How It Began

Sports Addict                   

B.H. Hub

 

I’m an addict!! I am not addicted to street drugs such as opioids nor legal drugs such as marijuana edibles. I am not addicted to blanco tequila or singe malt scotch (although I do attend the Victoria Whiskey Festival every January). And I am not addicted to online gambling – although Wayne Gretzky tells me to bet online at “Bet MGM!” I am an old “Sports Addict” to be exact. I follow hockey, football, basketball, baseball, golf, soccer, tennis, rugby and most any other activity where athleticism is involved and where winners and losers are determined. (I don’t watch NASCAR or 10 Pin Bowling, those are not sports; like lawn darts and Texas Hold ‘Em, they’re just activities)!

I know that I am a sport addict when I can name at least a dozen players who played on the 67 Toronto Maple Leafs Stanley Cup Championship Team (they haven’t won since), but I have trouble remembering the names of my 8 grandchildren!

I am not entirely sure just why I am an old sports addict, but I remember when it all started.

In the early 60’s, the Canadian Football League’s newest team were the B.C. Lions. And my father was a big fan (he still is at age 93). The Lions had a strong team led by Joe Kapp, Nub Beamer and Willie Fleming on offence and Dick Fouts, Norm Fieldgate and Tom Brown on defence. The Lions went to two consecutive Grey Cup games representing the Western Conference - losing one and winning the other. The Lions were extremely popular in this province. But sadly, the Lions home games were blacked out in nearly all British Columbia television markets. Which meant that if you were in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan, you could watch a Lions home game from Empire Stadium on television. But if you were in Victoria, B.C., you could not. You had to listen to the game on the radio, or read about the game in the next mornings’ Victoria Colonist newspaper. Or alternatively, you could buy a ticket to watch the game on closed circuit television at the Royal Theatre in downtown Victoria. My father and his best drinking buddy, Johnny Fraser, would buy an 8 game season ticket package to watch Lions home games in black and white on the big screen at the Royal. They loved going!

In 1963, when I was 8 years of age, Johnny Fraser couldn’t make it to the Lions home game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He gave his ticket to my father, and my father took me. Sixty-one years later, I still recall the entire experience. What an awakening!

I had never been to a place where there were no other kids. Even in church, there was a sprinkling of children dressed in their Sunday best. At Victoria’s Royal Theatre, there were only a handful of women that I could see, in a venue that holds around 1400 people. So there I was, a wide eyed kid in a theatre full of football fans, virtually all men – all behaving badly!! I had never seen anything like this! Men smoking; men pulling out mickey bottles and flasks out of their coats and drinking with their buddies while the game was going on; men swearing (I learned some new words that night); men yelling at the big screen (including my father). When quarterback Joe Kapp dropped back in the pocket to pass early in the game and completed his throw to Willie Fleming along the sidelines for a 27yard gain, everyone stood up and screamed with excitement and joy. Just a few minutes later, when running back Nub Beamer (how do you get a nickname like “Nub” – maybe it’s best that we don’t know) ran over left tackle and scored a touchdown to give the Lions an early 6-0 lead, I thought the roof of the old Royal Theatre was going to blow right off! I had never heard noise like that before!

  I didn’t know that any of this behavior was allowed (I suppose technically, none of this behavior was allowed at the Royal, even in 1963 – but there it was). I knew that I was not allowed to behave like this in church or my grade 3 school classroom! That was out of the question!

But there was more! At halftime, all 1400 patrons minus a couple of women, 6 guys passed out in their seats and my father and I, all got up and left the building. I pummeled my father with questions like, “how come there are men asleep in their seats when the game is exciting and the crowd is so noisy?” And “how come everyone got up to leave and it’s only halftime?” Dad gave me one of his minimalist responses, “those who can are just stepping out to have a smoke or to get a drink!” That answer was true, but he omitted much detail that I didn’t find out about until years later, such as the guys who were asleep in their chairs had passed out from excessive alcohol consumption, and those who left the building had hustled down to the Strathcona or Dominion Hotels, to pound a quick glass or two of draught beer before scampering back to the Royal theatre for the second half.

It was an amazing coincidence that when the referee blew his whistle to start the 2^nd half, 1400 football fans came charging back into the theatre and proceeded to be louder during the second half than what they were in the first half.

The hometown Lions won the game 26-6 over the visiting Riders of Saskatchewan, as I recall. When the game ended, most everyone left the theatre in a great mood except of course, the handful of fans who were still passed out in their seats and had to be roused by their buddies.

This was my first sports viewing experience at a professional sporting event (albeit Closed Circuit Television). I witnessed smoking in a non-smoking venue; alcohol consumption where alcohol was not sold; yelling and screaming at the large black n white screen; profuse profanity directed at game officials and the Roughriders; and of course some great football action! Was this all an appropriate viewing experience for a young lad to be exposed to? Some will say “No!” But I loved it! And more importantly, I was hooked!

The thing that resonated with me most, all those years ago, was the fact that even though all of these men were behaving badly, they all seemed to be having a great time!!

I’m a sport addict and I remember all so well, how it all started!