Critical Analysis of "Sidney Crosby" by Kristi Allain
For years now, hockey is considered as a national religion. Hockey remains to be a culture and many people see it as a measuring stick through which they compare themselves to other countries. The people of Canada have elevated hockey to national importance; it has become a symbol of identity both locally and globally. Through hockey, people are able to get insight about what characteristics the Canadians consider as morally upright. This paper aims to critically analyze Sidney Crosby by Kristi Allain.Allain uses hockey literature to tell people about Canadian identity (Allain, 2010). Allain focuses on understanding masculinity and how it shapes an individual’s identity (Allain, 2010).
The article is directly linked to physicality and the willingness to fight (Allain, 2010). She does not accept this notion because of the natural understanding of masculinity definition (Allain, 2010). She uses hockey as a lens through which the article is narrated (Allain, 2010). Hockey fans have a perception that Crosby is a cry baby. However, they seem to know that it is also part of the game. It is something Crosby is improving on and the whole country should not be reflected on him alone. Canadian hockey players need to express masculinity. The players need to be humble, polite gentlemen of the warriors and ice who are focused on battling on the ice. The article shows that Crosby stands on the two notions of Canadian identity; Crosby is polite nice Canadian boy and a rugged pioneer that is forced to overcome the hockey rink (Allain, 2010).Arguably, Crosby is the world’s best hockey player.
His resume has major hockey honors which include the 2010 Olympic Gold medal. However, his masculinity has been put into question because he lacks physicality (Allain, 2010). Writers of the sport have criticized Crosby that he lacks proper Canadian masculinity (Allain, 2010). Hegemonic masculinity is a good concept to use in sport to give problematic explanations of male athletes; it is an effective concept to use in telling whether or not homophobia is a growing concern in the sport (Kadushin, 2012). “Hegemony” has often been used by writers to indicate specific ways in which questions are institutionally and ideologically formulated (Kadushin, 2012). “Hegemony” refers to social ascendancy that is achieved through play of social forces which in particular extend the contest of power into the organization of cultural process and private life (Kadushin, 2012). It involves the creation of unachievable physicality and personal characteristics, such as the masculine identity of Crosby (Kadushin, 2012). Crosby has good personal traits but lacks physicality (Kadushin, 2012). Despite lacking the physicality, Crosby had extra-ordinary personal traits that made him disciplined as a player.
The article clearly gives observation of behavior and identity management that largely opposes hegemonic masculinity. However, the article did not inquire into the mechanisms of hegemonic masculinity in ice hockey and the Canadian culture. More time should be spent speaking with the ice hockey …
