it's in you

If you've read any of my other ramblings you'll know that I didn't have a father filled childhood. I didn't go fishing, or camping. I definitely didn't play hockey in the driveway. My Mom was an artist and there was creativity, and it was encouraged, but few sports. I have a feeling that my Mom didn't want to get up that early. I don't blame her. We also didn't have a lot of money when I was young. Hockey can be expensive! As I got older I suppose that I could have taken it up, but by then I was probably embarrassed that I was a Canadian kid that couldn't skate. I started playing basketball as a teen and was quite good. I don't think the west coast was as hockey crazy as Ontario. Well at least until all the Ontarians moved out there. To this day I can't skate (well) and have told myself that it would be my new challenge. I've tried to challenge myself on a yearly basis to do things that I don't, but believe I can. It started with the guitar at thirty. By forty I hope to make the NHL! It's part of a program that I've just now created that allows me to become a great father. I want to teach my little girl to skate, not sit in the seats and watch. Unfourtunately she has already been skating more times then me. Which is a great sign that I am indeed a great father. ( thanks for teaching her grandma!!)

I've always wondered what would have happened if I went down the path of an athelete instead of....whatever I am now. In high school I would play basketball with the mens team, but never tried out. I had asked the coach if I could and he gave me a piece of advice. He said, it's up to you, but it would conflict with a lot of you drama schedule. If I was you I would just keep on the path that you were going. Awesome! Of course I don't know if he was saying I was a brilliant actor, and creative genius, or that I sucked at basketball. I can only assume the former. I was surrounded by some great atheletes mind you. My friend BZ was an amazing everything. The fucker even beat me at a three point contest with a broken arm. Bastard!! We could marvel at his skill on the ice, lacrosse, playing pool. If there was a game he could master it. That has to be inside you. That has to be natural. It's like my mothers ability to paint, and mine to talk. Some people just have it inside them to see the game. Whatever that game may be.

I worked at the Keg in Delta B.C. for a couple of years, a couple of years ago. My friend, roommate and collegue, was a mathmatical genuis. I called him the rain man. A lot of people did. What he could do was watch three football games at the same time and know what they were going to do. He knew spreads, injuries, he knew the rookies, and where they went to college. It was out of control. He would predict a play, and I would ask how he knew that they were going to do that. He say, well, Tampa can only score about two and half touchdowns on saturday night games that are on the road. Considering that the left tackle from Denver is sitting out that play you know that they woud drive right, blah, blah, blah. It was incredible. And he was right almost all the time. He could calculate what cards you had in your hand when we played. He knew the odds at the roulette table numbers. It was sick. The last time I saw him was on VH1, when I was in Boston. They were interviewing him as one of the odd makers for BODOG. I wasn't shocked. Even I could figure out the chances of that! What's really sick is he probably figured out the chances that it would take me this long to figure out.... I forgot what I was talking about.

It amazing to see people do what they do because it who they are. I also don't think that it's that easy to find that out. It took me years of keeping a box of poems, and filing cabinet full of stories to realize that I might like to be a writer. I didn't go to acting class, I didn't try voice work. I wrote. I read books about screenplays. Or articles about making independent films. I drove everybody crazy with my non-stop talking, maybe its what I'm good at? I hope so. I told T that it would eventually make us some money, and she believed me. Oops. Perhaps skating isn't in me. Maybe I'll forever be a hockey fan, but never a player. Regardless I'm going to try. It would make two people very happy.

#1- Len Chapman
A couple of years ago a wonderful friend of mine decided to take up playing rec league hockey. He played when he was younger, and he loved the game. I know this because we would play hockey on Playstation and he was hillarious. This was a game that he loved as a child. This remarkably talented athlelete could do it all. I can't imagine what people thought when they saw this smooth skating black man leveling his opponents with monsterous hits. Even now the amount of black men in the NHL is low, I can't imagine how many were playing back in the day. His first game back was his last. He jumped on the ice and halfway through that first shift he suffered a heart attack. A condition that he had, that was undetected reared it's ugly head. His best friend sat with him on the ice as he passed. The shock ripped through a large group family and friends that night. How could this happen? We all miss him so much and feel that so much of his life was unfinished. I think we are all thankful for a lot of things. His affect on everyone he touched, his roarous laugh, and that a friend was there with him when it happened.

#-Evil
My hetero life-mate is sarcastic prick we refer to as Evil. This is a man that shares my unique view that almost everyone I don't know, I don't like. We have spent years mocking almost everything we see. It's what binds us. A blatant disregard for peoples feelings, race, religion, whatever. Think Sarah Silverman, but with facial hair, and going bald. (you know it's true!)
This man literaly has hockey running through his veins. His father's international influence on the sport is amazing. He was considered the godfather of the sport for women. In fact I think that he holds some records for coaching. He has won a gold medal, he has been honoured from Hockey Canada, and UofT. His fingerprint is everywhere, including the hall of fame. I can't imagine what it was like for one man to inspire hundreds of women atheletes. Unfourtunatly he passed away. It has put a lot of strain on my friend. It has plagued him for too long. I hope that him teaching me to skate will exercise his demons. He has it in him too. The ability to see the game, to teach, to coach. But it's buried under his loss. Sunday was Dave McMaster night at the UofT Lady Blues game. I hope that you can all join me in thanking Len and Dave for what they brought to the lives of the people around them. Their individual lives, love of sport has little to do with what they meant as people, it did, however, have an impact. Whether it was on the women hockey players around the world, or some wise cracking wanna be writer, they have taught us that life is worth doing what you love. No matter what.