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Monday, April 27,1998 Folks atl FOLKS continued from page 19 ^ can on how effectively the league markets froi itself over the course of the playoffs. froi ho\ Is it something in the Rules? tial Others believe the problem has to thh do with hockey's "complex" rules. anc Not too long ago, USC radio announcer Charlie McAlexander me stopped by the office. I took the op- kee portunity to ask him, a most es- sid< teemed source indeed, what he bes thought of the sport. phj "I like it alright," he said. "I just bea don't have a very thorough grasp of boa the rules. I remember one time some- pUC one tried to explain to me what 'offside' meant and it literally seemed to tea take him all day." ___ "It's simple," I told him. "The fen, puck has to be the first thing across i ] the blue line." -,j "That's it?" replied a puzzled fWlip Map 6H| That's it. Yet rules like "offsidp" ?ur and "icing" continue to confound many Southern audiences, as periods [es of skating, skating, and more skating ~?l are followed (with no apparent rhyme . or reason) bv periods of... well, not P skating. corI "We had a great time at the Hur- "gl ricanes game," said one of radio host "^ac Kevin Cohen's guest callers last Fri- Elli day .."But we didn't know what was going on most of the time and there rul( was nobody in the crowd to help us." tha I promise, once you understand NH two simple rules, you've got it. ally Much like soccer, 'offside' in hock- fror ey is a rule designed to help keep cros ? j NAM YOU C/ It's the end of address isn't go' house.) But as ) The answer is qu to Brussels to Ba address is total" 4 * r empts t ags fair for the defense. Players i't "cherry-pick," or hang out in it of the net just waiting for a pass n the other end of the ice. "Icing," vever, is a bit more tricky, kssenIy, it's the rule that tries to keep ags fair for the offense. Let me try 1 explain. You see, in hockey the only thod of scoring consistently is to p the puck in the attack zone (ins the opponents' blue line). The t way to do that is through plain rsical strength, by banging and ting your opponents along the rds so that you keep control of the :k. Well, that's tiring. And when one ' m is consistently getting banged [ beaten way back in their own desive end, they tend to get someat desperate. Sometimes, a player [ just shoot the puck down the *th of the ice to take some prese off of his goalie and give his mmates a rest. Well they get their t, but as long as the offense iches up" first at the other end of J ice, the referee will stop play, ( c up the puck, (usually a good lmercial opportunity), and bring it it back to the offensive end for a :e-ofT (at least as soon as Chris ot's newTostitos ad is over). , Anvwav. once vou learn those two ;s, and just accept the premise t most of the other maxims in the j L's labyrinthine rule book are re- , only there to keep these guys j n killing each other (i.e. hooking, >s-checking, boarding, interfer- i t 4 \N GET YOUR EMA] the year. Summer is here ing to do you a lot of goo< 'ou surrender to your wan ite simple: Hotmail. Hotm iton Rouge. You can check \ ly free for 1i fe. That's a Sports The Gamecock o explain ence, tripping, and my personal fa- Grant Fuhi vorite, slashing), then you've got it. scribed on 1 goalkeeper Is it a Racial Issue? 1980's, bea "Absolutely not." contends NHL African-Air Vice-President Brian Burke, but this helping rev is a very sticky subject this season in goalkeeper particular. The most publicized inci- his unorthc dent occurred on Nov. 8 when Wash- Unlike i ington Capitals' forward Chris Si- 1970's-80's mon, a Native American, directed a same move racial slur toward Edmonton Oilers' p?hr never forward Mike Grier, who is black, same patte; which instigated a postgame melee than once. ] that marred the Caps' 2-1 victory. dictable am Burke's office quickly condemned the fundament remark and handed Simon a one- cally-sound game suspension. (combined i Wrc all of different national!- stkkhandli ties, said Edmonton captain Kelly f,, p . Buchberger. "You don't just fire , , whj words like that around. It shows no ' , class." mamsapla Indeed, the NHL has players from all over the globe, though the , majority still come from Canada, the S1 ? 1 United States, and northern Euro- ou ? pean nations like Finland, Sweden, thing ,u Czechoslovakia, and the former Sovi- 1 can r' et Union. But the NHL is not without father and its legitimate African-American su- a ^mmay a perstars. The aforementioned Grier ?oocb hn?c^ and Boston forward Anson Carter, brawl withe for example, are both immensely-tal- some form ( ented wingmen playing big-time min- "senseless" utes with top lines on playoff teams. "It's par Both have rifle slapshots, crisp pass- would say. ing skills, and devastating hitting "Well it ability. Both can simply play the familiar rep rame. Well fig] But black athletes aren't just a In fact, a fa aew novelty in the NHL, either. probably sa ; - . ? '% m I B i * m i . ? I L | w? mum ^ X ^ 'l JM|'? N^p^ppPl^r * f ", :i > .