Outliers Hockey Quotes

For Canadians, it's difficult to fathom a culture in which hockey is not a defining characteristic, considering it is so inextricably tied to our own culture. This ethnocentric view leads to the assumption that because Canadian television sets and newspapers are dominated by hockey reporting so too should be the case in the United States. Yet while Canadians treat hockey with an almost religious reverence, Americans have never had the same affinity and as such hockey is of little import as a cultural symbol. Furthermore, had a cultural relativistic approach been applied, objectively evaluating what to Canadians is a glaring oversight, the sports network's complete lack of coverage would have resulted in the conclusion it is neither remarkable

I find the theme in this book to be something that an anyday person or child would experience in a day or much longer piece of time. Any person can experience times of confusion and emotional instability, but if that person sticks it out; they will find an answer to their problems or they will answer answer it for themselves. This pertains to a lifelong conflict, but it does not just pertain to that. It relates to a situation in a day, week, or even, an

A tale can be told in several different ways. Many people are aware of the astonishing feat of the 1980 USA Olympic Men’s Hockey team, who were huge underdogs in their bid to win the gold medal against the powerhouse USSR. The movie “Miracle”, directed by Gavin O’Connor, is the dramatic journey taken by this team, from the anxiety-filled tryouts in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to the exhilarating game against the USSR in Lake Placid, New York. The book, “The Boys of Winter” written by Wayne Coffey, is based on the same events, but takes a less emotional, more factual approach to the subject. The purpose of this essay is to compare these two resources, and to discuss how they differ in tone, style, and theme.

Although Valdek thought he wouldn’t survive the Holocaust, he used both skill and luck to get him free and survive the Holocaust. Most people didn’t have as much luck as Valdek and were killed. Vladek used his skill against the Natzi’s and managed to survive. This shows that people struggled with the Holocaust, but some people would use their skills and survive to be able to tell their stories, such as Art Spiegelman in the book “Maus”, Vladek is a survivor from the Holocaust. Vladek needed both skill and luck to help him out in the Holocaust for good and bad.

Hockey is Saul’s healing, through hockey, he gets his new identity and disposes of the memory of being abused. When Saul first comes to the residential

Saul finds hockey to give him strength as he recalls, “I no longer felt the hopeless, chill air around me because I had Father Leboutilier, the ice, the mornings and the promise of a game” (66) … The passion Saul has for hockey in the quote exemplifies how he has made this his freedom from reality. However, things never stay the same, as Saul indulges in playing hockey he slowly realizes what the colour of his skin, his background, and his family had really meant to others. Despising the fact himself Saul learns, “[T]here were moments when you’d catch another boy’s eye and know that you were both thinking about it. Everything was contained in that glance. All the hurt. All the shame. All the rage. The white people thought it was their game. They thought it was there world” (136). This quote refers to the internal pain Saul suffers through racism during his spree for hockey and the worst part is his joy in it is being shattered so quickly, by the ravishing white people ending it all. Regardless the fact he is internally hurt; Saul develops enough knowledge that he recognizes the change in him after facing these adversities. After facing unimaginable problems to a child at such a young age Saul learns, “When your innocence is stripped from you, when your people are denigrated, when the family you came from is denounced and your tribal ways and rituals are pronounced

By contrasting a player’s ardent exuberance for basketball with his xxx disappointment in the poem “American Hero,” Essex Hemphill reveals the athlete’s conflict between his enthusiasm for the game and his resentment toward his superficial fans. For instance, the author emphasizes the player’s fervent frame of mind, “[having] nothing to lose... / I let the tension go. / Shoot for the net. / I slam it through...” (Hemphill 1, 8-9, 11-12). Hemphill illustrates the competitor’s energetic passion for basketball by describing his game-winning skills and slick athleticism. In contrast, the poet depicts the player’s resentfulness toward the cheering mass as he muses “I scored / thirty-two points this game / and they love me for it” (13-15). Despite

Sports are a large part of America’s culture as well as Odessa’s. In Friday Night Lights, the players spend their entire lives training to be successful because sports are all they have to look forward to. During the final game of the season to make it to state, Ronnie Beavers told his team, “This is the last minute of your life” (326). Beavers quote shows the importance of the moment. If Permian does not win the game, they have nothing to look forward to in their future. This semi-final game is “much more than a game” for Permian. What Beaver is saying is ridiculous, the Permian players act like Football will determine their future. By following the players and the town, Bissinger is able to show readers how important sports are in Odessa. Bissinger notes how it was “obvious” that the students of Permian hold the town on their shoulders (XIV). By following the story of the American small town, including many personal anecdotes, Bissinger shows the effect that sports have in Odessa. Friday Night Lights supports Lapham’s claim that games represent much more than a game. It is not merely a game but a way of life. Permian players eat, breathe, and live football. Their lives are centralized around one thing: Football. Bissinger describes the town when he states, “If you went to their homes, you might find black toilet seats, or black seat cushions, or black phone book covers, or black paper plates, or black clocks, or black felt on their pool tables” (39). Bissinger throughout the book displays how the town revolves around sports. Everything that Odessa does is centered around the football team. The players train everyday to work to improving their record and that is all that matters to

