{"id":46,"date":"2013-05-22T20:09:48","date_gmt":"2013-05-22T20:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vashl.com\/web\/2013\/05\/youre-all-that-i-wanted\/"},"modified":"2015-04-20T15:04:51","modified_gmt":"2015-04-20T20:04:51","slug":"youre-all-that-i-wanted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/vashl.com\/web\/2013\/05\/youre-all-that-i-wanted\/","title":{"rendered":"You’re All That I Wanted"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dave Mader<\/em><\/h3>\n

\"You'reFor me, the VASHL functions as an enduring oasis of\u00a0acceptance and alternative family. I have made lifelong friends and fulfilled dreams through this group of amazing, talented people. My only regret about this whole experience is that I wasn\u2019t part of it sooner. But I\u2019m absolutely glad that I am now and I wanted to use this blogging platform to tell my story on how I got here.<\/p>\n

I am, and will always be, a huge fan of Kevin Smith<\/strong>. The movies are what made him famous but it’s his message that I’ve always really\u00a0dug. My career is in marketing and I promote the philosophy to my clients that people don’t buy what<\/span> you do. They buy why<\/span> you do it. What you do merely serves to prove why you do it. Essentially meaning that people will believe in you IF you believe in yourself first.<\/p>\n

And that’s how I feel about Kevin. His movies are among my all-time favourites but they merely serve as vehicle to get his particular message\u00a0across. What he liked and what spoke to him was very much the same for me. A few of those things included Degrassi, comic books and hockey but those were merely the tangible items. The morality tales themed around friendship and love is what has really made an impact and stuck with me.<\/p>\n

Kevin (and his subject matter) has been described as having a filthy mind with a heart of gold. Like many other great figures, I think that he attracts a certain type of follower. In this case, someone who understands that a little dirty joke is inconsequential to standing up for ideals like friendship and equality. Why do you need to be vulgar to get that across? Well, it’s less fucking fun and not nearly as entertaining.<\/p>\n

Since I was thirteen, I\u2019ve been hooked on Kevin\u2019s material. This included everything from movies, DVD interviews, comic books and more. \u00a0It started with Chasing Amy and Mallrats in
\none night in Montreal when we rented them on VHS. To this day, most of my family has no clue who Kevin really is and when I try to explain it, I get a lot of glazed over looks \u2013
\nparticularly from my Dad. Then Kevin and Scott Mosier<\/strong> started SModcast<\/strong> and it was a game changer. After listening to hundreds of hours of hilarious content I realized this felt like the longest one-way conversation of my life. None of my friends listened to the show and I\u2019m someone who really thrives on discussing content of my favourite things with people. How can I explain a joke about Malcolm Ingram<\/strong> if nobody I know even knows who he is? It was definitely a hole in my heart that I wanted to fill. I had signed up for Kevin\u2019s online message board but found it difficult to assimilate with the crew so I didn\u2019t stick with it.<\/p>\n

In early 2009, I got laid off from my job and (to say the least), I was devastated. Luckily, I had received tickets to Kevin\u2019s show at Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto for Christmas. It was the first time I had ever seen him in the flesh. As he spoke, it quickly became clear that he was going through his own battle with depression. His recent film, Zack & Miri Make a Porno<\/em>, had underperformed at the box office and it had really bummed him out. I loved the movie but couldn’t say that I was surprised with the results as I was literally the only person my theatre on opening night. Kevin began to speak about dealing with the blues, finding marijuana and embracing Wayne Gretzky and hockey. As a lifelong Calgary Flames fan, it’s hard to get excited about anything to do with the Oilers but as he spoke at Roy Thompson Hall that night, he described how he was coping with his problems. In a weird way, he helped me through mine \u2013 at least a bit. A few weeks later, I was lucky enough to see him do another Q&A at the Bloor Cinema after screenings of Dogma<\/em> and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back<\/em>. He spoke to a lot of the same things that he did before but in a much more personal way. All of this had a profound effect on me.<\/p>\n

Everything what Kevin had shared with us in Toronto eventually came up on SModcast. Then he dropped the news that he would be playing in the Walter Gretzky Street Hockey Tournament in Brantford, Ontario – a place that is only a mere half hour from my home. I was thrilled by the idea of being part of it. Actually getting to play in a ball hockey game against one of my heroes? The
\nproblem was, I had no idea where to start. Kevin mentioned recruiting message\u00a0board members to some of the teams. I knew I wanted to play. In the meantime, I\u00a0had found a new job where I was too busy to work out the logistics of getting there that week. If\u00a0I could go back in time, I would have just forgotten work and gone by myself. I\u00a0let that June weekend slip away but I swore that I\u2019d find a way to participate in\u00a0some way.<\/p>\n

