SIX DEGREES TO PARADISE: MOVE OVER KEVIN BACON

WAYNE GRETZKY AND TY SHORDEE

Early this week LANCE SHORDEE sent me a picture of his son, TY, with WAYNE GRETZKY, taken at the Gretzky Hockey School in Edmonton, Alberta.  Ty is also the son of CHRIS SHORDEE, a former bandmate who passed last year (see my blog entry, TALONS AND TALES: A TRIBUTE TO SHORDEE, posted April 30^th, 2015).

CHRIS SHORDEE (SECOND FROM THE LEFT)

Later on this week, someone posted a picture of my brother-in-law, former NHL’er, LARRY HORNUNG, on FACEBOOK.  I’m not on Facebook – I’m a creeper.

BRAD HORNUNG, NHL scout formerly of the Chicago Black Hawks and currently employed with the NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE CENTRAL SCOUTING, is the son of Larry Hornung.  Brad has appeared in my blog several times.

This morning LISA WILLIAMS, mother of COLBY WILLIAMS, sent me this picture of Colby’s Christmas present, which she is currently sewing.

MARK WILLIAMS HOLDING UP COLBY'S CHRISTMAS PRESENT

Colby is captain of the REGINA PATS, and has recently been drafted by the WASHINGTON CAPITALS (NHL).  Here is Colby sporting the new Pats’ jersey.

Colby also happens to be my newest best friend (see my blog entry, COLBY SAVES CHRISTMAS:  THE SILVER SKATES, posted December 21^st, 2014)

This will be my second winter playing hockey in Colby’s skates.  This picture was last spring just before Frosty melted.

And wouldn’t you know, my long time best friend just got married this week.  Here he is with his lovely bride, Lorraine.

 

Not so strangely, all these seemingly random pictures are not really that random when one considers the Six Degrees of Separation Theory.  My snappy title, SIX DEGREES TO PARADISE: MOVE OVER KEVIN BACON directly refers to Six Degrees of Separation, the theory suggesting everyone is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on the planet, a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend … a kind of vis-à-vis chain letter so to speak. 

This six degrees theory was originally set out by Hungarian author, Frigyes Karinthy, in his short story, Chains, published in 1929.  Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, a drinking parlor game was invented by college students, Craig Fass, Brian Turtle, and Mike Ginelli, right after watching movie, Footloose, starring Kevin Bacon.  The Kevin Bacon game became especially popular when Google made it possible to search any given actor’s Bacon Number through its search engine.

 BACON BROTHERS BAND MEMBER

I need neither a search engine nor six degrees to connect these people’s pictures randomly sent my way this past week.  So please dear reader, lace up your skates (my new leitmotif) and read on!

Previous to Lance sending me the picture Ty and Wayne Gretzky picture, he had shown it to me while we (Brad Hornung and self) were attending a Regina Pats hockey game.  Brad was scouting – I was along (as usual) for the ride.  Vance and Ty, too, frequently attend Pats games, and just as frequently, always come by for a visit.

Vance is the husband and Ty is the son of my former bandmate, CHRIS.  Chris used to be on our game chats.  (WE MISS HER SO VERY MUCH.) 

Larry Hornung was a professional hockey player (WHA and NHL) and did a one season stint with the Edmonton Oilers (76-77), the same team for which Wayne Gretzky first became famous.  Wayne became a member of the Oilers in 1978.  Following his playing days, Larry became a professional hockey scout, first with the Winnipeg Jets, and then with the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Larry passed away in 2001.

Brad Hornung is Larry’s son.  Brad played with the Regina Pats 1984-1987.  After his junior hockey, Brad became a professional hockey scout, first with the Chicago Blackhawks, and is currently with Central Scouting of the National Hockey League.

LISA WILLIAMS, mother of Colby Williams, sent me the picture of her husband, Mark, holding up Colby’s Christmas gift.  The night I first saw the picture of Wayne Gretzky with Ty Shordee, we were watching COLBY WILLIAMS, captain of the Regina Pats, who had just returned to the ice after a long summer injury.

Right after Lisa sent me the picture of Colby’s gift, she sent me the latest of Colby sporting the new darker jersey of the Regina Pats.

I have mentioned several times that Colby Williams is my best friend.  When I lost my skates in a recent move, Colby gave me an old pair of his.  I love those skates!  

BRENT HOPFNER and I both played in the NHL for several years (the VANGUARD EAGLES of the Notekue Hockey League).  This NHL joke is rather lame, but I’ve been lacing my skates with it for years.

To close I feel obligated to comment on my connecting these frequent marchers in my CHAUCERIAN (picture) PARADE for this week.  Firstly, all these people have a hockey connection, my hockeyism, so to speak.  And for you dear readers outside of Canada, you must know that Canadian hockey is more of a religion than a go-go sport, and this is why hockey is the frozen fountainhead for the connecting of all the pictures in this particular blog entry.

And secondly, one of my favorite words, PHENOMENOLOGY, is the study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first- person point of view.  However, to further explain the concept of Phenomenology, MY definition PHENOMENOLOGY is … a selfish and simplistic method of connecting through contrived through rationalization.

SIX DEGREES TO PARADISE is just another quixotic blog entry based upon one of my recurring themes … Psychology, busking, hypnotherapy, and … HOCKEY!

Providing a quick dossier of factoids for each character skating in my CHAUCERIAN PARADE this week was relatively simple because I have a rather intimate acquaintance with each of them.  For example these two factoids provided by Colby's mom, LISA WILLIAMS:   
Factoid #1 ...  Colby Williams and Wayne Gretzky share the same birthdate, January 26th (I did not know this!).   
Factoid #2 ...  Lisa Williams and I share the same birthdate, May 31st (I've known we were twins for many, many years:).  

MY contrived connections from MY selfish point of view are manifest mucho in SIX DEGREES TO PARADISE.

And PARADISE for me, dear reader, is pond hockey ...

my wintervention shall be lacing up my skates until busking in springtime!