CROSSED STICKS AGAIN

Today’s a great day. Plain and simple. Yup!

I woke up again, still breathing and hungry for hash-browns, bacon and eggs.

That kind shit tells ya that I’m still alive and well. Ehh? What do you expect? No matter no how the back woods and winds coming down from the great north ain’t gonna knock my socks off today. No sirree!

You folks up for that? Ya gonna be kickin it again with me today? Hope so cuz I ain’t loopin in no slackers. Hear me? Me and my pals, we’re walking with wood big-time!

“Why?” you guys ask.

Who gives a rats ass why. It just don’t matter none. Not at all.

Nobody’s gonna knock the wind outta my sails and nobody’s gonna glue a chip on my shoulder.

Uhh uhh. Not today.

So Saturday was Valentine’s Day and it followed a Friday the thirteenth this year. No biggie. I spent both days with my honey, treating her just fine. She loved it. Uhh huh! Did ya do the same? Shoulda if ya didn’t and shame on you too.

Oh, what else?

Well Bronzy and some of the Outlaws went over to Wisconsin to the Labatt Blue Pond Hockey Tournament. I tried to get a hold of him Friday evening to see how they were doing but no luck so I left a voice mail on his cell phone.

I worried about those boys and that night I had a fool dream that they lost their first game like 34 to 1. Crazy dream. I know those boys know how to lose but not that bad ehh.

So Saturday evening Bronzy finally calls me back. They had had two games earlier in the day. Lost both and he says that they lost on Friday too. All tolled they were out scored by seven goals in their three games. Sucks but I’ll be damned if they hadn’t just partaken in the very grass roots of our fine sport. Pond hockey! Ya can’t beat it for nothing!

He says to me, “Jasper, we’re in a bar, it’s kinda loud. Let me move to a quieter spot.”

I asked him who all skated and he told me that Woody, Blummer, Terry, Gordie and Warren were there with him. I said, “So you boys going to drink that bar dry?”

“Nah, I don’t think so. Wisconsin folks can drink really well I think and they were prepared for our partying. Besides that, Woody’s gone on the wagon and he’s just drinking O’Douls.”

“Well there goes half the consumption that you’d normally have then, ehh”, I responded. “Say did ya bring along any of those ‘Polka Til Ya Puke’ t-shirts and try to sell them?”

He laughed and said “Oh fuck no Jasper, I’d a probably been run outta town if I’d tried to hawk them puppies. Thought that they were a crazy idea once but not so sure now. These cheeseheads really don’t take highly to folks ragging on their favorite form of dance. Ha-ha.”

He continued with some more comments about the tournament. “You and Jingles shoulda been here. Brings back old memories of when we were kids skating on the pond in the neighborhood back there in Wayzata. Way too much skating going on here, though, and the ice was really pretty rough. Couldn’t make decent passes and woulda been hell on your hip Jasper.”

“Yup,” I said. “I told ya that it would be rough and sharp skates weren’t gonna be any advantage. And right now, it ain’t my hip I’d a been worried about. It’s like my whole body is just like one over stretched rubber-band right now since I’ve had my brain injury. Nothing seems to be loose. I’d a probably snapped every ding-dang tendon in my body. Damn, though! I really miss it and wish I coulda joined you guys.”

After that he put Woody on. He’d moved outta state and I hadn’t talked to him in a while so that was a real treat.

We made the old times chit-chat and then he says “Hold on Jasper” as he steps outside the bar. “I’ve gotta ask you something kind of private. Inside, behind the bar on the wall is a wooden plaque that’s heart shaped and it’s got a golden cross on it and a couple silvery crossed hockey sticks below. No words, nothing else. I asked a couple of the barmaids what it meant but they didn’t know, said that they had only come in to help out for the extra tournament crowd. I’ll tell ya, it’s kinda eerie. Do you know what it means? Could you look into it Jasper?”

I told him that I’d research it a bit cuz I wasn’t real sure what the plaque meant. I told him that it might be the symbol for another chapter of the super secret Crossed Stick Society.

Enough said we signed off.

Yeah, it got me wondering though. You guys remember my tale from June of 2007 where I wrote about ‘Hockey’s Secret Society’ after having read some revealing news articles about Yales’ Skull and Bones secret society? Remember that I told you guys that we had some very exclusive hockey relics including (You can’t tell anybody this shit!) Hobey Baker’s kneecap?

You remember that shit, ehh?

Well, I started investigating. I started looking at the symbolism first.

First of all I looked into the heart shape of the plaque. We know that the heart is a vital organ of the body. It pumps the life blood that sustains us. Symbolically it stands for character – compassion, love, intellect, courage, affection and ardor. Something of deep concern. In association with friendship and camaraderie it can symbolize blood brothers or brothers-in-arms.

