Warning: very long post.
So I just got a DM from an #NYR fan lambasting me for having "so many" #CauseChaos followers and "fraternizing with the enemy".
I get it. I really do.
Here's the thing: in my experience and opinion, you will enjoy the @NHL in general and the #StanleyCupPlayoffs in particular FAR MORE if you're a hockey fan/lover of the game first and foremost and only then a fan of a particular team. Don't get me wrong, I fucking ADORE my Rangers, and I have for almost 40 years. I curse like a sailor and throw things when they lose and I hoot and holler and jump around like a little kid when they win. If you're like me and can't help but tune in regardless of which teams are playing (and regardless of whether or not your team is still alive), you understand exactly what I mean. It's an addiction. An obsession. But a good one.
I also know this: I will never lift the Stanley Cup over my head. Even if the Rangers win the Cup and I am offered the opportunity to do so at the parade or some random event later that summer, I would decline it. I firmly believe that only those who have earned the right should touch it (tho I don't blame anyone who feels otherwise). My reverence for that glorious chalice which represents the pinnacle of the sport I love is greater than my selfish desire to touch it, I guess. I get misty-eyed every June when I watch the members of ANY team lift the Cup.
To wit: I cried when John MacLean, an early childhood favorite of mine (I just love the way he played), hoisted Stanley in '95. I wept some more when Steve Yzerman finally won in '97 and again the following year when Vladdy showed up at Game 4 in DC. I once again went multas lacrimosas when Brett Hull (somewhat illegally) won his first in '99. Ray Borque? I cried. Martin St. Louis (who befriended me when we worked a summer camp together in '96) in '04? Yup. I was blown away when RBA finally won in '06 (I was at Games 1 and 5 of that series btw). Fuck man, I was even moved watching Cindy Crosby win in '09. And on and on and on. You know why?
BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING IN THE WORLD LIKE THE STANLEY CUP.
I played in college. I played semi-pro (with a bunch of other Wall Street guys who - in many cases - were good enough to play in ECHL or AHL but were making too much money to risk it). I worked my butt off to become a pretty darn good hockey player and never got within shouting distance of the NHL. So I have mad respect for what it takes to be one of the guys who not only makes it but actually gets his name engraved on the holy grail of sports.
I think it's harder for fans who didn't play the game. Their attachment to the team they root for is purely emotional, whereas for those who played and coached the game there's an additional, almost spiritual dimension to it. I'm no Mark Messier, but you could see on his face in the postgame that even though he was disappointed in the Rangers' performance he was totally inspired by the Canes' guts. That's pretty much how I feel. I can't imagine not feeling that way. I think I'd go fucking berserk if I could only find respite in Rangers wins.
Sorry for the novel. Go Rangers. Go hockey.
English
