BY HANNAH PURKEY

In print | September 25, 2008

In the biography “The Fly Swatter,” famous economist Alexander Gerschenkron is described as impressing on his grandson the importance that “someone who was going to grow up to be a person of true principle would get that way by proving his loyalty to small things, like the Boston Red Sox.”

When I first discovered this quote, I was ecstatic. Here was this renowned scholar whom I admired greatly, telling me that the secret to being a good person is just a little loyalty. For me, it was never the Boston Red Sox who were going to help me become “a person of true principle,” but instead the San Jose Sharks.

It wasn’t as if I needed an excuse to be loyal to the hockey team; before I even knew who Gerschenkron was, I was already following the Sharks games and players obsessively, and I thought this was going to be the easiest loyalty I would ever be asked to honor. Yet, just as Gerschenkron did with the Red Sox, I have endured my fair share of drama as a devoted Sharks fan. Some of the drama I could do without, such as the losing streaks, the disappointing trades, and what seems to be a pattern with the Sharks, the regular-season dominance that never seems to carry over into the playoffs. Still, I haven’t missed a game in years.

This became more difficult to do when I decided to attend school thousands of miles and three time zones away from where the Sharks play. But where there is a true fan, there is a way. Thus I have found myself in some odd situations for the sake of not missing a game. When the Sharks lost in overtime in a playoff game against the Dallas Stars, I instinctively let out a string of profanities. Unfortunately, I was in a science associates meeting at the time, and found myself scrambling to explain how it was my frustration with the spectrum analysis on the orgo homework that led to this inappropriate outburst. Another day I found myself huddled outside the library doors (the obvious place to watch hockey games) in the cold at 2 am, clutching my computer in an attempt not to lose my Internet connection as the Sharks won in a shootout over the Washington Capitals: (This story became more embarrassing when I realized that the campus was wireless and I could have gone and sat down without losing my Internet.)

But my favorite situation was sneaking out of the Wachovia Center after the Sharks embarrassed the Philadelphia Flyers, hiding Sharks jerseys under jackets and in purses based on the warning from some concerned Flyers fans that my friend and I might not leave the rink in one piece if we flaunted our victory after the game.

But not all my Sharks experiences have been ones that I want to remember. For a hobby that is supposedly a fun distraction from work, the most stressful and disappointing day of last year was when the Sharks were eliminated from the playoffs in quadruple overtime. For five hours and 14 minutes, which felt even longer than that, I watched intensely, looking away during penalty kills and cursing the opponent’s goalie. In the end, I am not ashamed to say, I shed a little tear for a season that was brought to an end too soon.

So maybe proving my loyalty hasn’t been that easy. Either way, my dedication to hockey, although not fully understood by my friends and family nor for that matter particularly good for my grade point average, goes beyond just finding a distraction from everyday life. To me, hockey is a crucial part of who I am. Don’t get me wrong; a monkey on skates would probably embarrass me if we were put in a rink together. But even if I am a little challenged when it comes to skating, talking about hockey never fails to bring a smile to my face. As training camp gets on its way and preseason games begin, I already find myself getting excited at the mere mention of Joe Thorton or the upcoming scrimmages against the Ducks. Despite past embarrassing moments and close calls with Flyers fans, I know that I’ll still watch every game and obsess over every article that mentions the Sharks.

Hannah Purkey is a sophomore. You can reach her at hpurkey1@swarthmore.edu.

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