Companions, huh? Could it mean team-mates? Team-mates to the end? Maybe.

Now the cross immediately brings to mind the association with Christianity. Christ on the cross at Golgatha (the 'skull') or Calvary. This symbol was made more popular as the standard for the knights that went off to fight in the crusades. It carries not so much the image of Christ’s death on the cross but more so his resurrection and salvation for those that believe in him. Here than we could say the cross indicates to remember the old but be inspired and renewed by that remembered wisdom.

And those crossed hockey sticks. They too are symbolic of the cross. But are tied to a specific cause. Here being hockey.

But as I said above, the knights in the crusades carried on their flag or standard a symbolic cross. And no more famous are those knights than those of the Knights Templar and their association with the order of the freemasons. The freemasons may have been the first to have used other objects crossed (or overlapping) as one of their symbols. They have used the crossed Masonic square (like a carpenter’s square) and compass to create one of their symbols.

The skull and cross-bones symbol that we so readily associate with pirates (and Yale’s secret society) also is of Christian origin. A skull (or several) with a pair of crossed bones were placed at the entrance to cemeteries. It is a symbol therefore of death. On a pirates flag the crossed bones are positioned below the skull. As a symbol for poison the skull is over the top of the crossed bones – meaning the skull is in the foreground and the bones in the background. As with motorcycle gangs and tattoos the skull and crossbones is now an indication of being a bad-ass.

Another common symbol found in cemeteries is marked upon the grave markers or tombstones of soldiers killed in combat. Here the symbol is that of crossed swords or sabers. To “cross swords” is metaphorical to fighting. And to fight can be as equal to - to compete or to be in competition. That being so than our symbol or logo of crossed hockey sticks indicates that we are in the business of hockey competition.

Some other examples of crossed objects used as logos, emblems and badges that I discovered in my research include the following:

Crossed Hammers – symbol for miners, also a hate symbol used by the Hammerskin Nation – a racist skinhead organization
Crossed Keyes – keys to heaven or St. Peter’s keys
Crossed Oar and Saw – the oar symbolizes travel and the saw symbolizes martyrdom – for Saint Simon Zealotes
Crossed Arrows – Native American symbol for friendship, also included in the badge of the bombers of the RAF
Crossed Rifles – military infantry, etc.
Crossed Pistols – used on cowboy belt buckles, etc, also included in the badge of military police
Crossed Drum Sticks – drummer or drum corp
Crossed Baseball Bats – oh yeah you guys know that sport
Crossed Hatchets – the pioneer insignia for the Union Army during the civil war, also used quite often in ancient coat-of-arms, used by the Chicago Blackhawks, and may be found in combination with a skull as a biker symbol
Crossed Hammer and Sickle – symbol for Communism
Crossed Hammer, Hoe and Brush – Korean Worker’s Party
Crossed Pickaxe and Hammer or Mallet – also a miner’s symbol
Crossed Knife and Fork – symbol for a feast (I love this one, ehh – just put it with a beer mug and ….)
Crossed Knives – symbol for impending death
Crossed Tennis Rackets – ahh-yup another summer sport
Crossed Golf Clubs – oh that’s gay, sorry excuse for a sport – but sometimes combined with a skull that has golf balls for eyes (I guess that means that you’re a killer golfer – whatever ….)
Crossed Clubs - a symbol of the exploits of Heracles/Hercules
Crossed Flags – an emblem for the color guard
Crossed Checkered Flags – a racing symbol – the race winner being shown the checkered flag
Crossed Checkered and Chevy Flag – a Chevy Corvette logo
Crossed Lacrosse Sticks – a lacrosse logo – interesting: the sticks are also known as crosses
Crossed Skis – a skier’s logo (don't do that when you're skiing because it'll really mess ay up)
Crossed Mallet and Shepherd’s Staff Behind a Cross – the symbol of a White Shrine high priestess
Crossed Lipstick, Ciggie and Flickknife – symbol for a female prep school delinquent – found on a “bitch blazer”

So, how many other “crossed” symbols, logos or badges can you think of? How many hockey team logo’s can you think of that include crossed hockey sticks? Bunches, ehh?

Are we all tied to the same brotherhood? It seems as though there is that implication with ‘all’ of these crossed symbols.

But how does that heart shaped plaque, the golden cross and the silvery hockey sticks all tie together? Is it a talisman of a remote Wisconsin chapter of the super secret Crossed Stick Society? Or is it something else? Who made it? When was it made? These are all questions that I’m going to have to investigate further. I can only surmise its importance. It is definitely a mystery to be resolved and I’ll have to get back to you guys when I know more.

Jasper here until next time. Skate hard, walk with wood, and take that friggin shot, ehh!