Chicken Little Syndrome

Humanity is a strange species of animal.  Perhaps somewhere back in time in our evolution it was necessary to have a trait that made our ancestors look for the worst in a situation.  Some sort of survival instinct that made sure that if the sky was falling then we would be ready for it.  But as homo sapiens evolved into modern humans this trait has become a hindrance rather than a benefit.  And one does not need to look very far before Chicken Little Syndrome makes an appearance in today’s society.  Take the explosion of interest in the Mayan calendar as a prime example.

The Mayan people had a large pre-Colombian empire in Mexico and Central America but by the year 1697 their culture and society had been eradicated by the Spanish.  For the last 300 years western culture has studied the Mayan civilization and despite the odd story of some explorer finding a new temple or hoard of treasure, the Mayans were largely forgotten by society outside of the world of academia. 

However along the way some scholars pointed out that the Mayans were great mathematicians and astronomers who had a highly accurate calendar that happens to end on Dec 21, 2012.  Now, the Mayans never stated that the world was ending on this date, rather it would be a time of great change, but the people who like to fan the flames of doom have decided that the end is finally here.  Funny how the Mayan were basically a footnote in history for most people, but make a calendar with an actual end date and suddenly they become the smartest society that ever existed on the planet and the messengers of the end.  And make no mistake about it, come December 21, 2012 there will be those among us who will be preparing for the sky to fall.  It seems to be human nature. 

When I hear these ‘end of days’ scenarios I wonder how does one actually prepare for the end?  If the whole world is ending why would you want to be around for the next day?  It is not like there will be any hockey to watch or a new movie coming out that you were dying to see.  The whole bloody world has ended!  And according to the doomsayers, things are going to be pretty crappy day 1 after the end so why would you want to survive the apocolypse only to suffer endless torment?  Y2K was to end the world 10 years ago.  The year 1000 A.D. was supposed to ring in the return of Jesus Christ.  History is full of charlatans who predicted that the world was ending countless times only to be wrong.  It was all hogwash fueled by panic and fear of the unknown.  Perhaps if the Mayan’s had not been stamped out of existence by the Spanish, one of their great thinkers may have realized that they may want to add a few centuries onto the calendar seeing theirs was ending and they had nothing to mark Dec 22, 2012. 

Now you are probably wondering what the end of the world and the Mayan calendar has to do with hockey and at first glance, not much connects the two.  But look closely at how people react to news that an extinct society predicted a great change in the world and hockey fans suffering through a couple of early season losses and you begin to see the pattern.  

The Detroit Red Wings, Vancouver Canucks, Carolina Hurricane and the Toronto Maple Leafs have all lost their first 2 games and for many the sky is already falling.  Chicken Little Syndrome is raising its ugly head in each of those markets as the pundits and naysayers are lining up to point the finger at the goaltending, or the coaches, or even the equipment managers as the root cause as to why their team’s season is in jeopardy.  There is no way a season can be judged on a couple of games.  Two years ago the Ottawa Senators got off to a blistering start and looked to be the team to beat for the Cup.  Come playoff time, they were in total disarry and were easily knocked out of the first round.  Last year, with 20 games to play, the Penguins were on the outside of the playoff picture looking at a possible 10th place finish.  And we all know how the season ended for them.

So if you are a fan of either of these teams take a second to catch your breath and relax.  Stop making your ‘the end is here’ signs.  The season is a marathon, not a sprint and 2 games in October has never crowned a Stanley Cup champion. 

Greener \m/