution

you will be REQUIRED to play hockey!

(got nothing against playing

it's lying around getting fat swilling beer , watching it that I can't stand)

Jiri Bubla???

"What in the name of Jiri Bubla is going on with our goddamn hockey team?"

Steve, Jiri Bubla?? Ha, that is MINT stuff!

Who cares?

NHL hockey is a commodity like any other. Cheering it on is like cheering on the Royal Bank when they publish their annual report.

Let Canwest fill their front pages up with this sort of middle-class opiate rubbish. How about the Tyee take it off the front page and bury it in the business "news" where it belongs?

Who clicks on an article about the canucks

then goes on a patronizing rant about world hunger and environmentalism? Would your ideal friday night be sitting around and talking about those things? Ever heard of having a little fun???!!! I guess there will always be people that make it their mission to crap on anything that's enjoyed by 'the unthinking masses'. Honestly I feel sorry for them, and i wish they would keep their ridiculous opinions to themselves.

hey Frank

his conpsiracy comment was referring to how the canucks have done plenty to contribute to their losses themselves, therefore they would have to be in on the conspiracy.

SPORT IS THE NEW EVIL FACE OF CAPITALISM! UNITE!

Do people really log-on just to say that they don't like hockey and to somehow link their anti-sport sentiment to some poorly digested Marxism Lite? Really? Wow. You're more mindless sheeple than the peeple you're criticizing.

Steve - great article. I think they can do it. But that defence is horrible. If they need 5 goals a night to win they're going to be in trouble if they hit (another) hot goalie or two. Yikes. I think they've got the best third line in the league, and if Bobby Lu can pick it up, no reason they can't win it all.

Sure makes it fun to watch, doesn't it?

As for the critics: I used to rail out against sport and business and everything in the world because it all looked like oppression and evil. Then I finished my freshman year of college.

"I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father”

Mr. Burns: Top of the morning to ye Why look who's here it's good ole' you!

Worker: Hi, Mr. Burns.

Mr. Burns: Hey there Mr d'uh Brown Shoes! How bout that local sports team eh?

breezer

Then his point is wrong because what the Canucks have done to themselves has nothing to do with what the "conspiracy theorists" have been talking about.

The Canucks got screwed on that call.

aww, c'mon! smile!:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/you-will-suffer-humiliation-when-the-sports-team-f,10804/

Sports and politics

Although I've been cheering for the Canucks since the days of Andre Boudrias, even while living in provinces where you could count the Canuck fans on the fingers of one hand, the fact is sports teams like the Canucks should be able to stand on their own two feet.

When you're number 1 in child poverty for 7 years running, allowing business to write off the cost of their seats at Canuck games is the last thing we should be doing.

The Canucks should charge what the market will bear and anyone buying a ticket should be doing so out of their own pocket.

he he he...

I knew there was a reason to come here - thanks Takuan! The Onion is priceless.

Meanwhile,funny it should be mentioned, I am off tonight to support the Mexican lettuce-pickers attempting to gain decent wages for their work here in Canada...I expect some down-to-earth conversation and social bonding really will happen. The same kind of social bonding and fellowship that happens at my niece's hockey games - but that I have failed to see any evidence of at a pro hockey game.
Yep, big difference playing the game and watching the game.

What's going on with them?

They're winning 7-2. Unfortunate timing on the article perhaps (though I don't rule them out to lose the next two.)

But really, other than the Philly series, what team has dominated? Even the lowly Montreal is giving the Caps all they can handle.

Good Article; ethical showoffs

I never realized so many people on the Tyee were just too darned morally and ethically in the right to follow professional hockey. Wait, I have not posted in a long time....

“Towelpower” a couple of comments above, said it best... it is ok to enjoy things. Some people enjoy watching hockey, AND going to see the summer performances of Bard on the Beach. Some people might even use the library before going to a Canucks game.

