Would They Have A Parade For The Man Who Discovered Fire Or The Wheel?

Back when I was in junior high (cue 'Glory Days' now!) the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup. It was 1986 and nothing was gonna stop a few of us from grabbing the bus into the city to witness the parade first hand despite warnings from the school that if we juked there would be consequences. Calculating that the odds of being tortured or killed were remote we took our chances and skipped school (cue 'Another brick in the wall' now!)

The following day (I can't remember if we told our parents) the principal, who happened to really be the gym teacher and was temporarily heading the school (he was probably the most fit guy I've ever seen including up to this day), asked us if it was worth it. We answered in the affirmative. Stupid question to ask teenagers, right? He then proceeded to hand out our punishment: A ten-page essay why we thought it was worth it. 'Til this day I'm not convinced he believed in giving it out in the first place - but he had to do something I reckon. Wouldn't want to upset, whoever the fuck would have been angry.

Point is, the Habs were our world. It's hard to explain the cultural significance of the Montreal Canadiens. It's not unlike the Green Bay Packers and New York Yankees but I'm willing to go as far as say maybe even more psychotic. Hockey in general here has confirmed Canadians are born with half their brains filled with a puck.

We just had to go.

Fast forward a couple of decades and the Habs mean little, if anything to me. Sorta like how Mickey and Mantle and the New York Yankees went from icons to meaningless figures to 'C' in A Bronx Tale.

My sports interest is -by and large - emotionally detached now. I read about the history of sports. I'm less interested in the debates about who should be playing with who (mind-numbingly pointless) and more about sports in a greater context in terms of its role in society and all that.

By the way, as for others, I don't begrudge die hards or fans of teams. Far from it. When I went to see the Milan derby between Inter Milan and AC Milan it was something to witness in the flesh the dedication of the tifosi to their teams.

With this in mind, I came across coverage of the San Francisco Giants parade and I immediately wondered, man, would we do this for the person or persons who would find a cure for, say, lung cancer?

Would we take to the streets celebrating a great piece of literature or the discovery of life on Mars?

The answer is no of course.

One of the reporters said, "moment in history they want to be a part of." Yeah, it is a historical moment but it's amazing to see how much of an impact sports retains in society.