CALL ME SNAKE

I’m often asked: Why do you spend (waste?) so much time on the Patriots, Celtics, and Sox, with barely a mention of the Bruins or hockey in general? I don’t have a good answer, though I should, given how often the question is posed. I used to play hockey as a kid and showed great aptitude for the game; I wish I had time for an avocation of that sort, but that’s unlikely given my current circumstances–permanently chained, as it were, to my desktop. What happened to the hockey season this year was certainly “lamentable” (a word that’s not used very often but recently came up in a discussion of one of my articles by an editor). Even the “Great One” (Wayne Gretzky) couldn’t get it done, nor could Mario Lemieux, another great one though not the official “Great One,” but still very, very good at the very least. Gretzky survived countless cross checks, body blows, high sticks, and the occasional noogie, but could not survive a process euphemistically referred to as “collective bargaining.” Limeux, similarly, survived cancer, and untold invasive procedures, but could not get players and management to put their petty differences aside long enough to sign the papers in front of them. I’m reminded of the words of a great philosopher, Rodney King: “Can’t we all get along?”