Actually, we need to talk about fandom and the NHL's conservative politics
You just finished reading every queer hockey story available to manâand holy Wayne Gretzkyâyou're a newly minted hockey fan. You love the gays; you want to watch the sexy men zoom around in the boy aquarium, and it's Friday night. So you tune into an NHL game.
You're a brand new hockey fan and you can see that there's twelve men on the ice, a bunch of others on the bench, there's coaches, assistant coaches, goalie coaches, referees, retired NHL players doing analysis and color commentary. You scan the faces, and all are consumed by the reason for tonight's gathering: working together to get a vulcanized piece of rubber into a goddamn net. We've left the outside world behind; color, creed, orientation, immigration status, and gender matter not. All that matters is the effort these athletes put out on the ice.
Yet, as a new, leftist hockey fan, pick any one of these people, and flip a coinâand there's a decent chance that this person has conservative politics. If they're American and registered to vote, there's a 43.9% chance they are registered as a Republican and if they voted, they voted for Donald J. Trump.
src: From Peter Lutz on Vote Hub
And I'm sure if you asked the other 38.5% of NHL players, they'd say something along the lines of "I don't really do politics." You know, the type of "uh...I think everyone should stop fighting" response that the willfully under-informed offer when you bring up genocides.
Oh man. Oh gosh. That's so weird. You got into hockey because of the myriad of stories that celebrate queerness and marginalized identities and intersectional feminismâso what is up with this league? Why is it so different from the stories that use it as an athletic backdrop? Has it always been like this? And how did you end up here? Why are so many other fannish/bookish left-leaning people like yourself finding solace in a league where there are millionaires who will gladly win it all and shake hands with a self-proclaimed fascist?
If you're at all like me, a leftist Black woman, it's a simple cycle.
You discover the world of hockey and the NHL which is strange and fascinating. The blood, sweat, and tears compel you. Yes, it's filled with white peopleâlike it's mostly white people whatthefuckisupwiththatâbut they're a different sort of people because this niche underground culture is...strange and fascinating! They have slang and enormous asses! (edit: I speak on hockey and whiteness in this Vanity Fair article.)
It is very gay. The homosociality of hockey breeds a male repression unmatched by any other form of physical exertion. You feel safe here now; you feel justified. Nevermind the fact that toxic masculinity is the thing you're actually observing. You were born with slash goggles on. If these men can't untie the bow on their unconscious desires and unrealized tenderness, you can do it for them.
Reality strikes. A good rule of writing is that characters are what they do. And whenever you peek into the real world of the NHL...you see what the league and its players doâor don't do. Time after time again you're presented with political inaction from the league, racism, misogyny, transphobia, and apathy towards the things you really care about. You learn slowly, that the NHL is a league that moves at glacial speeds, pun intended. It is, simply, not progressive.
Well, at least you have hockey romance and that is progressive! You don't need professional men's hockey! You can make a difference! Yay!
...But oh good God, now you've spread the gospel of hockey to dozensâmaybe hundreds of people with your hockey fandom. And some of the people with whom you shared your fandom? They may never make it to step three. (Picture me running from laptop to laptop, closing the Word documents of various hockey romance writers. I kind of sound like Jimmy Stewart: "Stop! St-stop it now! We're spreading it! Dontcha know we're spreading it, huh? You're sending 'em down to the boy aquarium, but that's no boy aquarium! That's MAGA territory, you see! These people think Bernie Sanders is crazy!")
Am I saying that watching an NHL game is like buying a signed copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child? No. (But someone do the math on that.) Any time we engage with any of the major sports we put money in the coffers of billionaires. (The PWHL is owned by billionaire Mark Walters, who is the owner the Lakers, Dodgers, and Sparks. He donated to Obama and the DNC and is always happy to visit the White Houseâeven if it's to hang out with Trump when his sports team does well. Do NOT get me started on the MLB)
All I am saying is that, you, new hockey fan, can save yourself a lot of time and frustration by knowing precisely the league that is being marketed to you. You will be disappointed with player politics. You will be lulled by the basest forms of rainbow capitalism. 43.9% of American NHL players are registered Republicans. You will find yourself accepting the bare-minimum. (I was way too proud of Sidney Crosby for like, knowing a gay person?)
I deeply regret having made Jack Zimmermann's "uncle" Wayne Gretzky. I didn't know the guy would go to Trump's inauguration... He's not even American.
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