Don't Give Up On Us, Baby
You already know this about me, Gentle Reader, but I'm a sucker for lost causes. Well; more accurately, not-quite-hopelessly-lost causes. If there's any shred of hope remaining, I will cling to it.
I've never forgotten the last words of the Stephen King story, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (which are also the last words of the movie, The Shawshank Redemption): I hope.
I also remember when the movie Titanic first came out, and the critics said, what's the point, we all know how it ends? The point of the story, the wise critics said, is to illustrate the different ways people react in a crisis. There are those who lay down and die quietly, and those who claw desperately at the uprighted sides of the ship to survive, against all hope. And sometimes they do.
Your humble narrator is one of the latter.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have 84 points, with four games left to play. Tampa Bay, those bastards from Florida, where they call it ice hockey for fuck's sake, are in 8th place in the division, the last playoff spot, with 89 points. Which means if the Leafs win just three of their next four games, and Tampa loses all of their last three games, and Atlanta, which is currently in 9th place with 85 points, loses all of their last three games...
Hey, it could happen.
So I'm going to the last home game next Tuesday, against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Because it'll either be the most exciting and important game of the entire hockey season, or it'll be lamer than a cheesy pop song recorded by the star of a 1970s TV series.
That's what I call extreme sports.
And now, back to my thesis...
The funny thing about hope is that, sometimes, just when you give it up is exactly when it comes back to you. Or maybe I'm confusing Hope with Jack. It doesn't always work, though: the Leafs lost.
I've never forgotten the last words of the Stephen King story, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (which are also the last words of the movie, The Shawshank Redemption): I hope.
I also remember when the movie Titanic first came out, and the critics said, what's the point, we all know how it ends? The point of the story, the wise critics said, is to illustrate the different ways people react in a crisis. There are those who lay down and die quietly, and those who claw desperately at the uprighted sides of the ship to survive, against all hope. And sometimes they do.
Your humble narrator is one of the latter.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have 84 points, with four games left to play. Tampa Bay, those bastards from Florida, where they call it ice hockey for fuck's sake, are in 8th place in the division, the last playoff spot, with 89 points. Which means if the Leafs win just three of their next four games, and Tampa loses all of their last three games, and Atlanta, which is currently in 9th place with 85 points, loses all of their last three games...
Hey, it could happen.
So I'm going to the last home game next Tuesday, against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Because it'll either be the most exciting and important game of the entire hockey season, or it'll be lamer than a cheesy pop song recorded by the star of a 1970s TV series.
That's what I call extreme sports.
And now, back to my thesis...
The funny thing about hope is that, sometimes, just when you give it up is exactly when it comes back to you. Or maybe I'm confusing Hope with Jack. It doesn't always work, though: the Leafs lost.
Labels: hockey
3 Comments:
On behalf of those from the State of Florida, who modify the word "hockey" with the the word "ice," I feel I'm obligated to defend my old local team.
Go Lightning!
I am also one of those misguided few that clings tenaciously to the buttocks of hope and fortune.
GO BUDS!
In defense of those who say 'ice hockey,' I was speaking to a gentleman from Switzerland today who also called it 'Ice Hockey'. However, English is not his first language, so he has an excuse...
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