(Photo AP)

By Zuzana Botikova

Jaromír Jágr, the Czech veteran on ice, is a very noticeable figure of the world’s ice hockey scene… or shall I say the world’s ice rink? And this is not only because of his trademark mullet haircut (a.k.a.: “I see, I hear and my neck is warm”). I guess I don’t have to introduce “Mr. Jagger” to anyone with at least a faint idea about ice hockey. In his career he has won everything he could: the Stanley Cup, World Championships and even the Olympic Games. Moreover, at age 43 he still continues to play in the NHL, where with 718 goals he has become the best striker (according to his own words, it did take him some time).

Among other of his achievements, Jaromír Jágr, or how his compatriots colloquially call him Jarda, also “won the internet”. In November of 2014 he won the Czech Internet Award Křišťálová Lupa (Crystal Magnifier) for the best Marketing inspiration. This is thanks to his Facebook page named “Hockey family” that he himself regularly updates. The content of his posts is very personal and catchy – selfies, information about his recent activities, comments on current events, and all of this peppered with motivational quotes. Everybody loves Jarda’s posts. They are honest, personal and funny. The final collage they create about his personality is not a celebrity profile, but a profile of a really likeable, down to earth bloke with a bit narcissistic tendencies. I have translated a few examples of his posts, because they are too precious to stay only in the mother tongue:

(PHOTOS: Facebook of Jaromír Jágr) 

Dec 23, 2014

“Dear hockey family, I have a question for you. What do you do, when you are feeling down, bummed out or when things don’t go the way you want? I guess it’s different, right? Everyone has their own things that help. In my case, I usually listen to favourite songs, read the Bible, look up for interesting things on the internet or I go through some interesting quotes. I got the best quotes saved in my cell phone. There is app. 30 of them, and some are my own. Really! Surprising, right? But they do help a lot :-) I can hear you not believing me. But wait, here they are. Today we will begin from the worst ones, those are mine: 1. Life is like a school, but you get tested by God instead of the professors… 2. Once we stop thinking that the ideal life is to work as little for as much pay, the world will become a better place… and 3rd one I used quite often when describing my fellow players: A good hockey player is cheap even for a lot of money, and a bad one is still expensive for little. And what kind of quotes do YOU like?

That was an example of a few witty quotes from “out of shape” Jarda. This is one of his latest posts from Miami, where he signed a one-year contract with the Florida Panthers for the 2015-16 campaign.

March 17, 2015

“Hey there, hockey family. We are still fighting for the play-offs with 13 matches to go, but yesterday we had quite a bad luck against the Rangers. Who saw it, has to agree.
All the chances we managed to throw away, you don’t see it that often. Especially myself. I would even miss the OCEAN from the beach! So I went to try it out today… and you know what I have found out? That it is not that tragic after all. I didn’t miss the ocean, so I hope I won’t miss the goal tomorrow.”

And the best for last… if not “the best”, then at least my favourite (well, not only mine, of course… it has got almost 117,000 likes).

0ct 10, 2014

 “Its 11:15 pm. I guess most of you are asleep already, while I am finishing up my last workout with a 15kilo vest on me. I sit down on the bench and look into the mirror. After a while I have to ask myself a question: Is this all worth it? Unfortunately I can’t adequately reply. I really don’t know. So I think a little more about it… You are alone, without a family, you work hard like a horse, nobody is waiting for you at home – well, that doesn’t sound very promising, I say. But then I ask myself another question: So why are you doing it then? Well, I know the answer to this one. Because I love it. :-) Yes, I have again proved to myself that LOVE is the most beautiful, most powerful and the greatest feeling one can have. Love is the strongest drive for anything. Love doesn’t know any limits. With love you can achieve anything you wish for.”

With the IIHF World Championship starting in the Czech Republic in just a few moments, Jágr again draws the attention of all the Czech internet community. Though previously he planned to retire from international hockey, he will be playing in the Czech team again. Haters say that he is the crucial part of the best forward formation the Czech team ever had: Jágr – Luck – Coincidence. Nevertheless, he’s so far a veteran of 70 World Championship games and a few more will add up to this impressive number. I don’t think there is any other way he could represent the Czech hockey, albeit the Czech nation better. Oh, actually there is…

This Facebook page unites all the people who want Jaromír Jágr run for the president. If he ever does, there is no doubt it is going to be another certain feather in his cap.