Being a Hockey fan in Sunny South Africa (Yes South Africa)
Posted 12:51 PM ET | Comments 6
To say its difficult is an understatement. With the extremely early mornings or late nights (huge time difference) and the lack of coverage down here it is hard. I am writing this piece for my blog to give people in America and Canada and anywhere else (if you are South African... Wow) an insights into a fan's perspective who lives in a country that barely recognises Ice Hockey as a sport. I am also writing this piece to change that. Hockey. There is nothing on earth like it. Ice Hockey exemplifies some of the best qualities you can have. Perseverance, grit, being harder end and most of all to know what being part of a team really means. For most of my life I have liked the idea of Ice Hockey but it was only the end of 2012 start of 2013 where I became a die hard fan. Giving background into how obscure me really getting into Hockey gives any person reading this insight into how hard it is to become and stay a proper Ice Hockey fan.
As I stated before I have always been intrigued by Ice Hockey. I had watched only a handful of games before 2012. I sometimes played some of the NHL video games namely 07 and 09 over the years. (Wow the Thornton Cheecoo Marleau line was power( who actually remembers Jonathan Cheecoo)). I then bought NHL 12. Mixed emotions. (Just because Cheecoo moved and became terrible). Other than that it was great. Hockey became my obsession. In about two months since I bought the game I had won five Stanley Cups. Take into account I never simmed one game. I played at least 500 games within two moths. #madness. Before that I had always followed results from a far but from then on I became completely involved. This was around the time the lockout was finally ending. (Gary Bettman Right?) The first play-off series I had the honour of watching was the Canucks series that season where we performed an almighty sweep. Then we played the Kings and swapped home games going into Game seven. There is nothing in sport like Game 7 on skates. When we lost that game it was heartbreaking. One of the hardest losses to take in sport. And I watch a ridiculous amount of sport. From then and then on I could probably tell you game for game, trade for trade, or even goal for goal recalls of what has happened in Sharks Territory.
My brother who is younger than me, Hockey has literally become his life. He lives and breathes it. It is his dream to live in Canada and work for a company that works with Hockey. (Holding thumbs). He is a Flames supporter which has led to some interesting rivalries especially this season. He also writes so go check out his page. http://my.hockeybuzz.com/user.php?user_id=236252 (reddevil45). Ask him any number from any team and he will be able to tell you. And he can recall most results from most nights for any team. (He even knew John Scott's number at Chicago... Yeah he is that good). His story of how he got into hockey is very similar but had a lot to do with Jarome Iginla which I will write about in a later piece so stay tuned. (This is my story get your own!!) I rely heavily on the NHL network and Yahoo Sports App on my phone to keep up with scores, tables and highlights. For news and opinion pieces it is mostly Bleacher Report and Hockeybuzz where I get information. The games are never shown on South Africa's local sports network, SuperSport. This make hockey life hard. I rely on streams that I somehow find on the net. ( Could possibly be illegal). However I will be investing in The NHL networks full package even though it will burn a massive hole in my pocket. I am only a student. And to compound the problem we do not have WiFi everywhere and mostly in our homes. On top of that the speed is normally deathly slow which leads to many laggy Hockey Games. There is nothing on local news and no real local forum to talk Hockey. One of the only fans I know in South Africa is my brother who frankly gets boring sometimes just talking to one person. (No offence Dev). So my Hockey me is only really on the net which is sometimes very hard. Not even big play-off games are shown here any more.
The biggest obstacle though is probably the time difference. Here on South African Standard Time were are GMT +2 (If that means anything to anyone). The Shark go by the Pacific Time Zone which through the duration of the NHL season is eight hours ahead of me in Johannesburg. That means most home games for the Sharks happen here at around five and road games normally around one. These times could no be more inconvenient for a hard working student (Ha) who loves sleep. Games that happen in the morning or afternoon is the only time I can watch Hockey without being tired. But as most sports fan know just like me one would go to the end of the earth to support one's team. Now I know most of you who are actually reading this probably think how I can call myself a proper fan? Well sorry you are wrong. I can assure you I could not be more of one. Maybe more than most of you actually. I bleed Teal and I bleed for Jumbo. (Hope he stays till the bitter end).
Just to end off the piece I would like to give my opinion on the Sharks' (abysmal) season. Every part of the organisation needs to shoulder the blame. We had a good enough team to make the play-offs and make a run at the Cup. But I feel Doug Wilson has to look at himself and take on more of the blame. Honestly. What was he doing? Rebuild? What rebuild. Tomorrow Team? What tomorrow team? Play-off Contender? What play-off contender. There was no direction from him and we suffered for it. Choose one its not hard. And do not get me started on his treatment of Patty and Jumbo. (Actually do get me started for a later piece). He should have gone for the Cup. Clearly. I get him trying to to fill up roster spots with youngsters but he took it to far. Our squad was talented enough at the beginning of the season to make a real run at the cup with only one or two proper additions. According to HockeyBuzz Cap Central as of now this season the Sharks have over ten million in cap space. Factor in the Trade Deadline moves of Sheppard, Desjardins, Kennedy (OUT) and Ben Smith (IN) it would have left us with cap space in excess of seven million. That is enough for at least two good players or one good one and two depth players. If I was GM I would have made moves for Jarome Iginla or Christian Errhoff. Wilson who I do not think would know what a risk is if it hit him in the face. He missed out on a guy like Ribiero for a friendly cap hit. Anton Stralman is another solid defenceman we could have tried to sign for a cap hit of only 3.5 million. There were deals out there and Wilson could have tried to make at least one signing that would have significantly improved the team. I will write a piece that delves further into our season and one that will look at the way forward which you should all look forward too.