Like the weather, the Canucks are something that people of all ages and social class can comment on. But the weather here is too boring. It costs NOTHING to be a fan. Yes, there are the luxury boxes, advertising, tax write-offs, blah, blah, etc. Don’t fault the athletes for making this amount of money.... we pay them for that.... by CHOICE. If nobody watched, the Canucks would go the way of the Winnipeg Jets, the Quebec Nordiques, Hartford Whalers, Vancouver Grizzlies, Seattle Supersonics, XFL, etc. I am embarrassed to put such a simple argument forward.

Many Canucks fans are annoying, the sound of the bandwagon rounding the corner is predicatable, the wave during the game is stupid, and the U2 entrance music is too grandiose - but I least I can discuss that with my neighbours without creating hard feelings or awkwardness. Following the Canucks is simply entertainment. I don’t think Shane O’Brien and Alex Burrows meet with management to discuss the best way to maximise product placement. Plastic surgery has not been discussed in order to make Roberto Luongo even more appealing to the female demographic. Don’t resent the athletes, they don’t raise ticket prices or make demands of the government.

Just appreciate the cheap social bond. Remember when Jim Robson used to use “valuable” air time to thank the hospital patients and shut-ins, and the fans who cannot get out to games? He didn’t thank those in the front five rows for their generous financial support of the team.

Is there anything wrong with wanting to appreciate the best of the best doing their thing?

It is entertainment, yes that is all. It is not bread and circuses, just entertainment. There is no secret fund to ensure that the Canucks win during an election year.

Look at it this way, professional sports are probably the best way to “trick” capitalists out of their money.

In the wise words of Todd Bertuzzi – It is what it is....

It is what it is, no kidding!

Yup, it is what it is, ----------- and for some of us it is not worth the time of the day!
Sorry if it offends you that I, and others, decided to make our points of view known.
It is a tradition here on the Tyee, to spout alternate points of view, even if we know all along that writing is a waste of time since everyone already has taken a stand.

alive

It offends me all the time when many posters here, some of whom I agree with on many issues, pompously refer to people as "sheeple" and simple-mindedly repeat insipid slogans like "bread and circuses." There's no analysis there, and the overall impression I get is of dismissive antisocial arrogance.

I mean, how are you supposed to work with others to solve real life problems when you are repulsed by people coming together and cheering team effort?

And, more specific to you, alive, don't you find it ironic that you are criticizing people for criticizing people who are criticizing an article on the internet? What about me, am I extra bad now that I've continued this recursive pattern? Is this like raising a negative number to a power? Help me out, I'm going nuts trying to figure out your formula for qualifying meta-criticism!

Quest to be relevant? Or feel alive?

I wonder if some Tyee posters apply their behaviour here to real life situations. I can just imagine you people at parties judging people only by their conversation topics.

The first post at the top by Takuan is a perfect example of what I consider a mildly annoying post. Not for the content, but rather the lack of thought and care to the Tyee readership community. He/she wrote “... just circus”. I suppose it is a historical reference, and is sort of relevant. But really.... how far off is he or she from saying “this article sucks”?

I read the comments section with the hope of learning something, or getting an insider’s perspective. Not to read constant “spout.”

Get a Facebook page, a personal blog, or better yet, a twitter account if you wish to spout. Then you can measure who really wants your opinion.

Moat, Adam M

Presumably, the function of the comments section is for anyone to post their thoughts, opinions, and feelings about the article, the content of the article, the quality of the writing of the article, the author's perspective and presentation of facts, and so forth. And that includes pro, con, and all points in between.

For the most part the comments here are reflecting a growing disappoint among many Canadians in regard to the travesty that we feel the professional sport has become.

Many of us no longer see the NHL as representative of what the game of hockey should be.

Many Canadians are incresaingly offended by the salaries professional hokcey players receive.

When you have a country with tens if not hundreds of thousands of homeless people in it, then watching some guy get millions of dollars for skating around an ice rink becomes pretty damned disturbing.

