How Watching a Game has evolved

As I was watching two hockey games and a baseball game the other night, holding the tv remote in one hand and a cold Heineken in the other, I paused for a second, took a mental time out, and started to reflect on the so called “Good Ole Days”

Hockey on a Saturday night was a weekly ritual. Throughout the week at school, there was the buildup that led up to game of the week. Conversation amongst friends would be who was the best player, and defending our Habs against the odd Black Hawk or Bruin fan. We didn’t need a program, because we knew every player in the NHL off by hard. We didn’t have to Google stats, all we had to do is take a quick look behind an O Pee Chee hockey card to prove a point.

Today, we start off with the pre-game analysis, then there are the in game interviews, the colour commentator between the benches, HD TV cameras located everywhere including in the net, super slow replays and the L’Antichambre after party.  I got one game a week back then and not even in its entirety. HNIC broadcast started at 8:30, after the first period because teams relied on the gate as their main source of revenue.  Many years later, when I attended my first game at the Forum, I remember how I just stood there in awe…it was the first time I had ever seen a game in colour. I remember listening to radio broadcasts and hearing the legendary Dick Irving start off his broadcast by saying..The Canadiens are skating from left to right on your radio dial. Talk about using your imagination. They leave nothing up to your imagination anymore.

I may be watching the games in colour on a plasma TV these days, but a lot of the colour in the game has disappeared. Colourful iconic figures of that era have been replaced mostly by corporate like, dull hockey players with their agents, who have been schooled not to say anything politically incorrect and feed us the same smorgasbord all the time.  The boys back then played hard for the jersey and partied just as hard afterwards without any repercussions of being on the front page of Le Journal de Montreal or on YouTube. Even the officiating appears to be headed in the direction of factory cloning. I knew exactly who was refereeing the game, whether it was Frasier, Stuart, Van Hellemond, or Friday. Now, I’m clueless to whom the man in stripes is.

I guess I’m getting all these flashbacks of the Good Ole Days as I approach my 55^th birthday. Ok…my mental time out is over. Mannnnnny!!! (my son)… How about you get me another cold one?? Back to watching the game.  At least the part of Son and Dad watching a hockey game together remains a constant.

PS:

I miss… The Good Ole days!!!

Those were the days my friends......I thought they'd never end

Hearing the grave news the other day on Gary Carter’s condition got me thinking. First and foremost, I took a minute to pray for him. Then, I started reminiscing of the good ole days. If there was a period of time you could choose to be growing up in Montreal, the late 70’s was the time. The Habs were winning championships, so were The Als and of course, John Travolta Saturday Night Fever was ragging in the Montreal club scene. Most importantly for a huge baseball fan, it was the rise of The Expos as a force to be reckoned with in the National League. No longer would we be perennial cellar dwellers of the East Division

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If you could name an iconic athlete of that era, of course Guy Lafleur would be on the top of most lists. Gary Carter would be the name that would be a close second. The Kid, as he was dubbed by the late Ted Tevan, had the charisma and the talent to match The Flower on the diamond.  Gary Carter’s Expos were drawing 2,000,000 fans plus at Olympic Stadium. Charles Bronfman owned the Expos on paper, but make no mistake… it was Gary’s team.  Whether it was by throwing out a runner at second base, getting a clutch hit to win a game, running to first base on a walk, Gary did whatever it took to win a game. The day he got traded to the Mets was a sad day, for Gary Carter was a true Hall of Famer and most importantly a Montreal Superstar.

One of my prized souvenirs of "The Kid"

It’s now the bottom of the ninth, the home team is trailing by a run and Gary Carter is up at bat….only this time Gary is in there battling for his life. I absolutely believe in the power of prayer, so why don’t you join me as I pray for Gary