http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2013/06/12/an-aesthetic-of-violence/
Hockey is an art. The reason we have it- play it, watch it, talk about it, broadcast it, spend money on it- is because it creates moments of intense aesthetic experience, gives us images and ideas that move our minds and hearts in particular ways. If you want to step back from sports and ask The Big Why Question: why are these stupid games worth all the resources we collectively spend on them?, the answer is exactly the same as it is for any of the traditionally-defined arts: because they are one of the ways that we create and share emotional experiences, and the sharing of emotional experiences is one of the major things that makes life worth living. Like painting, like theater, like music, hockey is a way that people take material objects (sticks and ice, paint and canvas, strings and wood) and use them to take experiences out of themselves and put them into other people. It’s one of the most universal things humans do, and we’ve been doing it with sports for just as long as we’ve been doing it with “fine arts”. - Ellen Etchingham
For those who don't know her, Ellen Etchingham is one of my favorite hockey writers on the internet. This is for three reasons.
1. She acknowledges that professional sports are a type of entertainment and she analyzes them as such. Sports are now, and always have been, a form of collective cathartic experience closely linked with violence and eroticism. E.E. is one of the few who will openly talk about this.
2. She's a really good writer and knows her crap. E.E. is a Habs fan, but she acknowledges her biases and pushes them aside far better than most of the mainstream and tributary hockey media. Her writing is beautiful and very well researched.
3. She's a woman. Not gonna lie, as a woman who likes hockey it's extremely refreshing to hear another woman's voice. All the other voices (except for my beloved Naoko) that I hear regularly are male. E.E.'s voice is certainly not a 'female perspective on hockey' (although the blogs that do that are also well worth reading), but it is the perspective of a female writer.
