Friday, April 17, 2015

An Open Letter To Ms. E, aka, Ellen Etchingham

So here it is, third day into playoff season, and I'm already digging my trenches for a prolonged social media flame-war over violence in hockey. I'm an enlightened, sensitive sort: no place for it on the ice, sez I. Now there are some who say I don't know balls from pucks, so I work myself up into high dudgeon, begin composing a response to the tune of, "Look, Herr Troglodyte: hockey is an evolving sport. If you don't believe me, just consult the eminently wise and super-informed Ms. E., over at her pro blog. Link to follow:"

My reaction?

Followed by an hour of frantic searching for cached sites of those postings. Alas, such were not to be found. It seems you have been reduced to a Twitter feed, and the occasional spirited exchange with ... Colby Cosh? Say it ain't so!

I mean, not the Colby Cosh part -- he's a blowhard, enjoys a good tussle, so hey: go, E., go. And I am grateful for the archival trove you and Google have left intact. But the stuff you wrote for The Score was primo material, E. Most of it transcended -- way transcended -- the immediate concerns of embroiled hockey fans watching from the stands and sucking on their sweater-sleeves. It had djenn-yoo-wine historical perspective, the heat of true love and the cold steel of informed conviction. It had snap and vigour, and to casually-engaged readers it connected like a hay-maker to the chops. Responses were either wild and foolish swings from the punch-drunk, or the "No mas" of the wiser combatant -- there was no third way.

We need that material, E. -- now more than ever. Surely your agent has worked out a deal with Random-Penguin? Or, failing that, couldn't you assign some minion to format these pieces for self-published glory? I, for one, commit to purchasing a copy for the reference libraries of every household in my extended family. That's, uh ... fifteen copies -- plus another dozen (no, make that fifteen, for an even thirty -- to begin with, of course), to inflict on unsuspecting newcomers.

Please, E., for the love of hockey -- re-release that material.

You're our only hope.

Sincerely -- W.P.

4 comments:

DarkoV said...

Geez, Darrell! Thinking alike here. Funny how I was googling her this morning for her opinion on her beloved Canadiennes and their current situation. And what comes up when I Google "Ellen Etchingham "? You!

dpreimer said...

Ha! She doesn't strike me as the "think I'll just Google myself" type, but who knows? Or maybe just best to send this to the addy on her still-standing blog...

Joel Swagman said...

In my ten plus years of blogging, I'm up to 2 authors who have noticed themselves on my blog.
(One wrote a comment thanking me for my review, one linked to my review from his facebook page).
I don't think these people are constantly googling themselves. (Although you never know...Authors, right?) I think lots of famous people set up Google Alerts that just automatically notify them when someone is blogging about them.

I don't know who this Ellen Etchingham is, but I'd say it's about a 50% chance your blogpost has flittered across her radar somehow on some sort of notification device. (Or I don't know, let's say 30% chance or something. But a good chance.)

dpreimer said...

I've certainly had some unexpected correspondence, thanks to this blog. But I wasn't holding my breath on this one, so I went ahead and e-mailed her. Not that I'm expecting response. Some NHL talent have commented on her old blog, and even they can't seem to smoke her out.