Since he knows what I do for a living, we often end up discussing politics and politicians, who are all a bunch of corrupted crooks, of course. Last night we met in front of the elevator. His arms were full of beer – two six-packs – and a bag of all kinds of crunchy stuff that belong to the menu of a typical American family in front of the TV.
Usually bare-headed, Glenn had a cap that said “New York Rangers” this time. One does not need to be too intelligent to guess where he spent the rest of his evening. The first hockey match between the home team, New York Rangers, and Los Angeles Kings for the Stanley Cup rooted Glenn and millions of other Americans to their living room couches.
Even though hockey cannot compete with American football, baseball or basketball in the States, it’s still the sport of choice for millions of people. The first battle in the Staples Arena in Los Angeles was a spectacle for the eyes and the ears which only American TV producers can create in the competition for viewers. Last night the TV showed its magical powers; even fans of Yankees and Knicks probably got drawn to hockey.
As soon as it got out that on June 9 and 11 at least two Stanley Cup matches out of potentially seven would take place in the Madison Square Garden on 34th Street, ticket prices skyrocketed to 3,000 dollars. This kind of craze can only happen in New York, since one can always find enough decadently rich people here who don’t care about the steep prices for a spectacle, even though they’d probably see it better from the nearby Bryant Park.
Even we who’ve had to resort to Wikipedia to broaden our hockey horizons and dare to admit to it, now know that we’ve witnessed an excellent hockey match. I’ll leave it to my sports colleagues to offer a more thorough analysis of the match, as well as to a – not so small, as I hear – crowd of Slovenian buffs and fans familiar with the game, who’ve spent the early hours of Wednesday in front of the TV.
A colleague of mine, a journalist, took his wife to dinner last night. Taking into consideration that he doesn’t hate hockey, this could be understood as a special expression of love. Perhaps done with silent hope that the restaurant would be less crowded than usual thanks to hockey. He definitely didn’t leave the waiter the twenty percent tip that is typical of New York (a concept hard to grasp for a Slovenian). Namely, the waiter was far from being immune to hockey, since he only showed up at their table every twenty minutes or so, during the commercials.
While standing between the doors of the elevator, Glenn confided in me meaningfully that the Stanley Cup is a really “big deal”, especially for his Rangers. They haven’t qualified for the finals in twenty years, so this is a truly unique opportunity for New York hockey. He admits that Kings have greater chances because of their experience and results. Any reasonable person would bet on them. But that’s just it, says Glenn – as any other sport, hockey is a matter of the heart in many ways and his boys really want to win!
I revealed to him that a Slovenian plays for the Kings, number eleven by the name of Kopitar, and this seemed to have opened the door for a man-to-man discussion. “Kopi”, as nicknamed here, is an ice champion, admits Glenn, although he would have liked to see a white jersey on him instead of the black one, of course. In any case, I like to think that Kopitar in a valuable investment of mine for when there’s another water leakage in my apartment building.
When discussing Anže Kopitar, there’s a tiny detail that – as seems – his admirers, fans and everyone else in his homeland like to overlook. Yes, Kopitar is a Slovenian in the Los Angeles’ hockey team, but on this side of the Atlantic this is a meaningless piece of data that means much more to us than to Americans.
In the eyes of the American hockey public he’s a member of the LA Kings team first and foremost. He identifies with the team fully and abides by its strict discipline, including when it comes to contact with the media. Which passport the player has, is irrelevant. The team has a bunch of strange sounding names to the American ears. They’re all exceptional hockey players, and no one cares where they come from and where they leave to. For each and every one of them, there’s only one criterion, the measure of success, fame, luck, earnings and all that comes with it: the victory!
TV Slovenija doesn’t have an accredited correspondent for the Stanley Cup, so it may be hard for me to even get to the Slovenian star in New York. The national connotation doesn’t mean a thing when distributing accreditations either; this is not the Olympics. I may thus have to watch Kopitar and his team on the big screen in the nearby Bryant Park. As thousands of other “common people” I’ll lay the blanket on the grass and enjoy the cheerleading atmosphere, which certainly won’t be much different from the one in Madison Square Garden.