The field shows how much more athletic Finny is than Gene which makes Gene jealous. Finny makes a game called blitzball and excels at the game and this makes Gene somewhat jealous. Gene notices how much better Finny is at sports than everyone else, and says,”Right From the start, it was clear that no one had ever been better adapted to a sport than Finny was to blitzball. (Knowles, page 40)” This brings a jealousy to Gene and he wants to be great at something that Finny is not so good at, so he begins to really focus on school. The field is important because it changes the relationship of Finny and Gene. Now Gene sees their friendship as a competition and thinks every little thing Finny does, is another one of his, “tricks”. Another example that shows Gene’s thinking is on spark notes. “Thus, Gene initially asserts that Finny resents him for his academic success. (Spark notes)” This statements made on spark notes shows how Gene always saw there friendship as a competition which all began from a game in a

Despite Saul's efforts at using the newly introduced sport of hockey to drive away his loneliness, he is victimized within the sport and is left traumatized. While playing the game, Saul remarks that “I knew that loneliness would be dispelled by the sheen of the rink in the sunlight, the

As Native’s live throughout their lives they face inherent obstacles requiring drastic measures to overcome. Indian Horse provides first person narrative into the exciting life of Saul Indian Horse as he makes his way to the top echelon of hockey excellence. This elite status comes a price however. Natives such as Saul, and Fred Sasakamoose have endured horrid pasts filled with mental, physical and sexual abuse. This abuse necessitates some a means to escape this reality and hockey is used throughout this novel to illustrate how it can be used as a means to mentally and physically escape. Sadly, once Saul’s career is over it becomes evident that a need for escape is inevitable and alcohol quickly becomes the vise that provides it.

Though their writings show similarity in the negativity that surround these sports, their essays differ for the feelings the writers feel now. Bowling refuses to watch hockey, whereas, Zimmerman still has a passion for the sport. For Bowling the sport has been ruined by the violence, the marketing, and the ways it has changed from a sport to business. He says, “ When I was a boy, the boards, ice, and score clock were free of advertising; goals and assists meant more than salaries; and players and teams had distinct character” (Bowling,215). For Bowling, he was still looking for the same sport that he watched growing up, what he sees today, he does not recognize. According to him young boys are being sexually abused by coaches, players are badly hurting others and people like Don Cherry are exploiting others for a good laugh. He sees violence everywhere in the sport now, not the good, old, pure sportsmanship he saw growing up. He also says, “Why should I follow a sport whose foundation in this country is made of blood and beer and an empty rhetoric around outdated and destructive notions of patriotism and manhood” (Bowling, 215). He loves the sport but cannot support what has become of it. Zimmerman shares the love for soccer as other Africans, he says, “my heart will break too, if Ghana fails to win the Africa Cup” (Zimmerman, 346). He wishes for the best, for both the country and the sport. He doesn’t want them to build an identity around

On page 338 “Lennon...out,” Farrey is speaking with Kevin Lennon a representative at the NCAA, who shares with him that when he was speaking with his daughter gymnastics coach, to try and lessen the 20 hours a week time commitment, in order for their family to have more time together, their coach was not amicable and replied either “you’re all in or all out.” This was a very surprising especially since his daughter was in fourth grade and the reason for the decrease in the time commitment was plausible. This shows that our outlook on youth athletics is somewhat flawed if children's families no longer take precedence over sports. On page 338 “His...abuse,” Farrey uses situational irony to emphasize the idea that parents competitiveness and actions towards officials are so abrasive that not even adult referees want to face that. Farrey claims the source of this behavior from parents, stems from the $1.5 billion dollars that is at stake in terms of scholarship money. To me this shows that we need to change how valuable parents of especially young children, view the importance of college scholarships. It can be assumed that parents are suppose to one’s encouraging fair play and fun in sports but in many cases they are the one's taking that away. On page 345, Farrey says that the benefit of travel teams for kids is to eliminate future competition. This reveals the mindset that we as a society have adopted, which has a very individualistic and non inclusive. Farrey used this to show how youth athletics is depriving children the right to play sports, especially if they are eliminated in grades as low as middle school. This contrasts the idea that athletics is a human right because it implies that not everyone will make it, only the

During the feedback session, fellow classmates believed that it would be beneficial for us to make minor adjustments. Some of these recommendations include, the realignment of the Canadian maple leaf, ensuring that the stem does not have direct contact with the center athlete’s head. Additionally, we were advised to enlarge the font used in the quote, specifically the middle line, and the author’s name. This is because a few individuals found it difficult to identify the main idea of the quote. Furthermore, attention was drawn to the positions of the athletes displayed in the poster. This

From reading this book, I have figured out that the theme was coming of age and facing maturity. What you are about to read are examples of this.