Why I stopped playing Magic and how I learned to love the bomb.

My son has recently taken up playing magic the gathering because some of his friends go to a "card club" on the weekend.

So, I dug out my twenty year old cards which apparently most are out of print or banned from regular play and tried to construct a deck for him but realized that it wouldn't work.  The game has devolved into a mini-max style of game where decks are loaded up with the lowest cost, highest power cards.  There is no imagination in deck creation because it is all about the win and not actually gathering together to have a good time.

This is why I got out many moons ago because I couldn't convince others to just put together a loosely organized multi-color deck with some rare cards in it and play multi-player games to see how things develop.  Alas, I was ahead of my time with the creation of the Commander rules around the turn of the century.  I guess my only hope is to just stay out of things or convince my son's friends to build commander decks and have multi-player games.

But back to the whole not having fun thing, I am not surprised about the recent Hockey Canada report indicating many children are not participating in hockey at the grassroots because kids aren't having fun.  The sport has morphed into a hyperexpensive machine designed to milk parents of their hard earned money on the narrow chance that their kid will make it big, or at least get a college scholarship.  Fun isn't really part of the equation, or enough of the equation for kids under ten.

I would recommend a book by Ken Campbell, Selling the Dream as it does a much better job reviewing the minor hockey machine than I can here.

My son now plays lacrosse and certainly enjoys it.  I like it because the children are tiered quite clearly and play at a level commensurate with their experience.  As they develop, they can move up and often are called up to play with the next level team for a game or two.  The game is still competitive with respect to playing game against other teams but a much better sense of equality within the team itself.  And even if your child plays hockey, I think lacrosse as an off season sport provides valuable hand-eye coordination and fitness training but without the monotony of playing hockey twelve months a year.

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See this article from the Globe and Mail for more on the hockey issue