A Stanley Cup prediction: I hope Calgary what a story that would be. Extreme long shot though. It will probably be Chicago. (Toews, Hossa, Kane and Keith that is all).
Thanks for Reading guys.
As I stated before I have always been intrigued by Ice Hockey. I had watched only a handful of games before 2012. I sometimes played some of the NHL video games namely 07 and 09 over the years. (Wow the Thornton Cheecoo Marleau line was power( who actually remembers Jonathan Cheecoo)). I then bought NHL 12. Mixed emotions. (Just because Cheecoo moved and became terrible). Other than that it was great. Hockey became my obsession. In about two months since I bought the game I had won five Stanley Cups. Take into account I never simmed one game. I played at least 500 games within two moths. #madness. Before that I had always followed results from a far but from then on I became completely involved. This was around the time the lockout was finally ending. (Gary Bettman Right?) The first play-off series I had the honour of watching was the Canucks series that season where we performed an almighty sweep. Then we played the Kings and swapped home games going into Game seven. There is nothing in sport like Game 7 on skates. When we lost that game it was heartbreaking. One of the hardest losses to take in sport. And I watch a ridiculous amount of sport. From then and then on I could probably tell you game for game, trade for trade, or even goal for goal recalls of what has happened in Sharks Territory.
My brother who is younger than me, Hockey has literally become his life. He lives and breathes it. It is his dream to live in Canada and work for a company that works with Hockey. (Holding thumbs). He is a Flames supporter which has led to some interesting rivalries especially this season. He also writes so go check out his page. http://my.hockeybuzz.com/user.php?user_id=236252 (reddevil45). Ask him any number from any team and he will be able to tell you. And he can recall most results from most nights for any team. (He even knew John Scott's number at Chicago... Yeah he is that good). His story of how he got into hockey is very similar but had a lot to do with Jarome Iginla which I will write about in a later piece so stay tuned. (This is my story get your own!!) I rely heavily on the NHL network and Yahoo Sports App on my phone to keep up with scores, tables and highlights. For news and opinion pieces it is mostly Bleacher Report and Hockeybuzz where I get information. The games are never shown on South Africa's local sports network, SuperSport. This make hockey life hard. I rely on streams that I somehow find on the net. ( Could possibly be illegal). However I will be investing in The NHL networks full package even though it will burn a massive hole in my pocket. I am only a student. And to compound the problem we do not have WiFi everywhere and mostly in our homes. On top of that the speed is normally deathly slow which leads to many laggy Hockey Games. There is nothing on local news and no real local forum to talk Hockey. One of the only fans I know in South Africa is my brother who frankly gets boring sometimes just talking to one person. (No offence Dev). So my Hockey me is only really on the net which is sometimes very hard. Not even big play-off games are shown here any more.
The biggest obstacle though is probably the time difference. Here on South African Standard Time were are GMT +2 (If that means anything to anyone). The Shark go by the Pacific Time Zone which through the duration of the NHL season is eight hours ahead of me in Johannesburg. That means most home games for the Sharks happen here at around five and road games normally around one. These times could no be more inconvenient for a hard working student (Ha) who loves sleep. Games that happen in the morning or afternoon is the only time I can watch Hockey without being tired. But as most sports fan know just like me one would go to the end of the earth to support one's team. Now I know most of you who are actually reading this probably think how I can call myself a proper fan? Well sorry you are wrong. I can assure you I could not be more of one. Maybe more than most of you actually. I bleed Teal and I bleed for Jumbo. (Hope he stays till the bitter end).
Just to end off the piece I would like to give my opinion on the Sharks' (abysmal) season. Every part of the organisation needs to shoulder the blame. We had a good enough team to make the play-offs and make a run at the Cup. But I feel Doug Wilson has to look at himself and take on more of the blame. Honestly. What was he doing? Rebuild? What rebuild. Tomorrow Team? What tomorrow team? Play-off Contender? What play-off contender. There was no direction from him and we suffered for it. Choose one its not hard. And do not get me started on his treatment of Patty and Jumbo. (Actually do get me started for a later piece). He should have gone for the Cup. Clearly. I get him trying to to fill up roster spots with youngsters but he took it to far. Our squad was talented enough at the beginning of the season to make a real run at the cup with only one or two proper additions. According to HockeyBuzz Cap Central as of now this season the Sharks have over ten million in cap space. Factor in the Trade Deadline moves of Sheppard, Desjardins, Kennedy (OUT) and Ben Smith (IN) it would have left us with cap space in excess of seven million. That is enough for at least two good players or one good one and two depth players. If I was GM I would have made moves for Jarome Iginla or Christian Errhoff. Wilson who I do not think would know what a risk is if it hit him in the face. He missed out on a guy like Ribiero for a friendly cap hit. Anton Stralman is another solid defenceman we could have tried to sign for a cap hit of only 3.5 million. There were deals out there and Wilson could have tried to make at least one signing that would have significantly improved the team. I will write a piece that delves further into our season and one that will look at the way forward which you should all look forward too.
A Stanley Cup prediction: I hope Calgary what a story that would be. Extreme long shot though. It will probably be Chicago. (Toews, Hossa, Kane and Keith that is all).
Thanks for Reading guys.
your brother is a smart kid... you, meh not so much... (I kid, I kid). Very cool perspective! Thanks for sharing! Oh and one last thing... GO Flames GO!
Great piece!
This was very neat to learn about!
Thank you everyone. Not too bad for a debut piece :D
Hey! love this and would like to post it in the main section of the site. Is that ok with you?Cheers.Ek
Of Course Eklund that would be an honour. Thank you