The goals of a newly retired professor

When rapidly absorbing all things Americana, I was struck by many American oddities.  Hockey was one of those.

In the US, when we say hockey, the image is of men chasing a puck on ice and bashing each other until one or more is dispatched to the penalty box.

In India, this game that we had read about or watched in video clips was referred to as ice hockey.

Because, hockey in India was played on gravel or grass.  In the US, this is "field hockey" and is mostly played only by girls.

Such craziness in a country that employs a phrase "same difference" in order to mean that there is no difference at all!

There was no "field hockey" in India, as much as there is no "Indian food" in India.  They are respectively only hockey and food! 

Hockey, cricket, table tennis, badminton, and football I played as a kid.  Oh, football as in soccer; same difference, I guess!

One of the scars I have in my shin is from playing hockey, back in perhaps the ninth grade.  My classmate Ravikumar swung the stick to hit the ball hard.  He did dispatch the ball.  But then he got my shin too. Blood, sweat, and tears, is how I played hockey, because I was, and am, far from athletic :)

I was way fascinated with hockey, perhaps because back in my younger days, when I had lots and lots of hair on my head and it was all black, India always had competitive and winning teams.  I keenly followed the news about India's hockey team.  In those simple days before television, I listened to the radio commentary on international hockey events.  Even now, I can recall one memorable radio commentary: "Govinda, Govinda, Govinda, Govinda, ... gooooooaaaaaallll") Govinda was one hell of a Speedy Gonzalez on the field.

There was another match, during my undergrad days, which was phenomenal for how it replayed the old tortoise and the hare fable. 

Indian hockey was already in doldrums, unable to compete against the well-trained and funded European teams, especially on artificial grass.  It was India v. West Germany. India was down four goals, and the Germans were so certain that they would win that they eased up. 

And then there was a player in the Indian team who displayed all the effort that we love to see in all the sportspeople.  Well, in everybody in every walk of life. The guy scored one goal, and then another, and another, and in a matter of a few minutes, the game was tied. Even!

Germany couldn't manufacture anything more and the match that had been overwhelmingly in their favor ended in a draw. 

Google helps me out with the name of that player: Pargat Singh. 

Since then, of course, I have wandered away, mentally and geographically. 

While I connected with baseball and football here in the US, and soon abandoned all interest in sports, there is only one reason that I know anything at all about (ice) hockey: I was a graduate student when Los Angeles went crazy with Wayne Gretzky. 

I never watched a single game of (ice) hockey though.  Same difference!