blog 5

Bonds created in activities people partake in.

Ken Dryden wrote this book to give the readers an image of what playing hockey is like and he wrote a lot about the locker-room relations. Everything from post-game reactions to locker-room antics, he covered it all in detail. When people join clubs in sports they usually meet new people and becomes friends with them. In hockey, children and adults are put into teams with people they have never met, once the season is over they have a strong bond formed from all they have done together. When competing and spending so much time with each other, they go from strangers in the start to good friends in the end. Working hard together in team sports helps strengthen trust with each other and eventually they get closer the more they experience together. When people are on teams for long periods of time their bond is so strong that pranks don’t make them as mad as they would be if someone that they weren’t as close with did it. These bonds are so strong that they can last a lifetime, and they will not deteriorate since the bond was created from their equal love towards an activity. These bonds can start when they are mere children having fun, then to the point when they are passion drives them to be the best. If people were to stop taking part in extra-curricular activities they will not be able to meet new people or experience new things. Also, they will not learn any lessons that can be taught from activities such as sports, in which they learn hard-work, dedication, teamwork, and communication. These skills are highly sought after by universities and employers, to ensure that they hire or accept the most qualified and hard-working individual they can. Thus it is important for children to be in some sort of after school activity.

Blog 4

The misconception people have with respect.

In the book Ken is respected and admired by many people and colleagues during his time in the NHL. Fans are generally the people that admire him for his play as a goalie, while other people and some fans respected him for what he did as a person and how he acted. Many people where he played respected him even when there was tension between French and English speakers in Quebec. Though he couldn’t speak much French, he made many attempts at doing so and was learning how to speak fluently, which many French people in the area liked about him. From the people he knew, he had mutual respect from his coaching staff as he spoke about the respect he had for his coach, and after the final game he played his coach didn’t say but showed that he respected Ken. Now what some don’t understand about respect is that it is earned, and many people can confuse respect with fear. This happens with individuals that control others with fear or rule with an iron fist, these people can be political leaders or owners of businesses. While in other cases they misinterpret kindness for respect, this happens when arrogant people speak with kind people in a rude manner. They take the kindness the person shows as a sign of the person respecting them when in reality they are a decent person that talks to everyone as equals. The largest problem is people not understanding that they must earn someone’s respect through what they say or do. If people could understand the difference, then they could possibly be humbled and act like regular people opposed to being so infatuated with themselves. With this realization society could improve greatly as more people would be polite while others would still be rude. 

blog 3

 The movie Captain America: Civil War has many similarities to "The Game" but in a different context. The main problem in the movie is that the relationship between Captain America and Iron Man has changed, just as the connection Ken had with hockey. Slowly their relationship deteriorated as they underwent change with time passing, though they didn’t want to admit it at first. Eventually they realized that their friendship was never going to be the same but they still felt for each other, Ken went through the same motions in the beginning of the book as he realized his time playing was over. In the movie, Captain America is in the same position as Ken Dryden while Iron Man is hockey. The journey both men go through is rough, since the days are only getting worse as the time passes. Ken’s disastrous season is equivalent to Cap’s (Captain America) friendship with Iron Man as many problematic events cause them to have conflicting ideals. Friends tend to get in fights occasionally, but sometimes the fights are so serious that they can never go back to the time before they fought. The two went through this predicament and after their conflict ended and they went their separate ways, they still considered each other friends but were not as close as they once were. Relations between friends and people with sports can be very similar as they both build a strong connection. Unfortunately, many of these instances do not last forever as people change, then they move on with their live and go down different paths. Some cases are different and they eventually begin to rekindle their relation, but they know that they will never be as close so they enjoy each others presence in their lives rather than being bitter towards to one another.

