As mentioned in chapter two there is a fraternity between the people involved in sport. The fraternity of men is just like a family, they have their own understandings, and a special bond that other groups of people don't. A fraternity of sporting men get together and participate in other activities other than sports. Usually it consisted of drinking, gambling, and just sitting around telling their stories. No matter where you were from as long as you played the same sport you were in the fraternity.
When reading this something popped in my mind right away, "Gongshow Hockey". For those of you who don't know what exactly this is I will give you the jist of it. What Gongshow hockey is, is it's the largest underground hockey fraternity around. It is a lifestyle that incorporates their own "lingo" towards hockey terms, they love to party when off the ice, and their lives are hockey. No matter where they are from, they like to get together and tell their stories of where they have been and how they got there along with having a few beers in the process. I have experienced this when I went to college. Immediately when I meet someone and they tell me they played hockey, no matter where they played, even if they were on a rival team they are in the fraternity of hockey players, so they're friends in my book. I have a couple friends I have met here that I like to just hang out with and share stories that have happened to me, as well as to listen to what they have to tell.
Overall fraternities are big in the sport world. They bind people together that share common interests. Without these fraternities I feel that sport would be separated into cliques of people. I feel that they give men and women that play sport a network to meeting new people and friends.
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I must admit that this is the first I have heard of "Gongshow Hockey," so I decided to google it. This is the link I found to a home page which you are no doubt familiar with: http://www.gongshowhockey.com/
ReplyDeleteFrom the description you gave above, it really sounds a lot like the subculture of rugby. I have read a lot about rugby teams and how they like to party. In addition, I know that there is a sense of community (or fraternity, as you noted) amongst players from different teams. I was not aware that hockey had the same fraternal spirit, but it does not surprise me, now that I think about it. However, I would imagine the bonds would be stronger in Canada than in the U.S.