-fe. - - .?.?.,.... > jh?. .JHHHMm^' iiiiiiiiii L. NO MATTER WHERE Y( and soon you'll be off to isolated j. Like a white sand beach beside a < derlust, there is one question: he ail is free portable email you can lotmail from any computer with Web a lot of adventures. So start packinc To sign up for your free Hotmai _i ) . profession who had his name in- 'em in the rink if you can 'our Stanley Cups playing in the alley." with Edmonton in the See, without the two ime the first big-name slugfests that erupt duri lerican in pro hockey, hockey game, countless s olutionize the wav the and skill players from ev position was played with wduld be defenseless aga >dox style and quick glove. ?f flagrant, cheap shots a so many goalies of the sidious attempts to inten era who relied on the jure them. Having one 01 s to make their saves, ers (?r enforcers, as they1 seemed to stick to the commonly referred to) or rn of shot-blocking more insures that the various He was just as unpre- uq? over the course of a g i innovative ais he was tween two teams are sett ally proficient and techni- fight. His quick reflexes in net Monitored closely by vith amazingly-agile (wb? always seem to bre< ng ability) made him one n^ht whfthe* Set fod dangerous goalies of the n? m?re dan^erous ^ ich is probably why he re- f6 ' , ma7 Seer^.u^ 0 .j ,, but the only viable altera yon goahe today with the , , , . , , lues at the aee of 35 be a leagUe m which Sup( iUco dl tile dec UI Od. tit n , i t & Wayne Gretzky, Jaromir , . _ Kariya, Steve Yzerman o ? T, ?' spent more time on hospi m l ve got to say some than on the ke where s". . , . Hockey clearly has so emember the last time my left to overcome tefore it [ were able to sit down on ^ ]ishes itself in the Southt fternoon and watch a side such staple sports fa .down-dragout hockey ball, men's basketball, ar >ut my mother offering The "barriers to entry" di if offended protest at the here are substantial and display of violence. ly be difficult to overcom< t of the game," my dad disturbingly they could ri the tip of the iceberg. Bui _1 ? J_l_ _ * i . . snouian i De, came tne does have an addictive p( >ly. know. It hooked me. I've titing is part of the game. hook others, mous old hockey saying I cite three rather ine ys it best; "You can't beat necks I sat with at Ichab< Hotmail. from Microsoft * ?*????* )U END UP THIS SUMMER places where your University email distant azure bay. (Or your parents' >w are you going to keep in touch? take with you anywhere - from Baja ccess. And best of all, your Hotmail h i. visit: www, hotmai 1. com -v Page 21 ml hockey i't beat 'em during last Thursday night's KingsBlues game. Initially uninterested, or three before long they were chanting wildly ag a typical for the players to "Get the ball! Get iuperstars the ball!" (Puck, fellas. It's called a ery team puck). But by game's end they really ^ sor^s seemed to be getting the hang of it. ind other in- Qne them even fended most delii_on y m~ cately through the glossed-over beer two brrns- , . , , ,, , haze to remember a remarkably obi , , scure piece of commentary I'd offered l eacn uencn . . . ,. ?? . "issues" aris- m a *ew moments earher. Gosh ame be- darnit," he said to me after a rather led in a fair g?al by the Blues' Brett Hull, "I see whutcha mean. That guy is pirty the officials tricky with the biscuit. He'll be liftin' ik things up * that mug in no time." ), it's really It shouldn't be too much longer the game it- before more Southern fans start to some fans, appreciate ice hockey and the Stantative would ley Cup Playoffs, too. The world's Brstars like greatest sporting event can't stay so Jagr, Paul hidden for too much longer, r Brett Hull :tal beds 77ie author wishes to thank the y belong. National Hockey League, the Edmonme hurdles ton Qners Hockey Club, The Washfully estab- mgtQn Post> ,and Dr w Randoiph as a an? Folks, Jr. for contributing to this col,j umn. Also, thanks to the staff of The scussed Gamecock (especially BJ and Nate) will certain- for their suPPort throughout the year b and more an<^ Kerry Tharp, Brian Binette, epresent just Michelle Schmitt, Tommy Amico, Jat hockey mi Dock, Ryan Johnson, John Butts, >wer. I and Tom Price of the University of watched it South Carolina Sports Information Department for their support and enbriated red- couragement. 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