Preaching to the converted. It might be an overused phrase, but in 2004, it's the North American mantra. Oh there's been controversy surrounding hockey, surrounding the Superbowl™, on the big screen. The hand-wringing, the ink and paper wasted on what some chump said or what some tart wasn't wearing. jebus, get over it!
You see, "The Coach" will always say the same things, week after week. he's been cutting up everything that's good about hockey while saying great things about hockey thuggery. It's nothing new. It's not balanced reporting. It's like turning on the television to watch "100 Huntley Street" in the hopes of getting balanced discussion and views on same-sex marriages.
It's like going to see Mel Gibson's "The Passion." Why waste the airwaves with the controversies (a-plenty, I might add) over the movie's high and mighty Christian message at the expense of the Jews. Duh! It's a movie by Christians, for Christians, about Christians and let's not say good things about anything BUT Christians. The end. You won't get conflict of character and conscious, you get the fairytale you already believe.
The converted love blood sports -- whether it's on the ice rink or in the Holy land. People who love The Coach are worshippers -- Coach is the holy leader of all things Canadian and good about hockey. People who don't care about hockey watch The Coach because they like a good train wreck...and LOVE to acknowledge that the hand-wringers are going to be up in arms about something he says. People who love Jebus will go to the movie and will remember why they are right and Jebus is right and everything Christian is right. People who don't care about religion will go to the movie and love the violence, the blood, all the cool stuff that makes action movies awesome (remember, movies are still targeting the demographic of 18-34 year old men).
So stop your hand-wringing. These two controversial pop culture myths aren't controversial at all. It's not journalism, it's not history. It's preaching to the converted. That's it.
Thanks and good luck.