By E. Martin Nolan Lawrence Martin is a journalist and the author of books on both politics and sport. More importantly, he is the author of the best hockey book that’s out of print. It’s called The Red Machine, on the history of the Soviet hockey program, which dominated international competition before the NHL’s best…
By E. Martin Nolan Sport lends itself to a condition of moral simplicity. A major reason we turn to sport is for the undeniable certainty of its win/loss, rule-bound dynamic. At no time does sport’s artificial certainty stand out more than it does at the Olympics, because at no other time does it clash more…
By E. Martin Nolan The Detroit Hockey Association is done. Dissolved. How did I just hear about this? In the Spring of 2012, I published a piece here on Jack Adams Arena in Detroit. I meant to follow it up, but it got lost in the shuffle—until recently, when into the comment section of that…
By E. Martin Nolan Just Drop It and the need to fight against the lockout’s bullshit Forget the economics, the creative accounting, the refusal to own up to the botched expansions of both franchises and salaries, the legal maneuverings, and on and on. We all know one thing about the current NHL lockout: it’s bullshit.…
By E. Martin Nolan No one ever put a poster of a professional sports team owner on their childhood bedroom wall and no one ever pretended to be Mike Illitch or George Steinbrenner when paying a bill (“the waiter hands over the bill–he signs, and payment is accepted! The table goes wild!”). That’s probably not…
By E. Martin Nolan (It’s best if you Read to the poem first.) How many ways are there to watch a hockey game? Judging from Al Purdy’s “Hockey Players,” there are about six[1]. The poem begins with the player’s “worry” over “broken arms and legs and/ fractured skulls opening so doctors/ can see such bloody…
By E. Martin Nolan I really like food. I like eating food, I like cooking food, I like the idea, at least, of growing food. And I like these things to be excellent, or as excellent as possible. Some people think of food as a practical thing, and that makes total sense. It’s calories, right?…
By E. Martin Nolan Including an interview with outgoing Detroit Hockey Association President Will McCants. Take Lyndon East from Greenfield in northwest Detroit and you’ll go through a neighborhood of detached bungalows and then random industrial parks and warehouses. It’s a quiet, non-distinct stretch of road in an often eerily quiet city. To your left…
By E. Martin Nolan “Transition is a becoming. In the sphere of logic transition is mute, in the sphere of freedom, it becomes.” -SØren Kierkegaard on the metaphysical ramifications of hockey (20-21) Like your life, hockey is a game of uncertain certainties. Puck possession, while attainable and incredibly important, is always in doubt. So if…
By E. Martin Nolan How to make a civil rights statement with vigor Compare these two quotes: “It has become abundantly clear to me that NHL players, coaches, and management agree completely with our ideals: talent matters, sexual orientation does not. If you can play, You Can Play.” “At a certain point, I’ve just concluded…
Hockey in Society / Hockey dans la société 