Sound and Fury

"...for what are these, except tales
Told by an idiot. Full of sound and fury
Yet signifying nothing"

William Shakespeare: Macbeth

He was a prescient bloke, was William Shakespeare. Sure, the doomed Scottish king quoted above may have been talking about life in all its glory rather than the world of hockey forums, but those four-hundred-and-something year-old words could just as easily apply to the average day on THF or any fan forum on the internet as to the last musings on life of a king haunted by the lies of three witches...

Let me explain before I lose you completely. And possibly defend myself a little, before we sink so far into literary allusions and metaphors that this post literally disappears up its own five-hole.

Hockey forums are the bane of my life-yet at the same time they're some of the most compelling places to spend some time. All hockey-fan life is here, from the cynical lifelong fans to the club apologists (and my God, have you seen some of those if you've ever hung around a Blaze forum) to the people who will flog a dead horse (usually Brit-quota related) until the bones of their argument have literally crumbled to dust, to the people who think that they're hockey sages just because they once stood next to the kitman's wife in a pub.

Seriously-just have a read through them sometime. Stuff that you would laugh out loud at if someone said it in a rink is dissected as fact, arguments flare like wildfire, and just occasionally you get someone connected with a club sticking their oar in and either fanning the flames or coming over all haughty whenever that amazing new signing is hinted at thanks to sources which range from the player themselves to a drunken bloke in the chip-shop opposite the rink.

Sounds laughable, doesn't it? And yet hockey forums are truly wonderful things. They provide one of the few places on the planet where British hockey fans can talk about their sport with other British hockey fans, form friendships, laugh, cry, and air their views with almost no fear of repercussion (unless you're stupid enough to use your own name, as I can attest to). Players can be torn to shreds by some 13-year-old kid who's only seen one game in his life, they can be built up purely on the basis on one moment, and as for the mob-mentality you get from these things-Andrew Sharp will get a job in British hockey based almost solely on how notorious he has become on these virtual soapbox derbies (come on, Romford fans-surely you're not telling me it's based on ability)...

And yet, essentially, every single word on a hockey forum is unimportant. It's an opinion. And this is something that appears to have been forgotten as the status of hockey in the UK has grown from utterly un-noticed to "do they play that here?", peaked briefly in the early to mid 90's and then dropped away again, with some people getting more than unnecessarily het up by either their status on a forum or even quoting an opinion post on them as a reliable source. Hockey forums, or at least some of the people who frequent them, just might be taking themselves a little too seriously and spending more time reading about this beautiful game of ours and trying to build up street-cred on them then actually watching the game they're talking about in the first place. Examples from the past season...

Every time Andrew Sharp sneezed, there seemed to be an eight-page thread on a forum somewhere split between those who loved him and those who thought he was the Antichrist. Same with Brad Voth. It's a game, people...if you spent more time watching it then pontificating about how you thought it should be played then maybe your posts would be worth reading.

I fully except that I may be shooting myself in the foot in the eyes of some people-especially as I'm using a blog to tell you this-and most of the stuff written on here is purely my own opinion. The difference between me and some of the people who are making forums such a drag nowadays is: I don't expect you, the reader, to agree with me. It would be nice if you did, but if you don't, and you let me know, then so be it. And that is the attitude which seems to be slowly disappearing among hockey fans today, manifested by the change in Internet forums. And so now we come to the point of my post...

Hockey fans are a great bunch of people, in the main. I've become acquainted with many in my time watching, either in person or as a name on a forum or an email thanks to this blog. Sadly, there is a growing element at some teams who hold the attitude I've criticised early in this column-and that attitude is harming all of us. There's been much discussion recently about how clubs can move forward and promote the sport, and I've written at length on here about the need for clubs to constantly listen to what their fanbases are actually saying, get them involved and cease simply talking the talk about being "family clubs" as some are doing at the moment while jacking up ticket prices and adopting an attitude of "rake in the money and sod the experience". Trouble is, the attitude of some on the forums (and indeed some of the rubbish poseted) is ginving them a loophole to use-if asked why they don't listen to the fans, they can simply say "well, look at the forums-no-one knows anything but they'll still shout away".

What the sport needs is more people who are knowledgeable about the game, knowledgeable about their team, passionate about it, but willing to listen to other's opinions (and I include myself in that, so feel free to disagree with anything in this post via the comment button or the email address on the right, and I'll happily debate it with you). Judging by the forums and the spreading number of British hockey blogs out there (all of which are of very high quality indeed, particularly Five Minute Major, the F Block Blog, and the longest running of them (and the original inspiration for this one) Check to the Head, as well as the Firestorm Blog in the EPL as a promising addition), there are enough people ou there to really foster the spirit of debate on forums-hopefully this will spread and sifting through places such as the Elite Forum will become a pleasure again rather than a chore. But either way, forums are still great entertainment...

Moving on now-I've decided that rather than document teams signing by signing, the next post on here will be a team-by-team breakdown of ins and outs, together with a word or two on how each team looks to be shaping up as we reach the midpoint of the off-season (yep, it's been almost two months since the end of the season already, folks). Given that I am away this weekend, that may take a few days to appear. In keeping with the one-a-week timescale I've set myself for the summer, it should be on sometime next week. Until then, keep keepign your eye on the puck...