In point of fact, professional sports around the world, including hockey, is becoming very much what people refer to when they say "bread and circuses", i.e., mindless entertainment to distract the masses' attention away from a general and major decline in the health of the nation.

In point of fact, it is even worse than bread and circuses because not only are we the people paying the price for this foolishness, we the poeple are also shelling out millions for the ludicrous symbolic attachments that go along with it, such as the tee-shirts, the jerseys, the mementoes, the souvenier pucks, the endless chain of cheap recycled marketing baubles that bring in the coin that lines the pockets of the already overly rich players and management.

So, if it upsets that silver-backed simian sense of belonging some dutiful fans feel and confounds their sense of comradeship because some of us do not support the vicarious ephemeral thrills of passing pucks on the silver screen, then those dutiful fans should present a meaningful defense of this travesty of fair play rather than just pass the flamboisery.

heh!

"circus...just a circus" can be interpreted as dismissing profession sports OR decrying the performance of the Canucks like a true sports fan.

Methinks a little prejudice is showing.

some said

alive said
"It is what it is, no kidding!
Yup, it is what it is, ----------- and for some of us it is not worth the time of the day!
Sorry if it offends you that I, and others, decided to make our points of view known."
Hockey is the best team sport in the world. However I rarely watch the NHL (or any pro sport) as there is too much hype and bullsh*t in their shows. I loved live sport games, esp. hockey in high school and university but I rarely watch any pro sports now as it is all hype.

should professional hockey players

stand trial like everyone else for criminal assault, even if they are doing it for our amusement?

Nice to see

Nice to read the different opinions on this subject.

I assume most of us who like watching the NHL can agree that the taxpayer should not be helping anyone to pay for their ticket?

All that aside, I'm predicting the Canucks will have a tough game tonight because LA will have last change and that's a big help in the playoffs.

What the market will bear?

Frank, you've said a couple things that tweaked my curiosity.

How, exactly, are the Canucks tickets subsidized directly by us taxpayers? I'm sure they are in all sorts of indirect ways. Please elaborate.

Second, you said prices at GM Place should be what the market will bear, suggesting they currently are not, or are fixed. Please explain. Sports fans, unlike any other sub-species, seem oblivious or uncaring of cost-benefit equations, otherwise they wouldn't still be paying obscenely high prices (and even higher prices to scalpers and ticket vendors) and filling the building night in and night out. The fact is, ticket prices and salaries are so high precisely because fans are willing to bear that cost.

The other problem in all this is any economic solution can't be done in isolation from the NHL. The entertainment of pro sports is mega-business and as such, the market will dictate what the price of admission is. If fans do stay out of the building because they refuse to bear the cost, well, the franchise simply closes shop and relocates.

Cheering for LA because I hate Canucks fans, their plastic car flags and the bandwagon they rode in on. Still a California Golden Seals fan at heart. Bring back my Golden Seals!

hockey and sports in general

sports on tv is like celebrities in detox reality shows. You either like it or not.

I gave up on sports when ticket prices went up, salaries went haywire and the players expertise went down.

Ther is more excitement at junior level hockey, street hockey and non paid sport events.

But to each their own.

I can happily imagine all you people at parties...

As Takuan said, there seems to be some prejudice showing here...or a whole lot of assumptions about individual posters. I'm with you Frank, I enjoy the variety of opinions here..
Let's look at some of these assumptions, shall we?

"affecting the pretense that you're so much better than everyone else because sports don't interest you."
"If I can't play hockey, I don't want to be part of your revolution."
"I never realized so many people on the Tyee were just too darned morally and ethically in the right to follow professional hockey."

Okay, I don't follow (pro) hockey, but I can't imagine that implies some knd of superiority. I once did play hockey, and enjoy watching my niece play, and watching how she is changing and growing with her team play is fascinating to me. So yes, I can imagine having a spirited conversation at a party with most everyone here (I could be wrong) and I would never piss in anyones' beer because it is pretty much my most favourite thing.

