Thursday, September 22, 2005

Ahhhhh…..

The sigh you hear is a collective sigh of relief and rightness emanating from Detroit and the surrounding areas. You see, last night was a TV broadcast of a Red Wings hockey game. The first one since spring of 2004! (Stupid lockout….) Oh, sure, it was only a pre-season exhibition game and it doesn’t count for a thing, but… but… it was hockey! And it was against the Colorado Avalanche! And the Red Wings won! My favorite goalie (Manny Legace) was in net, and my favorite skater (Brendan Shanahan) scored the only shootout goal.

And so my poor hockey-deprived brain began to relax.

Even better, I had someone special to watch the game with. First broadcast game of the pre-season, and I get to watch it curled up on the couch cuddling with my sweetie. Can life get much better?

It’s kind of a strange thing. My sweetie doesn’t know anything about hockey past the basic, “It’s good when the guys in red and white score and bad when the other guys score.” So I was trying to teach and explain things as they went along, which was a trick with all the rule changes that were instituted during the lockout and all the player moves that happened once the new salary cap was brought in.

(“Why did they do that?”
“Well, because they…. hmm, I don’t know why they did that at all!”)

My sweetie’s a diehard football fan. Football? Hmm. I can take it or leave it. But we have a sort of sports cultural exchange program planned. I’ll explain hockey to him and help him enjoy it, and he’ll explain football to me and help me enjoy it. I guess I can accept this. Besides, an NHL team has 82 games in a season. An NFL team has 16 and a college football team has…. um…. some small number. 12, maybe? Anyway, the balance clearly favors my and my ability to brainwash… I mean, convert…. I mean, help someone to appreciate hockey!

Everything was a bit rusty last night, of course. The players’ timing was off, as it always is in the preseason, and my ability to follow the game is a bit rusty as well. Hey, it’s been over a year, and this is a quick-paced game!

But snuggled like that in my sweetie’s arms, all warm and loving?

Rust or no, I don’t think it could have been a better game experience. :-)

7 comments:

clew said...

Come play my Blue Jackets - you'll have a good time beating their pants off 'cause they SUCK!

>:[ ;)

clew said...

(I did catch teh underlying point of your post ... snuggly duggly stuff :) ... just had to talk puck for a second)

Bainwen Gilrana said...

My Clew is a hockey fan???? I knew I loved you for a reason!

And I bet you can guess who I was being snuggly with.... :-)

clew said...

:D :D :D I HAVE AN IDEA!

clew said...

BTW I love football too, sweetie ... and ultimate fighting! Can I get a shout out from Stephen on that!

Bainwen Gilrana said...

Hmm, maybe there is some way to combine football, hockey, and ultimate fighting into one sport.... I think it might wind up being rugby on ice if we tried, though!

Tirithien said...

Rugby on ice? :-D

I do happen to enjoy K1, maybe that on ice could be amusing.