Do you remember going to gym class as a kid, all excited about what activity the teacher was going to make everyone do next? It was always fun for me, especially if it was something that I was reasonably good at, like badminton. The gym teacher always made sure the sport was something that everyone could participate in, no matter how tall, short, fat, skinny, or uncoordinated you were. Equal opportunity sports.
Tonight is the AIK vs. DIF hockey game at Ericsson Globe. I will be going with a bunch of my friends. It’s only my second hockey game in Sweden, which led me to think about this blog posting. In the US, football (you know, that weird shaped ball with the threads that people throw and kick around!) is king. It’s what we watch on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. It’s what we cry over. It’s what we drink over. It’s what we celebrate.
But here, it’s hockey. And I don’t understand hockey. I mean, it’s really not that hard to understand the game, but it’s not something I get fired up about like the Swedes. I also hear that we have a lot of Swedish players in the NHL.
So what is it, I ask? Is it that in order to be #TrulySwedish you must like ice hockey?