Rotherham: What the Washington Capitals Just Taught a Whole Generation of Young Hockey Fans About Embracing Your Emotions 鈥� and Living in the Moment
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Unless you鈥檝e been living under a rock, you know that the Washington Capitals won their first Stanley Cup in franchise history last week. What you may have missed since then if you鈥檙e not a Washingtonian or a hockey fan is the epic bender the team has been on since 鈥� well, pretty much since hoisting the cup on the Vegas ice Thursday night.
Now, as the binge enters its fifth day, with a citywide parade no less, the is starting that this is not what role models do 鈥� or that part of winning is acting like you鈥檝e been there before.
Forget that.
Even though the celebration is not entirely G-rated, it鈥檚 actually a good lesson for kids: Don鈥檛 be too self-conscious, and don鈥檛 be afraid to show your emotions.
Throughout the playoffs, the Capitals鈥� captain, Alex Ovechkin, made , whether happiness or frustration. After the team won, Ovechkin kept that up 鈥� he or go for detachment and playing it cool. Instead, he reveled in an accomplishment that had brutally eluded him for years. His teammates 鈥� they didn鈥檛 act like they鈥檇 been there before. Exactly the opposite, actually. It was pretty clear that all but one of them had not been here before.
An all-night party in Vegas was followed by , where the Caps practice. Then came in D.C. when the Caps were expected to stay for an inning to be honored at an afternoon Washington Nationals baseball game but instead for all nine innings while and generally .
After that, it was Caps , Caps doing keg stands (, of course), Caps partying at various bars late into the night, Caps getting tattoos, and confirmed and unconfirmed sightings of Caps partying all around town.
It was a legit bender and very un-2018 and not something you usually see from professional athletes in public 鈥� and especially with fans.
Fans, , ate it up.
At one level, sure, it鈥檚 not a great example. But at another, it really is. So while you might spare your younger kids the boozy details, it was nice to be able to tell them this team was enjoying their win, in touch with the moment, and not ironically detached from the whole spectacle. That鈥檚 pretty un-2018, too, and why a bender of all things turned out to be (again, with a little cleansing to make it age-appropriate) a pretty refreshing and teachable moment.
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Andrew Rotherham is a co-founder and partner at Bellwether, a national nonprofit organization working to support educational innovation and improve educational outcomes for low-income students; serves on 蜜桃影视鈥檚 board of directors; and is a member of the Virginia Board of Education.
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