How Being Hooked Became an Addiction

 

Sports Addict                        

B.H. Hub

July 29, 2024   Article 2  

You know you’re a Sports Addict when you can recall the team name for Texas Christian University as the “Horned Frogs!”

How Being Hooked Became an Addiction

My first sports viewing experience as an eight year-old got me hooked, but watching all of my local sports hero’s play at Victoria sports venues made me a Sports Addict. In the mid 60’s, I lobbied my father to take me to whatever sporting events were going on in this south-island city:

-Victoria Senior Amateur Baseball League

-James Bay and Crimson Tide Rugby

-Stuffy McInnis Softball League at Haywood Park

-Victoria Chinooks basketball – my old buddy Ken Jackson played Chinooks basketball

-Victoria O’Keefe’s Soccer – the club played in the Pacific Coast League with home games at Royal Athletic Park, until the stands burned down in the mid 60’s, so the club had to play their home games at Macdonald Park in James Bay.

-Shamrocks Lacrosse – some players didn’t wear helmets (and the Shamrocks two best players were their two smallest players (Dillon Brothers).

Victoria Maple Leafs Hockey – the team was a mid 60’s farm club of one of only 6 teams in the NHL, the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Victoria Maple Leafs played in the old Professional Western Hockey League along with the Vancouver Canucks, San Diego Gulls (later to be the Salt Lake City Gulls), Los Angeles Blades, San Francisco Seals, Seattle Totems (I wanted the Seattle NHL expansion team that came into being just three years ago to be called the “Totems.” But the powers to be decided on “Kraken.” I can’t believe that I was not consulted on this), and the team with my favourite name in the old WHL – the Portland Buckaroos!

In the era of just six teams in the NHL, as opposed to today’s 32 teams, the Western Hockey League was a great pro league, filled with players who could have and should have played at the NHL level.

I loved going to the old Memorial Arena to watch Maple Leaf games!

So with a sensational Victoria sports scene going on, I was totally swept up in all that it had to offer – the excitement, joy and sometimes heartbreak that are all by-products of games that are well played. I was a young lad who made the natural progression from being hooked on sports to sports addiction.

My loose definitions of “Hooked on Sports” and “Sports Addiction” are:

Hooked – I have tried it, I liked it and I want to try it again. Example -  I’ve tried golf, I found it quite difficult, but I enjoyed it, and I would like to play a round of golf again soon!

Addicted – I don’t just like it, I need it in my life daily or there will be consequences for all those around me. Example – My Saturday tee time seems to be in conflict with my daughters wedding. I’m sure she can walk down the aisle on her own and give herself away! No problems here! Perhaps after the service, she can slide by Gorge Vale Golf Club and play the back nine with me!

Other signs of sports addiction include:

1. Staying up much of the night to watch tennis from Wimbledon; Euro Cup International Football from Germany: and the final round of golf at the “Open Championship” from Royal Troon in Scotland. (yes I know, I could PVR my programs and watch them at a more civilized time of the day, but I am slow to embrace technology into my sports addiction – much like the pitch clock in baseball – does PVR and Pitch Clock improve my viewing pleasure? – I’m not sure yet)!

2. Using sports terminology in everyday conversation, such as telling the pharmacist that I am “pinch-hitting” for my wife today – can I pick up her prescription?

3. Asking a stranger, usually the guy sitting at the bar next to me in the Games Room at the Strathcona Hotel, who he likes this Sunday, Bears or Packers? And taking his advice and choosing the Bears, with a rookie quarterback to upset the Packers (what was he thinking and why did I listen)?

4. I can pronounce and on occasion even spell Russian hockey players last names correctly ie. Nikolai Khabibulin or Nikita Kucherov.

5. Yell at the Vancouver Canucks players on the television (as if they can hear me) to pass the puck to J.T. Miller because I have him in my hockey pool.

If Sports Addiction implies a chronic (lifetime) condition that involves compulsive behavior frequently associated with taking of a substance (does hot dogs and beer qualify as a substance), then I am guilty as charged. It is my view, that Victoria has always had a sensational amateur and semi-pro sports scene. There seemed to always be a big game to be seen, and they were frequently highly entertaining to watch. It is easy for me to conclude that the joy of watching local sporting events in my youth contributed to my natural progression from “Hooked on Sports” to “Sports Addiction!”