The Old Prof (Jim Parsons, Sr.) taught for more than 40 years in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. He’s a Canadian boy, who has two degrees from the University of Kentucky and a doctorate from the University of Texas. He is now failing at retirement on Vancouver Island, where he lives with his family. His hobbies include playing with hockey cards and simply being a sports fan.

He likes hockey (obviously), the Toronto Raptors, and CFL football. If you wonder why he doesn’t use his real name, it’s because his son – who’s also Jim Parsons – writes for The Hockey Writers and NHL TradeTalk and asked me (Jim Sr.) to use another name so readers wouldn’t confuse their work.

Because I had worked in China, I adopted the Mandarin word for teacher (老師). The first character lǎo (老) means “old,” and the second character shī (師) means “teacher.” The literal translation of lǎoshī is “old teacher.” As a result, The Old Prof has become my pen name.

Today, other than writing for The Hockey Writers and NHL TradeTalk, he’s starting his own hockey site where he’ll focus on the Canadian teams in the NHL. I’ve been covering the Toronto Maple Leafs for more than three years now and, according to the Maple Leafs Aggregator, I’m the most prolific and learning Maple Leafs’ writer almost every month. I try to have a bit of a different take on things about hockey. But it’s a great game, that’s played by great young athletes. In this new site, I’ll try to focus on both the news about the team and also do deeper dives into the psychology and the culture of the game.

I look forward to sharing my insights about how sports engage life more fully. His Twitter address is https://twitter.com/TheOldProf