$60, no, PRICELESS

Tonight, for the first time in a long while, I have had time to kill. Whew, that feels good, doesn't it? So what have I used the time for? Sleeping? No. I've been listening to music and checking hockey scores. "Hockey scores?!?" some of you may be asking. Yes, hockey scores. I never used to care at all about the NHL, but all that has changed thanks to my guy, Josiah. He's an avid Colorado Avalanche fan, and has turned me into the same. Want proof? Here's a picture of me in my Avalanche track jacket:

Where am I standing in this picture? At United Center, of course, where Josiah and I saw the Avalanche play the Chicago Blackhawks back in January! (Meant to post a block that weekend, but I got really busy...) So here's a play-by-play of our hockey game experience:

We take the #19 Bus to United Center, excitement is building. After all, this is our first real life NHL game, and we paid 60 buckos for these tickets, and they are gonna be good. We arrive and find our seats, to discover the seats really are good ones.

Note the look of satisfaction on my face because we have a great view of the rink!

The players come on the ice and start to warm up. Hey look, there's our favorite player, Joe Sakic! He's the bomb.

Josiah could tell you probably everything about this guy. What kind of boxers does Joe Sakic wear? Just ask Josiah. Ok, Josiah is not a stalker, I'm just kidding about the boxers question. But seriously. This guy rocks.

The pregame show consists of fancy lights and music. Pretty cool, we got some good video but no pictures. I can't be taking pictures ALL the time, after all, I have to just watch sometimes.

The game starts, and within 17 seconds, the Blackhawks score! Ugh, that's not the way to start off, Avs!


At this point I would like to insert this picture, where we can clearly see the Blackhawk player in red the totally whiffing a shot. How embarassing... Yeah that's right, nice job. Boo. Thank goodness, the Avalanche score about 5 minutes later. So, we're happy and hopeful as the first period (three in hockey) comes to a close. We head out to buy a $4.50 slice of pizza and $4 Root beer, woohoo.

Seriously, we're psyched about using our life savings to buy concessions.

The game starts up again, and we are dismayed that the Blackhawks score two more goals before the Avalanche score their second. I mean, the Blackhawks are at this point considered one of the worst teams in the league, and the Avalanche have a big winning streak. Why, God, WHY? When our beloved team gets to this point, the Blackhawk fans surrounding us are starting to wear on our nerves.

The Blackhawks score again. The score is now 2-4, we are losing. The second period ends, we head out and buy two $4 hot dogs and another $4 soda. Since our life savings are already exhausted on these refreshments, I put it on my visa. I'll have to work for months to pay back that bill, let me tell you.

Third period starts, and no one ends up scoring the entire time. Both teams must be tired or something. I know I would be after two twenty-minute periods of skating. Then again, I can't ice skate very well. And I lack hand-stick coordination. At least I think I do, I haven't played ice hockey in my entire life. Just floor "hockey" in elementary school gym class, you know, where if you lift the stick above your waist, you get a whistle blown at you and have to sit out for the rest of the game? Back to the subject. We are sad. Hence the first picture where I'm frowning while showing off my cool track jacket.

But sad enough to regret paying $60 and going to the game? No! It was soooo worth it. We had a lot of fun, it was exciting, the atmosphere was awesome, and I learned a valuable lesson: it is much easier to see the puck in real life, when you aren't dizzy from the ESPN camera moving fast back and forth.