By the following year, Kevin had spoken at length about the\u00a0incredible time he had at the 2009 tournament. He began his quest to break the\u00a0Guinness record of most teams at tournament and I knew I couldn\u2019t let anything\u00a0get in my way. So I reached out to a faceless Twitter universe with a plea to\u00a0find a team for the tournament. I found two people, Angela Robson<\/strong> and Gillian
\nFrederick<\/strong>. Together the three of us would form the team known as The Laffs. I\u00a0recruited Steve Vasey<\/strong> and my brother, Jeff Mader<\/strong>. A few weeks later I got the\u00a0opportunity to meet a crew of VASHL members for the first time at an outdoor\u00a0practice. We didn\u2019t compete in the VASHL division that year but I did get the\u00a0chance to meet even more great VASHL people in Brantford during that weekend. I\u00a0particularly remember a Saturday evening on Gavin\u2019s<\/strong> balcony nearly passing out\u00a0from all of the fun just to turn around and play our next hockey game. Kevin\u00a0was also there, of course, and I wanted to continue to pursue the dream of\u00a0playing a street hockey game with him.<\/p>\n

A year later, I somehow managed to convince some of folks at\u00a0the VASHL to take me and some of my friends into the league. I\u2019ll always be
\ngrateful to people like Darryl Clarke<\/strong> for making that happen. It was this year that I first met two of my best friends, Jim Edelston<\/strong> and Gerry McRae<\/strong> – who along with Jeff now consist of the leadership among our team. When it came time\u00a0to finally play in my first tournament, to say that I was excited would be a\u00a0monumental understatement. I felt incredibly proud to be donning the\u00a0Red State\u00a0Raiders<\/strong> jersey. I had finally made it to the league, at least formally, and\u00a0after a two year journey I was there. I had been around other Kevin Smith fans\u00a0at Q&A events and even the first time I attended the Brantford tournament.\u00a0I think I found what I had been looking for since I was thirteen \u2013 a group of\u00a0amazing and equally obsessed super-fans who thought very much as I did. It was\u00a0in this community that I found a family where I was truly accepted and embraced\u00a0\u2013 and that\u2019s how I feel about the entire group.<\/p>\n

I make no secret of the fact that I\u2019m a competitive guy.\u00a0That\u2019s saying something considering I\u2019m not much of a hockey player. It\u2019s the\u00a0way my brothers and I were raised. You go out and you do your absolute best no\u00a0matter what the results are. I really relate with the character of Buddy in the\u00a0song Hit Somebody \u2013 a guy who loves hockey but totally sucks at it. That\u2019s one\u00a0of the enduring thoughts that keeps me motivated each time I hit courts in the\u00a0VASHL. I intend to bring my usual brand of intensity back this year. Losing in\u00a0last year\u2019s final was a bummer. Even so, I was and still am really happy for\u00a0all members of that Leonardo Reapers team who did win. They sure earned it.<\/p>\n

This will be the first time that I\u2019ll be leading the\u00a0Mallrats solo \u2013 without my mentor, Darryl Clarke<\/strong>. In fact, this will be the\u00a0first year we\u2019re actually going by the Eden Prairie Mallrats<\/strong> name. I thought it\u00a0was fitting of our group and important to make sure that our team has an\u00a0identity that speaks to Kevin Smith and how he brought us together in this View\u00a0Askew Street Hockey League. I\u2019m excited to lead this team to a championship.<\/p>\n

More than that, I\u2019m really excited to see all of you. What I\u00a0was looking for all along wasn\u2019t Kevin himself, but rather other like-minded people who\u00a0subscribe to his philosophy as I do. I think that rings true for all of us who\u00a0come back every year despite the celebrity factor now being absent.<\/p>\n

People don\u2019t buy what<\/span> you do. They buy why<\/span> you\u00a0do it. What do you do merely serves to prove why you do it. With you good folks,\u00a0I certainly know why<\/span> I\u2019m hooked. You’re all that I wanted all along.<\/p>\n

Anyway, that\u2019s enough strange metaphors for now. See you\u00a0fuckers in a week!<\/p>\n

Go Mallrats!<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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