In much of life there are narratives we all hear. There’s usually some truth to them. But a lot of them are completely false.
People don’t have time to research themselves or the knowledge of skillset to analyze the narratives so they follow them and repeat them to others.
Sports is no different. It is filled with narratives.
One example in hockey is that “You win down the middle”.
What does that mean??
It means you have to have top-end centers to win the cup.
There’s some truth to that. But you also need highly skilled players in any position to win the Stanley Cup.
If you look at the past three Stanley Cup Champions (Washington Capitals, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning) you wouldn’t have much an argument saying they “won down the middle”. Outside of Nicklas Bäckström and Steven Stamkos you’d be hard pressed to say any of the centres were the NHLs elite. Steven Stamkos barely laced up his skates during the Lightning’s Stanley cup run.
Where did this narrative come from in my opinion? I think where a lot of narratives do. Toronto Sports media. Phil Kessel for a long time was the Toronto Maples Leafs Centerpiece player. But they never won anything of relevance during his tenure. Kessel was Toronto’s Golden Boy and he was a Winger. So the media didn’t want to blame the player since he was perceived as an elite talent. It must have been something else. That helped breed the narrative that you “Win down the Middle”. Championships from the Pittsburgs Penguins no doubt help further push the narrative as they have generational talents of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. But a more thorough analysis shows that its simply an unfounded talking point.
In the end many of the narratives we hear sound plausible. It sports they’re mostly harmless. But we should really take the time to analyze them if we are going to repeat them.
