If you are familiar with our site you know that, on top of providing ridiculous interviews with NHL personnel, we’ve been trying to stick to a pretty structured schedule of posts. Thursday was chosen as my day to post my rambling, sometimes unintelligible, thoughts semi-related to hockey. Usually I do this late at night after getting all gooned up and rely on a spell checker to guide me toward something that makes sense. Last night after a late beer league game I wrote some crap about the movie Predator and how Jarome Iginla should be cast as Dutch if the2Man decided to shoot an NHL remake. The movie is a classic and has been on my mind because Scotty and I trade youtube scenes while sitting at our desks watching the market melt. Nothing passes the time between carry trade losses pass better than Blaine quotes.
I decided to scrap that post when I read the story about Kelly Chase finding a brain lesion.
Chase was one of my favorite players because he was probably the pound-for-pound toughest fighter in the league. He was a stockier Manny Pacquiao with the ending of Young Guns-ish firepower. I’ve written about my adoration for the guy before in posts and I typically root for the blue collar guys of the league over the superstars. They are the ones I identify with the most. At heart I am a simple guy who enjoys a nice drink, some side boob and any movie where a guy has to administer aid to himself using his uninjured arm. My buddy Heals had a great encounter with Chase back when he was living in Connecticut and suffering through Whaler games:
Now I’m pretty late to the story so I don’t know if anything has changed in with Chase since October 11th but the news is still unsettling. The spot could be cancerous or could be as harmless as Kyle Wellwood. Chase seems to be taking the news well as can be expected:
What also might be taken as a good sign is that I haven’t heard anything since about Chase being sick. I don’t follow the Blues radio broadcasts so I can’t tell if he is working or has said anything about his health.
Of course I’m hoping it’s not cancer because it just seems like every day or so you hear about someone getting sick and dying. I know it all too well because I come from a cancer family. The Sutters have hockey and the Nemmys have breast cancer. Even my cousin Tony became ill with breast cancer and he doesn’t even have a pair of boobs. He is not to be confused with my cousin Vincent who, unlike Tony, has a huge rack but is cancer free.
If Chase does get sick, and I’m not saying he will, he’ll obviously be in for a struggle unlike any tussle on the ice. Cancer isn’t Stu Grimson. It goes away and comes back stronger. Cancer is more of a second half fighter like Chris Nilan or Darren Langdon where once you beat it back it regroups and hits you when you’re at your weakest. Unlike Nilan, cancer never fights fair. Its timing is awful and it doesn’t discriminate. You’d never see Bob Probert run after a player who didn’t deserve a beating; he followed a code. Cancer doesn’t give a shit. It makes the fight so tough that sometimes even if you win you still lose. There’s no linesmen holding it back and escorting it to the box. All you have in the fight against cancer is your doctor, a supporting group of terrified family and friends and your will to live.
Kelly has been through countless battles over his career. Here’s hoping he comes out on top whatever the prognosis turns out to be. Not only because he was one of my favorite NHLers, but because I just don’t want to hear more cancer news.
Stay salty
-Nemmy
I decided to scrap that post when I read the story about Kelly Chase finding a brain lesion.
Chase was one of my favorite players because he was probably the pound-for-pound toughest fighter in the league. He was a stockier Manny Pacquiao with the ending of Young Guns-ish firepower. I’ve written about my adoration for the guy before in posts and I typically root for the blue collar guys of the league over the superstars. They are the ones I identify with the most. At heart I am a simple guy who enjoys a nice drink, some side boob and any movie where a guy has to administer aid to himself using his uninjured arm. My buddy Heals had a great encounter with Chase back when he was living in Connecticut and suffering through Whaler games:
“Kelly Chase once tapped me on the shoulder at Chuck's Steakhouse in the Mall in
Hartford and asked me to pass the pepper. He was having dinner with ex-teammate
Curtis Joseph after the game, a 3-1 Whaler victory. My shoulder hasn't healed
since.”
Now I’m pretty late to the story so I don’t know if anything has changed in with Chase since October 11th but the news is still unsettling. The spot could be cancerous or could be as harmless as Kyle Wellwood. Chase seems to be taking the news well as can be expected:
“You don't like to go out and fight Bob Probert, but you're not scared doing
that -- you're just a little uneasy. This is different, but I know I'm going to
beat it. I just have to know how big the guy is that I'm fighting here. The hope
is it's not cancer. They found it early, that's a plus."
What also might be taken as a good sign is that I haven’t heard anything since about Chase being sick. I don’t follow the Blues radio broadcasts so I can’t tell if he is working or has said anything about his health.
Of course I’m hoping it’s not cancer because it just seems like every day or so you hear about someone getting sick and dying. I know it all too well because I come from a cancer family. The Sutters have hockey and the Nemmys have breast cancer. Even my cousin Tony became ill with breast cancer and he doesn’t even have a pair of boobs. He is not to be confused with my cousin Vincent who, unlike Tony, has a huge rack but is cancer free.
If Chase does get sick, and I’m not saying he will, he’ll obviously be in for a struggle unlike any tussle on the ice. Cancer isn’t Stu Grimson. It goes away and comes back stronger. Cancer is more of a second half fighter like Chris Nilan or Darren Langdon where once you beat it back it regroups and hits you when you’re at your weakest. Unlike Nilan, cancer never fights fair. Its timing is awful and it doesn’t discriminate. You’d never see Bob Probert run after a player who didn’t deserve a beating; he followed a code. Cancer doesn’t give a shit. It makes the fight so tough that sometimes even if you win you still lose. There’s no linesmen holding it back and escorting it to the box. All you have in the fight against cancer is your doctor, a supporting group of terrified family and friends and your will to live.
Kelly has been through countless battles over his career. Here’s hoping he comes out on top whatever the prognosis turns out to be. Not only because he was one of my favorite NHLers, but because I just don’t want to hear more cancer news.
Stay salty
-Nemmy
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3 comments:
good shit
not a dry eye in the house...bravo.
Cancer gets me salty.
Good piece.
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