Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Why Women's Hockey is Good for Your Teeth


I'm dealing with a toothache at the moment. I have one wisdom tooth left, and it's going to have to come out. I heard Winston Churchill quoted today as saying if you're going through hell, keep going. Now, honestly, my boy Tasso (pictured here) was not trying to be mean, he was only yawning. Looks like his teeth are in much better shape than mine, and he's geriatric.


How many of you are following women's ice hockey at Torino? My big event of the day was sending an e-mail to Angela Ruggiero, "the best female hockey player ever" to many. I played hockey in high school and college; I was not exactly a stand-out, though I scored a winning goal against our big rival in high school. The next year, when we played the rival gain, the coach--a new coach--wouldn't put me in to play AT ALL and I sat there on the bench and cried and cried and cried.
I had too much of a lust for glory and not enough ability to put the interests of the whole team ahead of my own interests. Tennis was really a better sport for me, but hockey was always more exciting, even when things weren't going my way. Now, many of you may feel cynical about the Olympics, but let me tell you, women's ice hockey is where it's at, is a big deal. If you don't turn on anything else, turn on the next two games Team USA is going to play, the semi-finals against Sweden on Friday and the final on Monday night. In women's hockey, you will see much more finesse and pure athleticism than in men's hockey. Body checking is not allowed, and there are very few fights. Yeah, rules are made to be broken and you will see some penalty box action, power plays. But I've known plenty of people who think they don't like hockey at all, but they've only seen men's hockey, and then when they see women's hockey, they're into it. So, this is the voice of your conscience:
Watch Team USA win the gold. Yeah, I know, we hear a little too much of this Team USA stuff--it's hard to like hearing it in the middle of the Iraq mess, etc.
But if you can put all your negative s--- on the back burner, and recover some of that innocent patriotic fervor (I don't know for sure if you had it as a kid, but I sure did--when I was in junior high I had a stars and stripes t-shirt and I loved going to hear fife and drum musters. The year was 1976, and to me the Bicentennial was the hottest game in town). You don't have to cheer on every skier, every snowboarder, even every figure skater, but treat yourself to the best new Olympic sport (it's only been around since 1998, I think).
OK, I'm not a pro at selling stuff. Thanks for putting up with me.

---Harriet

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I haven't watched a minute of the Olympics, but I remember that in high school during the summer games, my brother and I watched nonstop. We had a dose of that rah rah patriotism I find rather disgusting these days.

I love hockey, though. I'm someone who loves sports best live. Orlando used to have a minor pro hockey team, and we went to almost every game. Talk about ugly! No finesse, little enough talent, but a lot of heart and some very ugly fights.

Okay, HL, you've sold me. :)

4:43 AM  
Blogger Stacia said...

Is Tasso the freakin cutest? And who belongs to the other kitty? We must overcome our geographic barriers and arrange an introduction, Greta needs a friend.

Dude, I am so into the snowboarding! I'll have to check out hockey.

7:40 AM  

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