I personally grew up relatively sheltered from [hockey] and
my own kids don't participate or care
Broadly speaking this sounds a lot like America's relationship with youth sports. It's totally optional and easy to avoid.
Especially small-town/rural Canada
[...]
So, yeah, I guess what I'm saying is that hockey
is an obsession for hockey families. For everyone
else... kind of a shrug.
It differs greatly regionally in America too. I live far away from Texas but I think in parts of the South and Texas, etc. high school football is like the thing. Growing up in the Northeast nobody gave that much of a crap about high school football. I went to a bunch of games but it was just kind of a place to hang out.
The small town I live in now was the childhood home of a guy who won multiple Super Bowls. Nobody gives a crap about the high school team, the one he played for. It's just not a thing.
What I'm always shocked with with the US is the
degree to which just almost everyone is into football.
It's some sort of bizarre national religion, and a
default smalltalk conversation topic
It's definitely the default smalltalk conversation topic, at least for men. Feels less like "universal obsession" than "lowest common denominator" though, honestly. The comparison here is probably the other great national universal smalltalk topic, weather. You can talk about it with nearly anybody but it doesn't mean it's their biggest thing.
Honestly, I like football more than most, but even I only think about it for about 5 months a year and at least half the people in my life aren't fans.
religion
I really do like this comparison. I think it's central to understanding its appeal to America.
BUT here's the key: it is the national religion because it is something we do together, once per week more so than because we actually worship it that deeply. In other words, it's social. An excuse to get together on Sundays (if you're in an NFL town) or Saturdays (if you're in a college town).
It's also something we enjoy together that somewhat cuts across class and ideological divides. It is certainly imperfect but in a world that is lacking in unity and common ground, I don't think this is an entirely bad thing.
The small town I live in now was the childhood home of a guy who won multiple Super Bowls. Nobody gives a crap about the high school team, the one he played for. It's just not a thing.
It's definitely the default smalltalk conversation topic, at least for men. Feels less like "universal obsession" than "lowest common denominator" though, honestly. The comparison here is probably the other great national universal smalltalk topic, weather. You can talk about it with nearly anybody but it doesn't mean it's their biggest thing.Honestly, I like football more than most, but even I only think about it for about 5 months a year and at least half the people in my life aren't fans.
I really do like this comparison. I think it's central to understanding its appeal to America.BUT here's the key: it is the national religion because it is something we do together, once per week more so than because we actually worship it that deeply. In other words, it's social. An excuse to get together on Sundays (if you're in an NFL town) or Saturdays (if you're in a college town).
It's also something we enjoy together that somewhat cuts across class and ideological divides. It is certainly imperfect but in a world that is lacking in unity and common ground, I don't think this is an entirely bad thing.