Brilliant as they were by themselves, the old-time hockey idols were team players. Lately, with the frenetic sports media as a cheering section, we have entered into the era of the individualistic superstar. Teams built around a single player are vulnerable. If the great man refuses to play when he does not get the money he demands, he sentences his teammates and fans to a losing season. An already high-priced player recently did just that.
Hockey is only one of the sports that has deteriorated into a game of spending money.
In the money-spending game, players go to the highest bidder, and show no attachment to a particular team or city. The identification with their fans which once made them local heroes has faded out of sight. Winning is everything because winning means more and more money for the players and owners. Athletes are heroes and heroines among the young, who regard them as the kind of men and women they would want to be when they grow up. A child who emulated some of the pro players these days might go on to be guilty of all the seven deadly sins.