Tryptophan, Trip To The X, Trip To The Couch

Hockey On A Holiday
There is none.  No NHL games are played on Thanksgiving or Christmas.  And I'm okay with that.  I don't get why any professional sport is played on a holiday.  Holidays are supposed to be days spent with family and loved ones, celebrating our faiths and being thankful for all that we have in our lives.  I don't get why holidays are just another excuse to park our butts in front of the television for an entire day watching sporting events.  Of course, if you're a member of a non-harmonious family, then 8 hours of football or basketball is probably the only way to make it through without killing each other off.  But seriously, people can't make it through a holiday without a professional sport being the highlight of the day?   


Being Thankful
I've learned along the years that it's what you make of your situation that counts.  Because of that philosophy I am able to say Thanksgiving Day was indeed a success for everyone in my life.  Especially so for two very dear friends who received a gift which wasn't immediately recognized as such.  
When you're not feeling well you can do one of two things: 
1. You can pay attention to the symptoms. 
2. You can waive them off, telling yourself it's nothing out of fear that it is something and you'd rather not know. 
In a smart move, my friend sought medical treatment.  It meant that a husband and wife spent Thanksgiving apart from each other - he in the hospital, she making trips back and forth to visit him.  And for that there was some disappointment, loneliness and a feeling of not much to be thankful for. 
I saw the gift, the reason to be thankful.  I saw a husband who has been given the chance to make the commitment to long term medications and lifestyle changes necessary to be with his wife and family for many years to come.  I saw a friend who will face an uphill battle to get started and to stay on track going forward.  But he's here and that's the gift. 
This weekend I could have been standing by as a friend made funeral arrangements for her husband.  Instead I saw a husband and wife ultimately recognize the gift they've been given- life.  They've made a promise to each other to make the most of it.  For the gift of life, they are thankful.  

Hockey: Pre Turkey Day
Yes, Wednesday night's game made me want to kick the cat - if I still had the cat.  It made me want to blog using four letter words and make threats to cancel my season tickets.  It made me angry, disappointed, disillusioned.  I was pissed - kind of like Backstrom was when he stormed off the ice after the game, not waiting around to fist bump or head butt with his team mates.  I don't blame him.  Okay, I do blame him for those break-away goals cuz he's really sucked on those and the shootout goals.  But who could blame a goalie for being pissed at his team mates for not playing hockey in front of him night after night after night?  I was angry and I blogged while angry.  Then I deleted the entire post because the team's effort just wasn't worth my time or effort.  Kind of like how they played in Wednesday night's game.  So I guess we're even.  Except for this: If I listen to one more post game conference with Todd Richards defending horrendous games like that again with his patented unemotional mono tonal response of "I thought there was a lot of good in that game" and "one power play goal and it's a different game" I'm going to lose my sanity.  There are no woulda/shoulda/coulda goals in hockey, Todd.  The only goals that count are the ones where the puck actually goes in the net, the red light goes on and the horn sounds while the smoke comes out and the fans are on their feet singing along to Crowd Chant by Joe Satriani.  The fact of the matter is that your players didn't score one more goal.  Heck, we were lucky to get even the one goal we did - which was pretty darn flukey, at best.

And Post Turkey Day
Fast forward to this afternoon's matinee against the Predators.  It was a crap shoot going into today's game: either we'd come out roaring and firing on all cylinders or we'd come out like most games - just putting in the time and watching the clock until the final buzzer sounded.  Much to the fans delight the Wild performed admirably today.  They went into corners and battled for the puck.  The finished their checks - mostly.  They figured out how to pressure a goalie by having more than one Wild player in front of the net - mostly.  They didn't line change in the middle of an offensive rush.  The defense was pretty spectacular - nominal turnovers compared to most of our games this season.  The team realized that they CAN take more than one shot on goal if that first shot doesn't go in.  Did we still spend way too much time in our own zone - yes.  Did we still get outshot by one of the two lowest scoring teams in the league (guess who the other team is) - yes, we did.  But we did step up our game from the basement and look what you can do with a little effort, a little spring in your step, a little determination.  We won.  We won pretty big given that we scored more goals today than we did in the last two games combined.  

• Jose was FABULOUS! 
• Marty McFly Havlat had a breakout game - he needed it.  Let's hope this is the floodgate opening for him and not the only thing we'll see from him for the next 12 games.
• O'Sullivan seems to be fitting right in (I realize it's only 2 games yet but still, sorry Mittens). 
• Whodathunk Clayton Stoner would be the one to take TooToo's turtle head off?

 And so the tradition carries on for Vicki and me.  This was our sixth Day After Thanksgiving Day Game together.  I can't imagine doing anything else more worthwhile than losing all sense of time (inside joke) with the greatest hockey partner in the world!

I'll write about the Chalk Talk with Wes Walz tomorrow and will post pictures of it as well.  For now I have some videos I promised a number of folks I would put up here.

For my favorite Flyers Fan - the Uprising Video by Muse:

                                        Uprising Video                              

Use the link - the band requested the embedding code be disabled - whatever.

For G - To laughing until you cry and I snort :)    At or With Me - Jack Johnson


For Vicki and Me: How the hell have I been missing out on this voice??
Michael Buble - Haven't Met You Yet

And Here's The Song That Got Me Hooked **note to Vicki - check out his great shoes!  ;)
Save The Last Dance For Me

It occurs to me that someone looking at my iPod playlists in order to get a feel for the kind of person I am would be hard pressed not to think of me as schizophrenic.  I'm all over the place with my taste for music.  About the only thing you won't find on there is rap, hip-hop or disco - because they SUCK.