By James Roberts Well well well look who finally dipped his toe into the writing waters of the hockey blog world. For those of you who may not have heard the show or seen the Prediction Szn videos before each Maple Leafs game allow me to introduce myself and why hockey quite literally saved me in my younger years also may explain my always positive outlook on the Maple Leafs.
Let me walk you through the short version maybe one day I'll write a book on it all, I loved hockey since I can remember and my Mom pushed me outside to play with all the older kids on the streets of Keswick Ontario, I was always put in nets and was literally target practice out there but growing up with no Dad I had no one to show me the ropes except for what I saw on TV and that was to just get in front of as much as I could have the scars to prove including one that took two stitches under my right eye from a high stick still didn't stop me. We moved a lot but the biggest move was to Scarborough it was here my fandom would take new heights in 1996. We didn't have the money to put me in a league but boy could I play and I would every chance I got emulating what I saw on TV from Mats to Stumper or blocking shot like Markov or going post to post like Cujo, I was hell on rollerblades I can still remember the place we'd play our game 20 of us or so and all the parents/adults watching and cheering for everything we all did ahhh the good ol days. Things for me got dark pretty quick after 1998 those movies you see with the step kid that gets left behind in favour of the new kids yea that was me and it wasn't easy BUT I had the Leafs they were always there the Bay Street Bullies or Domi settling a score it took me away from the pain of being forgotten, life took many turns from there and again a book may be better to put it all into context but it was foster homes and group homes because of parents who couldn't get their acts together. Through it all the Blue and White were there for me to watch and talk about, to breakdown and obsess over a happy place that no matter what the team did still gave me a distraction and a place to get lost in the what ifs and isn't that awesome. Even in a loss I would still find a bright spot because X happened or Y went down, that's why even until this day I can't ever just bash a team that literally pulled me through the dark times as a kid / young adult and I'll always be positive to this team because of that, not to say I won't gripe but I'll never quit on em if you get my drift. Now for the happy ending sort of speak I moved out east in 2003 to the land of Bruins and Habs fans all because of my Nan and Pop not wanting to see my go through hell anymore, they made me 2 deals I could play hockey but I'd have to pay them back for the gear and secondly I could not miss a day of school. Two years later I hung up the skates and graduated have never looked back and have always worked hard no matter the job but hockey has always been a constant, I met my wife in 2011 got married in 2015 and she got me Leafs cufflinks for our big day our daughters watch the games and cheer the Leafs as I have done and now we have Offside the videos and the Podcast where I try and spread the same positivity to the game that it gave to me when I needed it most, So why the Leafs well they saved my life and brought me more joy then pain, so cheer be happy and next time you think someone is overly positive think of me and know the reason may be bigger. Cheers and to many more blogs
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