OCTOBER 13th - The Mighty Ducks of Shadow Tag



On this day in 1993, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks won their first NHL game 4-3, beating the Edmonton Oilers. Not bad for only their third game. They wound up being quite respectable on the ice that first year finishing 33-46-5--record-breaking for a franchise team. I’m more concerned about the fact that the teams was named after a kids movie. An admittedly fantastic kids movie. Emilio Estevez as Gordon Bombay? Martin Sheen had to be proud. Probably beats his own work in Apocalypse Now. Pacey from Dawson’s Creek as Charlie Conway? Goldberg. Adam Banks. Wise-old Hans. Not to mention the plot was top-notch. Who among us has not altered the course of his/her life because of messing up in pee-wee sports? If Michael Jordan would have missed the game winning free-throw when he was 10 years old under the watch of a tyrannical pee-wee coach, he totally would have quit basketball to become a high-powered attorney who only cared about winning cases. Although, I must admit, as much as I despised Coach Reilly when I was a young buck, I have a bit of a soft spot for him now. I mean he was a raging asshole and little too crazy to be coaching kids, but in an age where everybody gets trophies just for participating, where shadow-tag is a thing, where dodgeball has been all but banned, where kids have no idea what it’s like to actually lose something because God-forbid if we hurt someone’s feelings or things aren't fair--in this age--Coach Reilly’s Win, Win, Win mantra isn’t as bad as I thought it was. Don't get me wrong, I’m all about the message of the movie. It’s about having fun. But that lesson is more meaningful if something is on the line. Middle ground is all I’m asking for. So yeah, it was a good movie. Good enough to get two sequels (of varying quality). And I get that Walt Disney formed and owned the team, and I'm sure they sold a ton of merchandise. I’m just not sure how psyched the players were putting on jerseys that twelve-year old actors made famous in a cheesy Disney movie. I mean yeah they did okay. But I don’t think it a coincidence that year the franchise changed from the Mighty Ducks to the Ducks and got rid of the Disney logo they won the Stanley Cup. It’s like having kids play shadow-tag and then sending them out into a paintball match. Just aint right.

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