300: Skate To Glory
Mood:  vegas lucky

This post is brought to you by '300' and the NHL. 

Are there any other Grove denizens out there who are fanatical about skating? 

From the moment I could walk, I've had a deep and abiding passion for ice skating.   All my brothers played hockey.  When they practiced, I was usually the "goalie", which meant standing against the garage door ducking slapshotted tennis balls. (Having lots of older brothers is a good way to develop fast reflexes.)  In the winter, my friends and I spent every day after school and weekends playing tag and crack the whip at the local pond.  Later on, I figure skated competitively and played in a women's roller hockey league.  I love the Winter Olympics, in a manner that is illegal in most states.

So, I was thrilled by the news that the NHL is teaming up with Warner Brothers to promote '300' and hockey simultaneously.  I also got a guilty but sustained belly laugh from the trailer for "Blades Of Glory", which happened to be next in line at the MTV site after "300 Seconds Of 300".  "Blades Of Glory" looks like one of those movies that actively destroys your neural ganglia, but I can't resist a film that lampoons figure skating.  Especially when viewed right after a testosterone-drenched 300 trailer.

It's kind of like that "Seinfeld" episode where George Costanza decides to combine all of his passions (sex, TV, and pastrami sandwiches) into one disgusting, unspeakable activity.  Hockey and 300 just naturally go together.  They have a certain bloodstained, hacking resemblance to each other, except that the Battle of Thermopylae was far less violent.  And of course, figure skaters and Spartans both favor skimpy costumes.

Was it coincidence that 300 was filmed in Montreal, hockey capital of the planet?  I think not.