Dress or Jersey

Recently I discovered a picture of myself with a dress hanging up with my Simon Ferguson jersey. It's a huge contradiction. I guess that is me in a nutshell.
I like to go to hockey games. I'll yell at the opposing team or my own if appropriate. I'm not one of those crazy screamers though. I'll walk proudly around the arena in any of my jerseys (I have 6). I'll wear them downtown for food after a game (they're extremely warm too!). I would punch a hockey player in the face if they hurt one of my favorites. They don't scare me. Many are kind of like..man-boys. It's a nice atmosphere.

I like to dress up. I always do when going to a hockey game. I just put the jersey on when the game starts. I like wearing dresses and heels. It's fun. I like to look nice. Not much else to say on that matter.

Yesterday Katya and I went to Lowell to see Simon Ferguson and Mike McKenna. Unfortunately McKenna didn't play. I would have had trouble deciding on a team if he had been in net though. Our seats were right behind the Syracuse Crunch bench.

We got there about 10 seconds before Simon Ferguson (Fergy) finished warming up. I wasn't sure if he had seen us. We waited for the game to start. Lowell had a big entrance so Syracuse came out in the dark and I couldn't see him anywhere. When the lights came up, he was skating to the bench. He had the same surprised look as last season and I thought, God damn I missed that guy. As he sat down, he mumbled something to another guy and looked back at us. I laughed. He looked away quickly so he wouldn't also laugh.

That used to be our thing. We would make him laugh during warm ups. One night at a season ticket holder party he asked why we laughed so much. We responded that laughter was a good thing and he should do it more often. For the rest of the season he would always laugh when he saw us and I would always laugh when eye contact was made. You could tell he was trying really hard not to laugh.

It was similar last night. We dubbed him the awkward turtle, because he kept trying to avoid eye contact. We would see him look over occasionally. He didn't really fall down, which was surprising. Apparently he did a funny spin that I missed. Some guy behind us was yelling about it.

In the third period, Lowell scored their second goal. I yelled at Fergy to show them our response (aka score another goal) as he hopped onto the ice. He then proceeded to run into another guy, spin around and almost fall down. Typical Fergy. He assisted on the first goal though and they won 3-2.

Half way through the game some tension started in front of the Syracuse Bench/us. I was taking a photo when Fergy tapped on the glass. I took the photo, but was confused as to why he was tapping and what he was saying. My thought was, Is he telling me not to take the photo? Then he threw a puck over the glass. It landed behind my seat. I was too suprised to catch it (so was Katya). The man who had been yelling at Fergy earlier got up and handed it to me.

I thought he was going to take it for himself. If he had tried, I would have ripped it from his hands. Seriously. Don't steal the Fergy puck or I'll kill you. I laughed with bubbly happiness for the rest of the period....and night actually. It's the happiest moment of the year so far and I think it will probably stay at the top.
Best moment of last year: talking to Fergy after the game in Bridgeport (although I quite enjoyed talking to Gerbe in Hershey also).

I know you probably don't get why I'm so happy about this. It's not just another hockey player thing. There's no such thing with me. I've been watching him play since I was 14. He's seen me grow up. I love that I can make fun of him to his face and joke around with him. He's a good man. A little awkward, but that's okay. He has a lot of character.
I compare the current Pirates with the 2007-2008 team. They're two completely different teams and that's okay I guess. I know I shouldn't compare them, because it makes me miss the old team more and resent the new one. I think part of it is that I enjoyed seeing the fan-hockey player connection. The old team would throw kids pucks during warm ups, make funny faces at the children, Bootland would let a couple of season ticket holders feed him fries, Drew Miller would talk to this one kid in particular, they would stay out in the cold after games to talk to their avid fans...

I loved watching this interaction. I was always more of an observer than interactive. My role was not to take, but to give. It still is. I think that's why some of the guys see me differently. I would rather give them photos of themselves than take their autograph. Why? Well have you seen their faces when they receive the photos? They light up and relax. They make funny comments about themselves. I get to see a bit more into their personality than if I were taking an autograph.

So today I decided that I need to move on and accept this new team. To be honest, I like them better than last season. The only one who has really caught my though, is Nathan Gerbe. I'm not talking about physical attraction. That's one thing you have to know about me. It's not about the attractive men, it's about the community and people. I don't know him very well, but I'd like to. He seems like a nice guy so far and a really hard worker. He has a huge amount of talent and uses it well. I think it's the combination of being a hard worker and being so down to earth that I like. It's impressive and I know he must be under a ton of pressure. Bobby Ryan did not handle that pressure as well (although Bobby Ryan was often compared to Sidney Crosby, which was a bad comparison) and he came off a little cocky.

So here's to the 2009-2010 Portland Pirates. I'll be supporting them (rather than the opponents with the old Pirates team) from here on out. The only exception I have to make is for the game against Syracuse. Tomorrow when they play against the Worcester Sharks and Joe Callahan, I'll be hoping the Pirates win. I don't see any reason why they wouldn't if they work hard all 3 periods.

Suggestions to future Pirates:

• Talk to the fans more
• Interact during warm ups (throw pucks to kids occasionally etc)
• Work hard, the fans will love you for it
• Enforcers: Be fierce and play it up sometimes (like Robataille and Gillies)
• Captains: The way you act and lead is the way the fans will see the rest of the team (aka Bouck and Gavey - great captains)
• Show your quirks, accept (and learn from) your mistakes and don't be embarrassed because it's not "manly." (Petteri Wirtanen known for always smiling, Drew Miller being extremely nice to and interactive with the children etc)

I'll post parts of this on my hockey blog, but it's here primarily because it's more about me than hockey.