"With Glowing Hearts"

Depsite all my cynicism it was kind of fun today. It was a very unique time in our house this afternoon. Roo and I have watched lots of hockey games together but I'm pretty sure that this is the first time that we sat through an entire game with Peter (who never watches hockey), Colby who cheers for the Habs and for Canada, because at one point he thought they were one and the same, and Kylie who got a bit frightened by some of the swearing. Of course we were all wired like crazy as the game wore on and after the US scored their first goal we had to promise that no one would use the F word anymore, or at least not 7 times in succession while throwing things across the room. Of course this resolve was tested with 25 seconds left in the game, but somehow we controlled our disgust that the son of a famous Canadian had tied the game.

I personally maintained my composure quite well throughout, but I had a special strategy. I simply distracted myself. That wasn't hard of course because my favorite distractions were already here. When things got tense I decided to get my hair cut. If you ever need a grounding, a reminder of the real important things in life, then put your grandchildren on the bathroom counter, hang your head over the sink, and hand them a pair of electric shears. If this doesn't work then you might as well start swearing because you're never gonna get it. It worked perfectly for me.

The mood clincher for me came sometime during the third period when Colby came over to me and asked if he could sit on my lap to watch. I can tell you truly, that when Parise scored I was of course disappointed, but not stressed. Colby was a little frustrated but he doesn't know the F word, never having ever heard it in his life! arr, arr!

When the eventual end came, it was just too cool watching Colby strutting around the room giving high fives, and talking about the gold medal record.

And for you younger readers Zack Parise is the son of J. P. who played for Canada during the famous 72 Canada-Russia series. He played well, but is perhaps most famous for getting ejected from a game for threatening to bash the Russian referee over the head with his stick. Apparently the referees skills improved significantly after the incident! Probably only Cory remembers it!

The only part of the game that somehow did annoy me was seeing Stephen Harper in the stands. I wonder how he got a ticket, why does he have to be there, and why does he get to sit beside the Great One? Did you see him come into the closing ceremony? It seemed to me that he did an Adolf Hitler imitation when he got to his seat???

And to the person who had the closing ceremeny idea with the faulty flame thing and Catriona Le May Doan....brilliant!

"Every day is a great day for hockey."---Mario Lemeiux

...and this one took me a second to grasp, but when I got it I laughed...

”To his US Olympic team - Every day you guys look worse and worse. And today you played like tomorrow.”---John Mariucci

...but this one brought me almost to hysterics. I don't think I ever took as mcuh pleasure in a quote....

”Hockey is a man's game. The team with the most real men wins.”---Brian Burke

"I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind."---John Diefenbaker

love
peter