A very sincere thank you to the Philadelphia Flyers

The 2009-2010 Philadelphia Flyers lost Game 6, and the series, of the Stanley Cup Finals last night, on home ice, to the Chicago Blackhawks. . . and i don't care.

I was engaged by nearly every minute of every playoff game, and during the regular season, the kid without a TV listened to most games on the radio, caught a few at a bar, and watched a bunch over at a homey's crib [51 inch Hi Def don't lie].  We were picked at the start of the season to win it all by hockey commentator and former NHL coach Barry Melrose, and through a turbulent 82 game season that included a two week hiatus for the Olympics, the Flyers knew all about the ups and downs of professional hockey.  Their young, promising coach was fired in the early season.  Their new, big money goalie, who showed up with baggage, required a career ending hip surgery.  Their players doubted themselves and maybe even one another, but when the final game of the regular season ended, it was with high drama and a promise.  That they would not quit.

If you do not know much about hockey, here is the abridged version: 6 men aside including a goalie.
Regular Season games are three 20 minute periods, and if the score is tied after regulation ends, there is 5:00 overtime period in which each team skates with only 5 players [4 + the goaltender].  Sudden Death overtime, first to score wins [unlike professional baseball or the NBA].  If the OT period remains scoreless, the teams engage in a shoot out.  Each team lines up three players, whom are selected that very game, and they take turns going 1 on 1 against the goalie.  Quite exciting.  I can give you all sorts of history lessons on the NHL but i won't.  I told you this because the final game of the Flyers' season, against division rival NY Rangers, was decided in a shootout, on the final shooter, and that determined our playoff position.  Let me say this in a another fashion.  If No. 28 Claude Giroux did not score this goal we would have not gone to the playoffs.
     This season was quite rocky, and the Flyers, far from 1st place in their own division, were not playing well enough in the last 6 weeks to earn a playoff spot outright, they had to win against the Rangers, eliminating the Rangers from post season competition to secure a spot.  A large portion of fans, both dedicated and fair weather, did not think the Orange and Black would go to the playoffs, let alone the finals.

It is OK for me to say that the entire playoff season was reminiscent of being trapped in a dream.  The first playoff game against division rival New Jersey Devils [the only other team in the NHL i actually like] was scheduled while i was out of town at the Certified Indian Club Specialist Workshop in St. Paul.  The Boston series was stuff of legend and i shouldn't have to debrief you on that, followed by a 5 game disposal of another semi-Cinderella squad, the Montreal Canadiens.  In addition to the drama which stemmed from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, my personal life was also quite eventful.  I had my second hernia surgery in 20 months.  I chose to resign from Trader Joe's, my perfect little day job that introduced me to two guys who i'll be buds with forever.  I broke up with a girl who i had convinced [and convinced myself also] that we were the future of one another and that we could navigate the rocky waters of life together, and make babies.  My family sold the house that has been in our family for 40 years, the house that i spent age 10-17 in, the house which i was entitled by law to receive 30% of after sale, and boogied out to a trailer park in Delaware.  My parents are so broke they chose to not pay me the 30,000 dollars i was willed by my Grandmother and clear their own debt instead [no BS, they ripped me off and moved to a trailer park in Delaware], which i will soon forget about, so long as they stay off drugs for the rest of their lives [i make more money then both of them anyway].  To further the nonsense, i enjoyed myself in responsible fashion last Friday, watching the Flyers win game 4 with my pals at the pub, narrowly avoiding a serious personal pitfall, only to end up on the phone with her at 1AM, finding out that someone said something about me and i had to get someone on the phone and make a mess so that she knew i was not worth her time because i'm blah blah blahggity blog.  In addition to all of this, there is mad drama in the world of the organization i have dedicated the last 6 years of my life to, and by no coincidence, i am right in the middle of it. 

So if you can tell me that your most recent 8 weeks were anything like what i just committed to text, you best call me and tell me about it, because the Cup has been handed off and that distraction is over.  First, i have more to tell you.

14 years ago  i graduated high school.  After that, i enlisted in the Corps.  I was totally born a Jarhead.  So my bud from high school whom i spent the most hang time with back in those days grew up to be a talented chef who has returned to the neighborhood as of last year.  Not until last night did we get to sit down together and hang out as grown men.  Big Z is now a muscular, handsome restaurant consultant in the Philly area and he has a 6 year old son whom he loves very much.  He saw my mom at the convenient store she works at last summer, and she gave him my number.  We traded phone calls and then literally bumped into each other at the health club about two months ago, three days before that game against the NY Rangers, he working lat pull downs and i ready to work my Indian club skill.  Last night, i scooted to the pub near his apartment and we watched every minute of the game together.  And i came to find out that he is a really cool cat.  I was all forms of player hating on him in high school, though we were buds.  He had his license and a car way before me, always had a hot girl on his arm, was terribly funny, and smart enough to throw keg parties in the woods and make about 300.00 each weekend.  After about 13 years of not seeing each other or even knowing what the other was really up to, there we sat, engaged by the Flyers and pretty much on the level after 13 long, long years.  So, when Scotty Hartnell scored the goal that took us into overtime, we gave each other a 9 foot high fiver.  And when whatever-his-name-is from the Blackhawks scored the game winner in OT, ending our season and pulling me out of the wake of this spring dream, he was the first person i said "good night" to before i walked on home.  I hope we end up seated at the pub together again, for sure.  And FYI i had a feast last night, so mammoth, that you cannot comprehend.  Sans beers [though my friends would not let me get away with bailing on shots of Jameson, i was trying to leave the alcohol out of it], and drinking straight ice water all night, i ordered three salads and an entree, which i will detail as a post script.

The distraction from real life that was the NHL post season is now over, and the next chapter of this year, these seasons, my pilgrimage, is being written.  I can only hint at how helpful the Cup was with regard to aiding in my efforts to not think about this break up every minute, and now that it's over, it my responsibility to fully digest the fact that it is over, and i can move on.  In the lexicon of an adult relationship and hockey, it's game, series, season.  In 2007 i was involved in a break up that had more administrative woe than squall of lost love, and i failed to act appropriately when it all came down.  It is different now.  If i want, i can rise straight to the light.  If i want, i will prevail.  I should believe in myself, many other people do.  The Flyers were nearly done for the year, and they gave us an incomparable
8 weeks of effort.  In thanking them for the memories and the excitement, i must also thank them for the example given.  You did not quit, boys.  You got confused sometimes, and you doubted yourselves, as we all do, but when the game and season finalized, it wasn't because you submitted.  You were just outgunned.  The lesson, and the memories, should prove eternal.  Thank you so very much.

"This time, this time, i'm gonna find. . .because i know there's time"