Trothen, Tracy. “Holy Acceptable Violence? Violence in Hockey and Christian Atonement Theories.” Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 21 (2009), 42 pp.
Upon finishing Tracy Trothen’s article Holy Acceptable Violence? Violence in Hockey and Christian Atonement Theories for the first time I was left questioning a few of her arguments. I wasn’t sure if it was just me not reading the article properly or too quickly, so I reread it and then brought up some of the issues that were bothering me to my family and boyfriend over dinner this evening. I come from a hockey family – my dad plays hockey, my brother plays hockey, I worked with the women’s hockey team throughout high school, my mum is an avid hockey fan and my boyfriend played Jr. A and then Varsity for U of T. So lets just say, hockey is a common theme throughout my life and day-to-day conversation in my home. Saying this, I was excited to read Trothen’s article as I was unsure of how she would approach the issue of the relationship between Christianity and hockey. However, as mentioned, after completing the reading for the first, then second time I was left with mixed feelings of a few points Trothen presents.
The first is her mention of female athletes and their ‘selling themselves’ in a sexual way for more ‘ice time’ and scholarships (beginning in paragraph 32). I know many female athletes, including myself, who achieved a high competitive level in sport due to hard work either at the rink, field or studio, and devoted themselves to achieve scholarships and receive funding. I understand that some female sports teams do create calendars with the girls in risqué outfits to raise funds, however I feel that Trothen’s argument is flawed because of the fact that she did not provide any specific advertisements or examples in which athletic women are athletically portrayed.
A second point that caused my brow to furrow was Trothen’s discussion of men’s sexual views of women (“rape culture”) both within the hockey dressing room and elsewhere in their lives (paragraph 53). I understand that this fact is true (in that men do speak about women), however Trothen portrays hockey players as, to be crude, ‘pigs’ in that they do not respect women and only view them as sexual beings to use and abuse. As I have said, I am surrounded my male hockey players constantly and am left offended by her statement as she does not consider that it is not only male hockey players that speak in this way concerning women. In any dressing room of any sport, fraternities or when getting a few guys together similar conversations will occur. Looking from the other side, I have been in many female dressing rooms and have overheard conversations about boyfriends or guys that are incredibly appalling, thus it is not only the male individual who speaks crudely of the other sex.
The third point that I would like to address is Trothen's discussion of the amount of Christian elements throughout the game of hockey. I would like to address that although a large population of North America, and many professional hockey players are Christian, there still are a numerous non-Christian hockey players including Leaf draft pick Nazeem Kadri (a practicing Muslim), and Jewish players including Matt Schneider, Mike Cammalleri (yes, despite the Italian name and being from Woodbridge, he is the grandson of Holocaust survivors from Poland) and Marty Turco. Online, a large number of discussions have been set up concerning the religious background of NHLers with people noting the strong Christian following, but also acknowledging professional hockey being sprinkled with other religions and a growing number of players identifying with atheism.
Upon summarizing the article to my family and boyfriend tonight at dinner, I mentioned my primary concerns and received a similar response to how I felt. I am concerned regarding Trothen’s mention of females in sport and the male view of women. I also believe that Trothen did not look at this topic in a broader perspective, but rather viewed the two, Christianity and hockey, as separate entities. She also failed to view hockey’s violence as being adrenaline based and the overall competitive nature of high level sports. As my family and I sit together on the couch this evening to watch some NHL network and see what game is on (after getting home from my brothers game at a far off rink), I doubt any of us will be thinking of the Christian elements in the violence of hockey. Rather, I think Trothen should have spoken primarily of Lynch’s idea of looking at hockey as a religion. I could definitely agree with her there.
Make sure to check out the links below!
Here is a link to an article about Paul Henderson speaking about hockey being the sport least influences by Christianity:
Interview with Brian Pothier (Washington Capitals captain) on hockey and faith:
Here are a few of my favourite hockey fighting moments (try to picture the Christian elements of violence in them). To make a note, hockey’s most violent act, the fight, is usually to swing momentum in the game, while hockey’s second most violent act, the body check’s, primary purpose is to get the puck back.
Probert vs. Domi 1992
George Laraque fight (start at 46 seconds).
Canada vs. Russia 1987 World Juniors Hockey Championships
Cheers,
Kathleen
Hello Kathleeen! Here is my response to your blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://marica-christianityandpopularculture.blogspot.com/2011/01/commenting-on-kathleens-blog-jesus.html