Shallow Frozen Water

how to be a real sports Dad

the story is told of an Oregon dad who saw a picture of his son flipping the bird to a UCLA player during a PAC-10 basketball game.  when the kid went home for the weekend, dad took away his car and then wrote a letter to Sports Illustrated to tell the world about the incident.  SI had done an article on poor behaviour by fans so they printed every word of dad’s letter.

let us now look at the case of Patrick Roy.  i used to have mad respect for Roy and he used to be my wife’s fave player as she chanted his name like she was Bruce Lee about to kick your ass, but i’ve got to admit that i’m still seething about this brawl incident in the Q.  yes, boys fight and yes fighting is a part of hockey but people miss the point when they say it’s absurd to remove fighting from Jr hockey.  they say that the discussion isn’t pertinent since fighting is a part of the fabric of the game but i make one correction; fighting is part of the fabric of the NHL game.  but we’re not discussing the NHL game; we’re talking about the JUNIOR game, we’re talking about minors, we’re talking about our kids.  for Patrick to send Jonathan down the ice to pummel some poor kid who doesn’t want to go, makes my skin crawl.  first of all, that’s a kid that you’re encouraging to do this and secondly, that’s your son.  do you really want thuggery to be part of his hockey experience?  with one whistle and a sweep of the hand Roy turned his own son into a thug.   don’t argue with me about how these guys are 18 and 19 years old, i realize that.  that doesn’t take away from the fact that they’re still kids, juniors.  Jonathan Roy turned 18 a mere two weeks ago.  it still seems obvious that he has some growing up to do.

i can’t tell you how angry i am about this.  there’s a huge difference between allowing fighting in the NHL game and encouraging our children toward crap like this.  if an NHL goon wants to make this decision for his life then that’s his business; he’s a MAN.  he has the self-awareness to get to that place and make that decision for himself.  however, most Jr hockey players AREN’T men, they’re boys.  there are 19 yr olds mixed into the league but the best 19 yr olds with talent are usually  with pro clubs in the AHL or with the big club that drafted them.

let the talk about eliminating fighting from Jr hockey go on.  it is not a waste of time and it won’t affect the NHL game one iota, except to protect our kids.  i’m not a dad, but i very much have wanted to be and even still, how can anyone haphazardly wave his own son into the fray like that.  it makes me angry, it truly does. 

there’s talk about how the Habs wanted to retire Patrick’s number next year but now there’s talk of not doing it because of this incident.  i couldn’t care less about that debate.  i wonder how Nadeau’s dad feels about Patrick Roy.  the elder Nadeau is much more a true sports dad if you ask me, he must’ve taught his son something that lasts.  if Nadeau never plays at a higher level it’ll make no difference, he’s a sportsman.