A Sports Team And Its Effects On A City

A sports team is vital to a large city such as Montreal. A sports team may have

positive or negative impacts on a city. The team that will be focused on is the Montreal

Canadiens. Despite the poor seasons that the team has recently endured, the Montreal

Canadiens are still one of the most winningest franchises in all of sports. The team's long

history as a winning organization has made the city of Montreal reputable. For my

research, the three disciplines that will be focused on are sociology, geography, and

economics. These disciplines are very much evident and important to my research topic,

that being, the importance the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club for the City of Montreal.

With the use of sources related to my topic, one will be able to grasp the overall context

of my research. The direct question that my research intends to answer is; how has the

Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club impacted the City of Montreal as a whole?

Literature Review

The discipline of sociology studies groups of people in a specific area. In this

case, the people we will focus on are the players playing for the Montreal Canadiens

hockey team and the fans that support the team. After viewing a video on the Montreal

Canadiens during the 1988-1989 season (Fisher 1989), the discipline of sociology is very

much evident in this video. The video takes an in depth viewing of the team during the

1988-1989 season. It looks at the ups and downs the team faced during this particular

season and how the Montreal Canadiens have over come obstacles.

During the 1988-1989 season, the Canadiens advanced to the Stanley Cup final

where they lost to the Calgary Flames in six games. A few years earlier, in 1986, the

Canadiens beat those same Calgary Flames to win their twenty-third Stanley Cup. The

player that led the Canadiens during the 1988-1989 season was none other than

goaltender Patrick Roy. The pressures that were placed on the shoulders' of Roy were

unbelievable. This pressure came from fans and media alike. The fact he was a French-

Canadian that grew up cheering for the Canadiens, did not help either. As Patrick said in

the video, "Hockey in Montreal is not a sport, it's a religion." Also interviewed was

captain Guy Carbonneau, who stated that, "this team is like one huge familyÐ'...Each

player on this team stands up for each otherÐ'...This is what makes this team so close." An

incident in the video had a direct connection to what captain Guy Carbonneau stated

earlier. This incident took place during a playoff game between the Montreal Canadiens

and the Philadelphia Flyers. The incident occurred when goaltender of the Flyers, Ron

Hextall, left his crease to fight Chris Chelios of the Canadiens. Soon after a brawl

erupted. This incident showed that no matter who is involved, the whole team stands up

for each other. As mentioned in "Sociology: Problems and Perspectives", "Sociologists

draw an important distinction between the purposes of our behaviour-what we intend to

do-and the unintended consequences that our behaviour brings about. The purposes for

which we do things may be very different from the consequences we produce." (Giddens

1991, 8) This gives a sort of an understanding for why the players stand up for each and

that their actions, which led to a brawl, have consequences.

As mentioned in "Sociology in our Times" Using the objective method,

researchers assign individuals to social classes based on predetermined criteria

(occupation, source, and amount of income, amount of education, and type and area of

residence" (Kendell, Linden and Murray 1998, 227) People that can afford to pay the

high ticket prices to go to hockey games are the ones in the middle to upper class who

live in the well-established parts of the city.

The geographical location of Montreal makes it a great city in which to live. The

factors that make Montreal a great place to live is the physical landscape, language

diversity and its diverse ethnic groups. "The original settlement grew up around the

residence of de Maisonneuve, the first governor of Montreal, on St. Paul Street. The

townsite was chosen with an eye to defence; it was surrounded on three sides by the St.

Lawrence River and its small tributaries, the St. Martin and St. Pierre rivers" (Nader

1976, 137). Despite Montreal's political situation which divides people on their views

on how Montreal should be