What is it about hockey???

This guy is my dad. His name is Jack. He died when I was 23 of lung cancer. He is the man responsible for introducing me to hockey. To be precise he introduced me to a rivalry between the Leafs and the Canadiens. From a very young age I can remember sitting around our small television that was in a huge cabinet style box. It had dials - no remotes (oh now here I going being all old again) and if anyone dared touch that dial during a hockey game they'd get their hand slapped away so fast it'd make their head spin. True hockey was when (back in the day) there were the original 6 teams that expanded to 12 teams in 1967 - I mean these guys didn't even wear helmets let alone visors etc. I really loved those games growing up. Then as I got a little older I was recruited to play net for my brother's street team. I KNOW he asked me to tend goal just so he could pummel me with pucks, balls, rocks whatever. But after some time of it I actually got to be pretty good. Later in school (house league) I played goal again and did some forwarding. It was great exercise, a great lesson in teamwork and good sportsmanship. I miss playing actually. So now that I'm old and fat and not nearly capable of fighting off speeding pucks to my head I watch my beloved Leafs every chance I get. I'm not going to see all the game tonight and I'm bummed but such is life. My husband is a pretty good player. He and our friend get together on Friday nights to "pass the puck" and I have to admit I'm kinda jealous. But I know if I did get the chance to play I'd just make a fool out of myself. So being a hockey fan who is also a mother I have of course passed on the hockey family tradition to my children as you can see. My husband would like to have both kids play. First they need to learn how to skate. Noah already knows quite well how to body check, trip, high stick and delay game!!!!! Oh well, off to bed now to dream of hockey. I don't know what it is that gets me going - maybe it's all the hot sweaty men (with no teeth) or maybe it's just a long standing love of the competition. And the fights are always cool too. M. :-)