Pavel Bure: The Russian Rocket
By Jesse Monteaduo I ce hockey is our most macho sport. Brian Pronger, in The Arena of Masculinity: Sports, Homosexuality, and the Meaning of Sex , lists hockey, along with boxing and American football, as one of the "most masculine" and "violent" sports. "Hockey, as Gordie Howe said, is 'a man's game.' Violence and fighting constitute major attractions to the game, for it is in violence that masculinity shines. 'In a game in which every man's mettle is constantly being probed, the ability to fight is as basic as the ability to skate. That's why so many hockey players train with punching bags.'" The recently-retired Wayne Gretzky is an exception to the rule; according to Pronger, Gretzky "has proved that fighting need not characterize excellent hockey playing; when there is a fight he skates away." Most of his colleagues are not so reticent. Indeed, hardly a game goes by where a player is not injured; not from accidents but from fights among the players. Pronger agrees: "[A]thletic competence is actually a secondary feature of hockey, especially in the NHL [National Hockey League] - the real appeal lies in its significance as a 'man's game.' The masculine aesthetic of hockey becomes almost sacramental through its violence and bloodshed. | |
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