Why my love affair with Tim Thomas is over..

WHY MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH TIM THOMAS IS OVER… By Lara Robinson.

Now I know that will beg the question; what is a happily married mother of three doing making such a statement, but let me explain. In 2008 my son desperately wanted to become a hockey goalie. We, his parents, did not want him to, all goalies are nuts, we were told.  Long story short he persisted and we gave in. During the Fenway Winter Classic of 2009 Tim Thomas was named USA goalie for the Olympics and fulfilled a life long dream.  My 9-year-old son got his first shiny new set of goalie pads and his first shut out, which helped put their little team on the road to a hard won championship. Dreams were playing out big time.

What is a hero?  A brave, noble person, central male character in a story.

Tim Thomas has a fascinating rags-to-riches story.  He started in the poor town of Flint (same one as Michael Moore) Michigan. His poor parents sold their wedding bands to finance his camps, and travel.  A hard worker, he received a scholarship to University of Vermont. He lived for years in Finland goaltending and eventually came back to America to play for the Bruins.  He has worked very hard, harder than anyone, to get to the top of his goalie game. He has excelled in what he set out to do.

Tim Thomas is my son’s hero. Like any mentor or hero that has a positive force in your child’s life, I saw him as a gift that enriched our lives, plus the hockey was getting very exciting due to his down right crazy ability in net.

In the summer of 09 and 10, I sent my son to his TT camps.  We met him, took pictures with him and Timmy kindly and patiently answered questions from his besotted young campers. I had helped set up a question for my son.

Son: What was your grade average throughout your academic life?

TT answer: I was an A student till ninth grade, my grades only temporarily slipped when I got to high school then I got back on track and I believe I finished high school with a 3.4 GPA.

See, armed with information like this a mother can have her son’s hero work as an aid, a partner in life, a hero to come to the rescue. My son was not an A student.  But over breakfast I would sprinkle this information at random. “Drink water over juice, Tim Thomas does.” At dinner, “Eat your greens like Timmy,” but most importantly the application of the information, at homework time, “Get me an A honey, just like TIM Thomas.  And most of it worked.  By 6^th grade he was bringing me home A’s and hasn’t stopped. 

Last year when the B’s won the Stanley cup, TT won every trophy there is for being the best.  He became another poster child of the American Dream.  What is that to you?  Well for me, a person who came from a small country (Ireland) that was dominated by the rigid hand of the Catholic Church and stagnant growth at 22%unemployment rate by the time I left in 1994, the American dream is all about being free to be the best you can be.  Being free can mean many things, from the physical to the mental, your belief in self, to the belief of your country/military/government.  But to be the greatest in the world it will not be done alone.  It will take much support. From family, friends, and society.  Society! 

In Timmy’s case, it was his public schooling, his scholarship to Vermont and his weekly pay cheque in Finland by a very high tax paying pubic that supported his life there in which he was happy and loved the simplicity of that life, and eventually his return to America to rise to the number one spot. In 2011 he completed his journey to the top.  As a women who was never given the option of going to college, the American Dream is a dream worth understanding and living to the ultimate even if your dreams are to be the fastest in the egg and spoon race at the summer fair. In this country you are free to succeed.

So why was I so disappointed he didn’t go to the White House.  I tried not to be.  But by denying or refusing the award for excellence he was doing more than making a political statement, he was denying his own journey, and the freedoms he was given along the way. He denied it to himself and to his team, fans and country and kept it to himself. But he did not get there alone!

I don’t want to watch hockey to think about politics and I am trying not to do so, but I can’t help thinking in this case ignorance would have been bliss.  I made the unfortunate discovery on Wikipedia that Tim Thomas’s most favorite person he wished to sit down with would be Glen Beck! I won’t tell my son how I feel about that, because he, as a free American, can make his own mind up. We still love his signature moves and nobody can deny the greatness of Timmy. But Glen Beck!! I have to hit the de-hero button.  Sorry Timmy, it was a great run.