But the question I'd really like to adress is this one: "I mean, how are you supposed to work with others to solve real life problems when you are repulsed by people coming together and cheering team effort?" Oftentimes, working with others simply means a group of people who sit around and agree with one another...leaving the most pressing, and controversial problems unsolved. I would submit that we solve real-life problems precisely by hearing opinions and points of view that don't mesh with our own - for the life of me, I cannot imagine how else we would do so. I'm indifferent to the Canucks, but I enjoy Steve's writing...I hesitated before commenting here, but why? I can't imagine spending a Friday night watching hockey - I'd be out dancing - but it certainly won't hurt me to consider how others might spend their time. Why on earth should it bother you that someone might spend their time otherwise than you, and say so?
Of course, I've pissed off the hockey fans 'cause I am not talking about hockey...

Simian Sense? Really?

Well, John Greg.... you put some time into your post. Now, while I am finding difficult to sound like I am not to patronizing you, I do agree with some of what you are saying. Takuan will continue playing the clown. Whatever. Not the motley fool or jester though.

I cannot see this “travesty” that you speak of. I think quite the opposite is happening. Sports are becoming too professional. Shane O’Brien was recently reprimanded for missing a practice as well as clowning around after a fight. Year ago, before the game became this “travesty” that you speak of, this behaviour was common place.... bench clearing brawls, showboating, smoking during intermissions, fighting with fans. Remember fan favourite Dave “Tiger” Williams? He filled seats and sold products with a rough and tumble image. The game now is almost too professional and image conscious. The players don’t down a few beers immediately after the game, they go on the exercise bikes.... they don’t BBQ steaks before a game, they eat planned meals to maximize energy. Sounds more like a science than a travesty. Maybe if Canadians ate a little better and exercised more, we would all be a bit better off. Everyone who makes it to the NHL has sacrificed and risked a lot in order to get there. The rewards are great, but so few ever make it to a high enough level to reap them.

I agree that there is some madness in watching millionaires skate after a hockey puck while people sleep on the street right outside the building. However, it is not much different than going out for a nice dinner and ordering a 40 dollar bottle of wine, and then telling a panhandler as you walk out of the restaurant that you don’t have any spare change. We all make uncomfortable choices. Professional sports are not the reason for the “decline” of the nation and people on the streets. Dig deeper please.

You state that many Canadians are increasingly offended by the salaries that these players make. I too am jealous that I am not getting paid millions to get some exercise and play a game. I too, am not comfortable with the big tax write offs for luxury boxes. But what else do you propose? Make it illegal for Canadians to purchase season tickets or buy souvenirs? Although corporate, a Canucks jersey is still a cultural artefact that goes far beyond wearing a “brand”.

But John Greg, if it empowers you to refer to those who enjoy hockey as “simians”, go right ahead. We all have our faults and regrets. Just remember how it comes across.

Moat, part deux

Moat, you have some good points there. And yes, you are quite right, professional sports are definitely not the the reason for the decline of the nation. That is true. But professional sports, as they currently fuinction, are, in my opinion, a very good example of the ethical and moral hypocrisy of most Western nations for one reason because they manage to condtion a large percentage of the otherwise poor-as-dirt population to cheer on these plutocrats as if they were hard-done-by elder brothers finally getting their fair and just desserts after years of hard work and study.

Good question, and while I think there may be a workable answer to it, this is probably not the time and place to work toward it. The issue is not about making it illegal to buy such things -- I would never propose such draconian and useless measures. But we should find out why we cling so fiercely to such ultimately meaningless symbols and useless souveniers. I think the answer involves, amongt other things, a deeply serious rethink of how society works at all levels, including ongoing research into why we simian-brained beasties still worship with such vigour the alpha male (and female where applicable) as though we had not yet left the trees.

