Moe Mantha has long been a favorite player of Jay and me not because he was a skilled player, or a great personality (hell he didn't even play for any of our teams back then). The story of Moe Mantha simply goes like this. Jay and I have been friends since I was 7-ish. If my math is correct, that's about 27 years ago. Jay and I hung out like every day from the age of 7-16 or so and we were huge sports fans; obviously right? So it's 1985-ish and we didn't have good video game systems yet (Atari 7800 and intellevision were in my house and NES had just come out) so we had to resort to other ways of creating our favorite teams and having them play each other. So we turned to a game called rod hockey. No it's not some sick perversion we came up with, it's a table top game that had a series of rods on both ends of the board, and at the end of the rods were 2D plastic hockey players with pro jerseys on (it was almost always the Rangers and the Flyers but I think one year I got Islanders and Bruins. Jay might remember better). The board looked like pro ice, and the rods went back and forth and spun to hit the puck around. It was like Foosball, only long ways. Anyway, we played that for hours a day for like 2 years until we got a Nintendo and the original "Ice Hockey" came out with the Fat F$%k player and the skinny guy player; what a great game. So how does Moe Mantha come into this you ask? So Jay and I would play these games, but it was never Jay vs. Chris, it was a slate of NHL action that took place daily. We each had roughly 1,000 hockey cards, and we held drafts of our hockey cards. So we would divide the cards up into 10 or so teams and pit them against each other. When there were line changes we would call them out so we would know who scored goals, and who assisted. And this was no schlock operation either. Each one of us would control like 5 teams and we would keep actual stats, give postseason awards and award a Stanley Cup to the winner at the end of each season. It got really cut throat sometimes too. I remember Jay and I having many a heated moment over who scored a goal and who didn't. So Moe Mantha was a very popular player in the JCHL (Jay and Chris Hockey League). He won multiple MVP awards, and he was always high on the free agent market. I honestly believe it's because his name is Moe Mantha. If you dissect the name, Moe is just a hilarious name, and then Mantha sounds like some sort of creature. Anyway, that's the Moe Mantha saga, and our secret is out; that's the real reason we also support the Winnipeg Jets. As we got older and we learned about what a true "fandom" is all about, and we really respect the Winnipeg fans for their devotion to their teams. But truth be told, it all started with the great Moe Mantha, and his Hall of Fame career in the JCHL. Moe Mantha, we honor you.
Moe Mantha has long been a favorite player of Jay and me not because he was a skilled player, or a great personality (hell he didn't even play for any of our teams back then). The story of Moe Mantha simply goes like this. Jay and I have been friends since I was 7-ish. If my math is correct, that's about 27 years ago. Jay and I hung out like every day from the age of 7-16 or so and we were huge sports fans; obviously right? So it's 1985-ish and we didn't have good video game systems yet (Atari 7800 and intellevision were in my house and NES had just come out) so we had to resort to other ways of creating our favorite teams and having them play each other. So we turned to a game called rod hockey. No it's not some sick perversion we came up with, it's a table top game that had a series of rods on both ends of the board, and at the end of the rods were 2D plastic hockey players with pro jerseys on (it was almost always the Rangers and the Flyers but I think one year I got Islanders and Bruins. Jay might remember better). The board looked like pro ice, and the rods went back and forth and spun to hit the puck around. It was like Foosball, only long ways. Anyway, we played that for hours a day for like 2 years until we got a Nintendo and the original "Ice Hockey" came out with the Fat F$%k player and the skinny guy player; what a great game. So how does Moe Mantha come into this you ask? So Jay and I would play these games, but it was never Jay vs. Chris, it was a slate of NHL action that took place daily. We each had roughly 1,000 hockey cards, and we held drafts of our hockey cards. So we would divide the cards up into 10 or so teams and pit them against each other. When there were line changes we would call them out so we would know who scored goals, and who assisted. And this was no schlock operation either. Each one of us would control like 5 teams and we would keep actual stats, give postseason awards and award a Stanley Cup to the winner at the end of each season. It got really cut throat sometimes too. I remember Jay and I having many a heated moment over who scored a goal and who didn't. So Moe Mantha was a very popular player in the JCHL (Jay and Chris Hockey League). He won multiple MVP awards, and he was always high on the free agent market. I honestly believe it's because his name is Moe Mantha. If you dissect the name, Moe is just a hilarious name, and then Mantha sounds like some sort of creature. Anyway, that's the Moe Mantha saga, and our secret is out; that's the real reason we also support the Winnipeg Jets. As we got older and we learned about what a true "fandom" is all about, and we really respect the Winnipeg fans for their devotion to their teams. But truth be told, it all started with the great Moe Mantha, and his Hall of Fame career in the JCHL. Moe Mantha, we honor you.
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