Thank You Mike Grier

Written by Troy Ewers

I’m Troy Ewers and I’m a blogger from San Jose, California. I was born in 1995. 4 years after the San Jose Sharks were introduced to the NHL. I love hockey and it became my favorite sport very quickly. The speed, the violence, the skill, it all excited me as a kid and growing up in San Jose where our only professional sports team is a hockey team, it made sense that hockey would be the thing I gravitated to. But the Sharks weren’t my introduction to hockey…. Racism was.

Ok so technically, I first saw hockey in a movie called D2: The Mighty Ducks and thanks to Disney that was hockey for me, but that movie didn’t get me to watch hockey or even be interested in hockey at all, I just loved the movie. Racism truly was my intro to the sport. When I was in the second grade I came back from Disneyland and I was wearing a Mickey Mouse Mighty Ducks jersey in class and this kid Ethan kept calling me “Mike Grier”. All Ethan saw was a black kid in a hockey jersey and all his second grade brain could think of calling me, was the only black hockey player on the Sharks at the time. This didn’t hurt me, because to be honest I didn’t know who Mike Grier was and quite frankly, I didn’t care, I wouldn’t realize that was racist until I was well into my teens, but I never forgot it. 2 years later, at the same elementary school, I’m in 4th Grade and a friend of mine gave me a San Jose Sharks jersey and I wanted to wear it to school. I show up to class and right off the bat my teacher Ms. Zomaradi says, “Troy you can’t wear that.” Now what I didn’t know at the time was the reason we weren’t allowed to wear San Jose Sharks gear in San Jose schools is because of high gang affiliation; Gang members wear the logo on hats, shirts, jackets, some even have it tattooed on them, to represent the city and their “hoods”. In the 4th grade, you don’t think about that kind of stuff, you just think, “I like this. I’ll wear it.”. So back in Ms. Zomaradi’s class, after being told I can’t wear this Sharks jersey, I asked why and she didn't say anything just, “Troy take off the jersey or I’m going to call your mom.” So I make up a lie and say “I love hockey, I watch it all the time.” I didn’t know this one lie would lead to my biggest passion. Ms. Zomaradi said Black people don’t watch hockey and as a kid who used to take shit personally, that led me to watch Sharks hockey everyday of that 2004 season…. I was in love ever since then. While watching the sport that 2004 season, I saw one of the best Sharks seasons in their history, but I didn’t know that, all this was so new. All the San Jose legends that are still celebrated, were on this team. Joe Thorton, Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marlaeu, Nabokov at goalie, and more names that in the hockey world are deemed great players, but god-like in the heart of Silicon Valley. I watched them be one of the best Pacific Division teams in 2004 and every year after I would see amazing moments that had me falling in love with a sport that never was “marketed to me”. I may have been learning hockey year by year and game by game, but I was watching a franchise build its history. From 2004 losing to Calgary in the playoffs (my first time I saw the high stakes of hockey), 2009 seeing them win a President’s trophy and learning what that was in real time, then seeing that it’s worthless if you don’t make it to the Stanley Cup final, 2015 seeing them play in the first California stadium series game against the Kings, 2016 them making it to the Stanley Cup for the first time and seeing what that meant to the city, 2018 when Barclays Goodrow did the unbelievable and scored an overtime goal against the Vegas Golden Knights after the Sharks came back down 4 in the 3rd and what energized them was a 5 minute major that injured Joe Pavelski. I can talk about these moments all day, everyday, but I think you get the point, I love this team. The sport of hockey was easy to gravitate to based on the fighting and physicality alone, but what I liked about hockey was a combination of everything I liked in other sports. The aggression of football, the fast pace of basketball, the drama of soccer, and the social element of baseball. It’s almost like it’s designed for kids that grew up in inner cities, cuz those sports are all integral in inner cities.

18 years later, I’m not only a huge hockey fan, but I’ve written articles about the Sharks and even got to be in the press box to report on a game. When I heard about Mike Grier being a candidate for the Sharks GM position, I was so happy, because as a black kid who loved this sport, the moment came full circle for me. For me it would be like seeing Bam Margera be the Creative Head of MTV, because he was my intro to skateboarding through MTV. Mike Grier was said to me as a slur, but what if my “N-word” as a kid made the roster decisions for the team I love. San Jose taught me so much growing up, but it showed me… most things aren’t just for certain people, it’s for everyone if you get proper exposure. In the city of San Jose, a sport like hockey should be like baseball in St. Louis. It’s all we have, but there’s a disconnect between the city and the team and I plan to explore that disconnect, but before I explore the disconnect, I have to thank the person who connected me to the sport and hopefully if he gets the GM position for San Jose, I think a lot more people will be connected to the sport the same way I was. Thank you MIke Grier and to be honest Thank You Ms. Zomaradi!