Heads up...

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My friend Jiley tells me that jockstraps were used in hockey almost from their birth- in 1874.  

Did you know there is a JillStrap?  Apparently it is a combination of an iron Butterfly and a Venus Flytrap.

Goalie masks were finally mandatory by the 1970s, and helmets were made mandatory for anybody signing their first NHL contract for or after the 1979-1980 season.  The hard-headed Scot Craig MacTavish used the grandfather clause to be the last helmetless NHL player until late into the 1990s- with St. Louis, I think.

So, some head protection in the 1870s and more head protection 100 years later.

I got it backwards.  As a kid, I played goalie in street hockey.  We were way ahead of our time here in California, we East Coast transplants.  

The problem with being ahead of our time was we had makeshift equipt.  I cut a goalie stick out of plywood, and added a spine.  I laced a softball mask with wire to protect my face, and made my own leg pads too.

Why the lacing of the mask?  NO street hockey pucks or balls available in California until later- so we used a "dead" golf ball.  I also made a hanging throat protector- perhaps the first ever!  Would be worth a fortune on E-Bay, and invented in California no less...

A couple sweatshirts provided the arm and chest protection- until mom got me an old catcher's chest protector at a garage sale.  I still got 1-inch round bruises everywhere, though, and looked like I had a case of body measles on steroids.  When the weather reduced me to a single, white, long-sleeve t-shirt, the dimples from the golf ball would often be visible in the bruises!

No cup or jock, though- just sweat pants, and a pair of chones- back then, briefs not Barbaras.

For a long time, each time I was regaining consciousness, I thought the guys were saying "That Tom, boy, what a swell guy!"  What they were actually saying, though, was "That Tom, boy, what a swelling guy!" 

So, now you know.  Most hockey guys are no different than any other guys, they protected their groin a full 100 years before protecting their noggin.

Remember, each May is National Bike Month- strap on a jock and prance around! 

You now also know the origin of the saying: "Two heads are better than one!"

SRT