blog 2

The game of hockey changed drastically in Ken's final season opposed to his first, the style in which everyone played and how they were used had a very big impact. The same ideology that came from that period is used to change the game to this day, as coaches and players get smarter and play more efficiently. Some of these changes are problematic in the eyes of the head of the NHL make rules to make the game more entertaining. Some of these rules have been ineffective and have drawn the ire of many fans with controversial calls being made. The biggest mistake the NHL made was the goal review which was supposed to increase scoring, but ended up doing the complete opposite as more goals were deemed against the rules thus causing the call on the play being changed to no goal. Some of the goals that have been called back caused great displeasure from fans as they were good goals and since they didn't count the momentum shifted the other way or in some way changed the outcome of the game. The evolution of hockey has been reliant on efficiency as it is slowly becoming focused on a science for playing the game more productively taking creativity and flare that was once in the game out. Which ultimately leads to the game becoming stale and boring, thus making it harder for the game to grow. Also, this leads to many people to stop watching the sport as I have not watched the games as much as I once did just like many other people that I know regardless of which team they supported. Just these past playoffs the Ottawa Senators made it to the eastern conference finals, but some of their fans didn’t attended their fans games. The style of their play was very effective for winning games, except it wasn’t very effective in attracting crowds.

blog 1

"I have become detached and incessantly analytical"(pg.18)

Ken Dryden was not feeling the same passion that he once had when he played hockey and he was slowly drifting away from it. His disastrous season was a big factor in his decision to change as he eventually came to decision that there are other things in life that he would rather do. Similar to Ken I have also felt what he went through last year during ball hockey, since I started the season off by getting injured and didn't play as well as I could have for the rest of the season. Throughout the rest of the book ken knew his time playing hockey was coming to a close so he focused on enjoying the rest of the season. In many instances he reflected on time he spent with teammates and all their shenanigans, also reflecting on the path he walked on his way to the NHL.  Ken goes through what many players in the NHL and some other players in professional sports experience when they are not feeling the same passion and drive which they once felt. Many athletes retire playing sports professionally before their body is unable keep up with the game completely, just like many people who play recreational sports just because they no longer enjoy the game like they used to. This decision is not easy for athletes to make, though they do not enjoy it as much as they previously had. They still love the game, but they have other things in their life that they would rather take part in. Ken also felt that he would rather spend more time with his family and become a lawyer because it was something he had a greater passion towards, thus his decision to retire was absolute and once he was done he never returned as some players have.

vocab

1. "To the cadence of his relentless chatter, we sprint between the bluelines, coasting through the corners, then sprint again, continuing this way for several minutes."(pg.12)
cadence -a modulation or inflection of the voice
There was a slight cadence in his speech at the ceremony.

2. "When restaurants, sidewalks, and theaters are taken away, when planes and buses, even our charters, are cluttered with press and ubiquitous "friends of the team," when autograph seekers, phone calls from a friend of a friend of a friend, petty crooks armed with out-of-town schedules intrude on our homes, the dressing room remains something that is ours,"(pg.14)
ubiquitous- present, appearing, or found everywhere.
The displeasure of the home crowd was ubiquitous after the opposing team scores a goal.

3." I have become detached and incessantly analytical." (pg. 18)
incessantly- without interruption; constantly.
The man participating in the marathon ran incessantly.

4. "It is a power almost anachronistic in a time when a building's high operating costs demand a close to nightly use as possible"(pg.37)
Anachronistic- belonging to a period other than that being portrayed
The anachronistic nature of the business ensured its failure as it was not as efficient as modern businesses.

5. "He doesn't search eyes, spew out ingratiating blarney, or disarm with enervating praise|."(pg.44)
Blarney- talk that aims to charm, pleasantly flatter, or persuade
The woman was not wooed by the persistent man's blarney.

6."He sees an inextricable link between the months and games of a season-"You can't turn it off and on," he says, as other coaches say."(pg.45)
Inextricable- impossible to disentangle or separate.
The two Lego blocks seemed inextricable as the man was trying to pry them apart.

7. "So Bowman, a pragmatist with the tools any pragmatist would envy, coaches with what he calls a "plan"."(pg.46)
Pragmatist- a person who is guided more by practical considerations than by ideals.
The scientist's speech made it evident that he was a pragmatist.

8."I could sense the curious excitement of the crowd, I could feel its huge vicarious pleasure, but my own excitement was vague, it had no edge to it, as if somehow it wasn't new; as if in fact we had done it before."(pg.68)
Vicarious- experienced in the imagination through the feelings or actions of another person.
The reader felt a vicarious adrenaline rush as the protagonist in the book was pushed off a cliff.