Well Moat, I know it comes across as somewhat nasty. But I can assure you that that is not only intentional, it is also rather appropriate in terms of behavioral studies and research. We humans are still, even after hundreds of thousands of years of evolution still very, very simian in our behaviour. And that makes me quite uncomfortable because it shows with great clarity how close we all are to instantly losing contact with our rational selves -- our cerebral cortex -- and dumbing ourselves down to full R-complex, lizard brain reactionary beasts. Not fun at all.

barney

Canucks tickets can be claimed as a business expense. I have a friend that does just that, he's had season's tickets for years. Gives the ticket's as gifts to clients and employees.

Whether its tickets, restaurant meals, hotel stays, whatever, none of that should be written off. Either its worth it to the business to provide those things or it isn't.

Allowing Canuck tickets to be claimed as a business expense means the payee is not really paying full price and gives that business an advantage in the competition for tickets against individuals.

name calling now?

I'm disppointed with you Moat, sorely disppointed. Just when I thought there was chance to elevate the discourse, you let the side down. Shame, Moat, shame.

If professional hockey utterly disappeared from the country overnight, what impact would it really have on the well-being of the people at large? I doubt we'd notice.

It's all about priorites, resources and distribution of wealth. I honestly doubt even the most rabid sports fan would have any trouble burning his big, foam cheese hat if not doing so would mean three missed meals in a row.

We can enjoy our vanities while we can afford them, but they are still and always vanities. This even applies to closeted coulrophobes

As I was saying....

....superior goaltending and coolness under fire will lead to a quick Canuck victory.

Never in doubt, really.

yeah right,

put everything on the goalie.

Wow

I was sure they'd lose tonight, another great comeback!

Sanctimonious drivel...

"If professional hockey utterly disappeared from the country overnight, what impact would it really have on the well-being of the people at large? I doubt we'd notice.

It's all about priorites, resources and distribution of wealth. I honestly doubt even the most rabid sports fan would have any trouble burning his big, foam cheese hat if not doing so would mean three missed meals in a row."

Everyone of the ten of million+ Canadians who ever played the game would miss the NHL.

I'm sure a lot of tired, hungry Canadians in their foxholes were glad the resources were allocated to continue the 1939-1945 Stanley Cup championships.

hockey

won the war! Who'd a guessed it! Shall we explore the idea tha team sports are sublimated primate warfare, and serve as part of the desensitization process and convincing large groups of previously blameless youth slaughter esch other for the profit of evil old men? Dribbling soccer balls "over the top"? The playing fields of Eton? The Brain Dead Gipper? Tou really want to go there?

http://www.countercurrents.org/willers200410.htm

Sports have always been a distraction

Since the days of the Roman stadiums, when leaders provided athletic entertainment to appease the citizens and get their minds off the daily drudgery. Not much has changed since then. The Greeks built sports facilities and athletics were seen as part of a larger holistic spiritual experience. The Romans changed that and it has remained that way to this day.

There really is nothing wrong with sports. I have seen kids on reserves playing road hockey at 3AM, seen Dominican kids playing baseball on fields filled with garbage, and I have seen kids playing soccer in mud.

Where sports goes wrong is when we make it bigger than it needs to be. As someone who has coached kids (not sports) for well over 15 years now, my only comment on sports is that at their worst (pushy parents, abusive coaches) and their best, it all boils down to a basic game. Somehow we've forgotten that.

Let's get sports back to its basics.

sigh

ah, the dangers of stale columns....and can we declare a moratorium on "change of underwear" references.....zzzzzzz

bring on the Blackhawks!

Canada in general

As our good friend Rick Mercer found out when he went out of country to interview other citizens of the world.

Citizens of the world said, canadians can't stop apologing for apologizing.

However your governments are the opposite eh.

We need to stop apologizing and get on with life and save our country from being bankrupt by people who are supposed to help us.

Bring on the red shirts.

humbug

all this stupid hype about a bunch of hockey players whose salaries are up there with big CEOs of corporations who plunder and pillage.
These guys get prime time on our TVs, even BC ferries puts on special sailigs for their events and fans get drunk, crazy and show no or minimal concern for our environment.
And.... how many women are on these hockey teams?
Brought to us by all the old boys clubs.