little known facts and a happy moment

One little known fact that sometimes surprises friends and family ... my groovy sisters love their sports. The retired sisters that live here at groovy sister hq in particular love all things Seattle Mariners (especially when they are winning). And football. And college basketball. And golf. Tennis. Dog shows. Ice Skating. But especially baseball. They don't seem to love hockey though, which is too bad.

Because one other little known fact is that I LOVE hockey. It's the only sport I really enjoy watching. I grew up with it. My brothers played hockey, and we had season tickets (center ice) for the Washington Capitals my entire childhood. Hockey games were a major bonding point with my dad and brothers. It's also where I learned most of the more common swear words (from the season ticket holders behind us). We'd also see the occasional congressman or high ranking government official at games since it was DC and we had awesome seats. My junior year in high school I was particularly obsessed with the game. I watched/listened to all 80 regular season Caps games on person/tv/radio. (Ok ... so I may have had a serious crush on a certain defenseman.)

I still love hockey, although I don't get a chance to watch much of it. I've tried to get friends interested in watching hockey with me on tv over the years, but out here in the Northwest there's not much of an interest (outside of Vancouver I suppose). Plus, I get tired of explaining all the rules.

The Capitals are still my team, even though it's hard to catch their games out here. They're also not a team with a great track record. They have a habit of being eliminated early in the playoffs. I remember praying over the years that they'd make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. Then they did in 1998 .... and promptly lost every game to the Red Wings. Proof of what they say ... be careful what you pray for! Or more exact I suppose. Not that I think one should be praying for particular outcomes in sporting events, but that's another blog post.

In any case, ever since their Stanley Cup debacle of 1998, the Caps haven't made it past the first round of the playoffs. Until this year .... they beat the Rangers tonight to advance to the 2nd round of the playoffs. I didn't manage to watch any of the games, but hopefully I can watch the next playoff round(s) of my hometown team!