9. " I now have a past that will get longer and more pervasive."(pg.70)
Pervasive- spreading widely throughout an area or a group of people.
The government's pervasive ideals are spread to the public through their controlled media.

10."It is why great players rarely work well together (there can only be one ball or one puck at a time), and are more effective with players of complementary and subservient skills- and so Cashman becomes Esposito's corner man, Jim Braxton O.J Simpson's blocker."(pg.120)
Subservient- less important; subordinate.
The assistant managers subservient attributes led him to never meet the standards of a manager.

11. "Out of an elevator, looking swollen and rumpled, Chartrow, the last to know, asks who won the Islanders game."(pg.125)
Rumpled- give a creased, ruffled, or disheveled appearance to
Bob knew he wasn't going to get the job when he unknowingly arrived to his interview with a rumpled shirt.

12."Old and dirty, not unlike sports neighbor Fenway park, but its quirk unsoftened, uneulogized by the romance of baseball, and what makes Fenway a cherished anomaly makes the garden an embarrassment."(pg.143)
Uneulogized- (not comparable) That has not been eulogized.
Some people feel they want to be uneulogized because they don't feel the need to tell someone how great they were or else they shouldn't attend their wedding.

13."Hey, Lambert, he taunts liltingly,"you should be mad, Lambert, begins to laugh."(pg.198)
Liltingly- rhythmic swing or cadence
The commercial's jingle concluded liltingly.

14."Player's skills and sizes would change, styles of play, the league's enforcing of its rules; never to become some European facsimile, but something new, ours."(pg.265)
Facsimile- an exact copy, especially of written or printed material.
The mischievous student's work was a complete facsimile of an article on Wikipedia. 

15. "Known locally as jovial and outrageous, nationally above all as outrageous, as owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs he is ipso facto a celebrity, and there is nothing he can say or, to change that."(pg.74)
Jovial- cheerful and friendly.
The mother thought the children would enjoy the presence of the jovial clown, but she was so very wrong.

chapter 9

At the end of the year Ken plays his final games of his regular season career and despite them having such a disastrous season they go all the way to the finals and with quite the scare after a disastrous game, they still managed to win the Stanley cup. At the year's ends the coaching staff gave a look of gratitude and affection to show that they respected him for what he did for the team, which then went their separate ways.

chapter 8

While enjoying beers with teammates and thinking about how much harder it has become to win the Stanley  cup opposed to the earlier days. He then speaks of the changes the team will be facing after the season is over since the core players have become old and ineffective.

chapter 7

Chapter 7 is about the NHL's expansion compared to other sports leagues and how the NHL's first expansions were not very successful at first. Then he speaks about the development of the game and how it became what it is today.

chapter 6

Now he focuses on locker room relations and locker room antics which his teammates took part in. Then he spoke about how a stoppage in play can create more intensity or do the complete opposite when neither team has momentum.

chapter 5

Ken now discusses the coaches ability to use players as effectively and efficiently as possible and helping them play to the best of their ability. Then he goes on about how hockey players were expected to deal with injuries and the way they were approached by the media and team management.

chapter 4

This chapter starts off with Ken and his teammates talking about their win in Toronto while they are travelling to their next game. He then speaks about how the game is changing and the development of one of his younger teammates.

chapter 3

While on the road for his game in Toronto Ken thinks back to his childhood when he lived in Ontario, his hockey beginning, and the development of his passion for the game. Then comes game day, on his way to the arena he reflects on the changes in the city which he grew up in.

chapter 2

He speaks about hockey's effect on his family life and tension building between French and English speakers in Quebec. Also the bond between teammates during the tense times in Quebec as there were french speakers on the team.

chapter 1

Ken Dryden was lamenting over his teams disastrous season after coming off years of success in dominating fashion. After great thought he decided it was time for him to hang up his skates and call it a career at the season's end.

introduction

Author- Ken Dryden
Publisher- John Wiley & Sons
copyright 1983, 1993, 1999, 2003, 2005
pages- 308
synopsis- The day-day life, experiences as times changed, and emotions Ken Dryden went through during his lifetime and while playing in the NHL in depth.
theme- Ken Dryden reminiscing about the effect hockey had on his life, the good and the bad. Also reflecting on his relations with people during his hockey career.