Does Life Imitate Art?

[estragon]

Or Does Art imitate Life? I wrote an ice hockey story about an enforcer. Here the link:

http://www.literotica.com/s/a-thug-on-ice-skates

Then two days ago came the story of the death of Derek Boogaard of the New York Rangers, an enforcer, one goal in 234 games. If you read some of the stuff written by the better sportswriters, you will see that life doesn't imitate art, or art imitate life, but Life trumps Art every time.

 

[JackLuis]

I gave it a 4, because ... Well just because.

A nice ugly short story, and realistic rather than Utopian.

 

[PennLady]

Boogard sounds like he was a nicer guy than your enforcer, though. "Cuddly teddy bear" was a description I saw frequently in the news coverage, plus there was a lot of mention of his charitable work. Not that every enforcer, or athlete, has to be a nice guy. He knew his job and went out and did it.

I think the "gritty realism," as others have put it, in your story, came less from the fact that he was an enforcer and more from his reaction to other situations he faced. For example, the ownership of the team. Plenty of teams are in limbo, or subject to bad owners (that's you, Dan Snyder and Peter Angelos), and that must have a detrimental effect on players' morale. Certainly athletes get depressed from losing games, lack of scoring, etc.; it's not limited to enforcers.

 

[estragon]

Boogard sounds like he was a nicer guy than your enforcer, though. "Cuddly teddy bear" was a description I saw frequently in the news coverage, plus there was a lot of mention of his charitable work. Not that every enforcer, or athlete, has to be a nice guy. He knew his job and went out and did it.

I think the "gritty realism," as others have put it, in your story, came less from the fact that he was an enforcer and more from his reaction to other situations he faced. For example, the ownership of the team. Plenty of teams are in limbo, or subject to bad owners (that's you, Dan Snyder and Peter Angelos), and that must have a detrimental effect on players' morale. Certainly athletes get depressed from losing games, lack of scoring, etc.; it's not limited to enforcers.

SA Penn Lady, Derek Boogaard may have been a nicer guy than Zec Pribl. I never met Boogaard, and I don't know Pribl as well as I should (and I think it shows in my story).

Howbeit, my character is an enforcer because he couldn't be Suicide Syd and could never come within miles of Hypolite De Comminges (or should that be de Comminges?).

And his life may be gritty because he is on a lousy team with no future (or so he thinks--wait until the next chapter, which may take me months to write) and because the bright beautiful world you and MugsyB have so brilliantly created is not his and never can be his, and instead of a beautiful and flowerlike lady you and Mugsy B have drawn, he has this fat, beat-up bisexual who buys him dinner and gives him a charity fuck.

SA Penn Lady, you're the best. My sincerest thanks to you for your encouragement and for the wonderful stories you've written.