Sunday, December 30, 2007

Believe in Blueland

I attended my first NHL hockey game last night. Tickets for the Thrashers vs. Bruins game were one of my gifts to PDM this Christmas. He loves hockey, but I had always been sort of lukewarm about going. I'd been to a couple of AHL games (the now defunct Worcester Icecats) when I lived in Massachusetts, and I like watching sports, but generally hockey hasn't been my thing. That's why I knew this gift would be a surprise. Especially when I wrapped the tickets and taped them to the inside cover of a box, put a lot of junk in it to rattle around, then wrapped the box.

I've gotta admit it was a lot of fun. Way better than watching a game on TV. It didn't take long to see my first hockey fight (less than two and a half minutes in), followed by a second fight before they had even announced the penalties for the first fight. That got the crowd fired up. Atlanta went on to play a great game, winning a 5-0 shutout.

This should have been my second Thrashers-Bruins game. PDM had tickets to a Thrashers game for us and four of his family members five years ago during one of my holiday visits. This was back when I still lived in Massachusetts and we were dating long distance. Unfortunately, we ate some bad Mexican food the day before and became violently ill overnight. It was my first time staying at the family home, and I made it memorable by puking all over the floor at three o'clock in the morning. To his credit, PDM helped me clean it up, even though he was also fighting a losing battle with nausea. The family had to go to the game without us, and we ended up with a pair of $60 bookmarks to go with our fever and chills. We joke about it now, but back then... not so funny.

10 comments:

NYPinTA said...

Well, glad your second attempt was better than the first!
I don't much care for hockey but I will admit it is fun to watch live. Most sports are. I used to go all the time with Henry and his Navy buddies. They'd sit on the home team side and root for the visiting team. Both dangerous and fun! ;)

fermicat said...

Henry's a Navy guy? Then I should apologize for Tech hiring away Paul Johnson from their football team. Oops. Sorry.

But yes, I can't think of any sports that aren't better live. Well, maybe golf (yawn).

There were a few Bruins fans there. The camera guys made fun of them a few times.

LL said...

*sigh* Hokey...

I too hope to catch a game before I perish.

Oh... who won the fight?

Dave said...

Watch what you say about golf; though, in person is not the best way to watch it.

You probably really need to be a fan; but, one of the best experiences I've ever had was going to practice rounds for the Masters. You've just given me an easy post, I'll put up some pictures on this foggy cold morning.

fermicat said...

ll - Who won? The refs.

You don't watch hockey? Hmm. You're a lot closer to Canada than we are, and have a lot more ice.

dave - I'm just not a golf fan. It doesn't help that my ex was and it is now an unpleasant association. Plus I suck at it, so I also associate the game with frustration and failure.

The dense fog this morning is beautiful. Probably not much fun to drive in though. PDM is out getting the last minute stuff for our bowl watching gathering. You know, 'cause we couldn't buy the alcohol yesterday when we bought the food. Stupid blue laws...

wa11z said...

Thrashers games are great. They are by far the best sports team to watch in Atlanta.

Jeni said...

I've never seen a hockey game "live" - used to watch it on tv but then -like a lot of other sports things -just let it go by the wayside I guess you'd say.
By the way - I thought of you and your post below here about 3 a.m. this morning when this goofy cat here -little Nina -came bounding up onto the pillow of my bed, bouncing my stuffed up head around -in her quest to get to the window in my bedroom, for whatever reasons she may had at that hour, who knows. Thankfully, she made no liquid deposits on my head and pillow in passing though. LOL

fermicat said...

wa11z - I especially enjoyed the antics in the "Nasty Nest".

jeni - glad you weren't the victim of inappropriate urination. I'm going to be suspicious of feline activity near my pillow for a long time to come...

Beth said...

I'm with nypinta. Thank God for second chances. I was just telling my husband I'd like to see a real hockey game. I have a feeling I'd love it.

Also, I nominated you and yes, it kind of tags you, but no, I do NOT care if you NEVER EVER do the dang thing. (just thought you should know)

fermicat said...

A tag with no obligations? Well thanks! You rock! But I will try to get to it before too long.