Revenge is Best Served on Ice

So, my ability to multi task has been stressed to the limit as of late, and I know that by diving back into blogging I'm only trying to make my life even more hectic and stressful.  That being said, I have to weigh in on "the tweet heard 'round the world". 

Just sitting around the house tonight w my dog. Felt like I should be doing something important, but couldn’t put my finger on it.

— Phil Kessel (@PKessel81) September 21, 2016

Now as a Penguins fan, I laughed until there were tears upon reading this.  Secretly, I've been a bit of a Phil Kessel fan since he was drafted last at the All Star Games some years ago (I'm too lazy to look up when).  For those who feel that he has disrespected his country, his team - I'm sure Don Cherry could go on for hours pontificating on all the other ways - let's look at the simple facts.  If you are a professional athlete, at the top of your game, and largely responsible for your team's offensive success in the final round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, then what else is to be construed from being left off your country's roster than a person slight?  As Steve Rogers so brilliantly said: "It kinda feels personal."

And to recap, Phil did not go on a Twitter rant, he didn't cast shade at anyone in particular, or call out coaches or players or personnel  Instead, he voiced his point with tact, wit, and a dash of well deserved snark.  If I were ever in a situation even remotely similar, I could only hope to have that much restraint.  So feel free to jump on some bandwagon or another, I don't honestly care.  I am a Penguins fan for life (unless they ever treat my favorite player the way the San Diego Chargers once treated Drew Brees - I still can barely speak of the Chargers without spitting, and I own two New Orleans Saints jerseys.  Who Dat?).  I am not a bandwagon fan, and never will be.  If you want to follow along to someone else's point of view, be my guest, but know that deep down, beneath the anger and plethora of opinions swirling in hockey right about now, know that if you were in Phil's shoes, you would have probably done much the same.  Remember that athletes are human beings, and just as worthy of opinions as we are.  

For that, I applaud Phil once more, and I can't wait until October 13th, when he gets to see the Stanley Cup Banner raised.  Who will be laughing then?

A True Fan

I'm not usually one for the social media over share.  Yes, I blog, and yes, I tweet, but I don't really like to shout it out from the rooftops that I had the best coffee ever at Starbucks or that Chukar Cherries Honey Pecans are like eating a sweetly sinful bit of heaven.  I'm not here to push either.  Today, however, something happened that, to me, embodies what it means to be a true fan.

Living in Washington State, I am surrounded by Seahawks fans who only become more zealous the further into the season we get.  Thankfully, it's summer now, and I don't have to deal with any of this.  The Seahawks craze has reached such levels that my job bought us all jerseys to wear on Blue Fridays.  Now let's get something straight: I am not a Seahawks fan.  I might be happy to see my regional team do well, but I will never be a bandwagon fan.  My loyalties have always lain elsewhere, and unless Drew Brees decides to retire to the Great Northwest, I'll stay as I am, thank you very much.  Those who are similar true fans don't bother me.  They respect my steadfastness, and only roll their eyes when I mention that I am also a fan of everything Pittsburgh (this is a step up from my last job, where anyone who was a Seahawks fan had to talk about that Super Bowl - that always made me laugh.  I am, by no means a Big Ben fan, and my loyalty has shifted in Pittsburgh to the Pens since he became the Steelers quarterback.  Call me odd, but I was a huge Kordell Stewart fan).  

Anyway, the truest Seahawks fan I know would have to be my mother.  She met many of them during the age of the Boz (whom she hated) and Steve Largent.  She knows her Hawks, and I respect that.  We might not have been on the best of terms for that Super Bowl, but we've learned to move past it.  And so, for a life long fan, there is little more rewarding than to have an opportunity to embrace that.  Today, I'm happy to report, she got to do just that, meeting one of the Seahawks mascots while at a volunteer event for local reading in our area: the Summertime Reading Challenge.  For doing a good thing, and for being a lifelong fan, here is her (long time coming) reward:

And really, there's nothing cooler than that.  

L.E.

Do you believe in miracles?

 

I do, and for right now, that's about all I have to say.

Lets Go Pens.

Because It's the Cup (but really, hockey would be enough)

Well this has been a long time.  And by long, I mean loooooooooooooooooooong.  Basically, I think I have been spending the last two years getting over a rough break up with my favorite hockey team.  However, since sometime in December, we've reconnected, we're going to therapy (i.e. the Stanley Cup Playoffs), and I think this time we'll make it through.  After all, it is considered a truth universally acknowledged that hockey is a relationship status.

Unfortunately for my serious writing ambitions, I have missed out on the call to write this sort of stuff and get paid for it.  Apparently, if I wanted to do that, I need less sass and more stats.  Yeah, that's just not me.  That's not what sports are to me.  I'm not a numbers sort of girl.  This does not mean that I am not completely capable of telling you what my favorite players goals per game average is (not the best he's ever done at 0.75, but I feel a change in fortune for the better on the horizon).  Instead, it means that I watch and follow sports with my heart.  As an INTJ, that particular organ might be a little under utilized, but not at this time of year.  In fact, it's been stressed since December...relationships can do that to you.

My love of hockey goes back to my childhood when my dad would get tickets to our local AHL team, and I'd get super excited about fights.  Flash forward fifteen years, and if not for the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, my best friend and I might not still be friends.  Foolishly, I made a bargain that should the Penguins come back from an 0-2 series deficit to the Detroit Red Wings, I would not murmur a complaint about the bridesmaid dress (melon orange with watermelon pink sash and bow) until after the big day.  On a plus side, my passion for hockey was rekindled to a fever pitch that simply hasn't abated in the last seven years.  Granted, after the whole dust up that saw Dan Bylsma fired (which I largely attribute to one too many egos in a locker room and a bit of a temper tantrum by my team's captain), and a loss of cable, my relationship hit the skids.  Because of my unabating love for a certain Russian, helped by my affection for a Finn and a goofy Canadian goalie, I never fully broke up.  Not to say it wasn't a bit of a toxic relationship, if a bit one sided.  I even made the drastic move last play off season to remove the Pens App from my front page on my phone.

I am certain I am not the only Pens fan to fall on hard times.  Just about every single person in the organization has been the chosen whipping boy for the team.  Some blame players, owners, and/or coaches.  In the end, it was the coach who paid.  

Fast forward again, and I think we can all safely say that it was the right time, and the right man has come in for the job.  There is resiliency to this team that has been sorely lacking since we blew that series lead against Tampa all the way back in 2011.  Not this time, I tell myself, never again.  I am with my Penguins, to the end of the line.  Forget that, I'm with them until death do us part.

Now, if you want stats, feel free to go read Dejan Kovacevic.  I know when I want a more logical fix on the game, that's where I head.  If you want to, instead, be amused by what might come next from me, then wait around.  There's another therapy session scheduled for tomorrow night.