Not just literally; I mean, I know it really was Monday. Every Monday has a Monday morning, but some of them are what gave Monday morning their reputation, and I had one of those. Too tired to get up, headache, not enough cereal for a full bowl, then I spilled something nasty on the floor ... on my beautiful hardwood floor ... what a Monday (I didn't handle it too well, but in my defense, PMS is also a factor). I had to stop at CVS and buy some Easter candy at 50% off for consolation. For the sake of fitting into my summer clothes, it's a good thing we're waving good-bye to the last of the major candy holidays for a while. Still, Russell Stover* improved my mood considerably, and between that and the medication, the headache went down to barely there for most of the day. Not a great day, but still. I did hear that the charity auction at work raised something like $900, which is great news, and I'm glad to have had some small part in that (and it was small, but hey, every dollar counts).
*a couple of caramel eggs, a "carton" of marshmallow eggs, and yes, I shared
Now, the time has come to wrap up Saturday's Bruins Experience. Not that I won't write about hockey again, but the Bruins' 06-07 season is done, the players were cleaning out their lockers today, and other than the draft the team won't have much news until fall (possibly awards, Kessel's up for the Masterton, at least, but I'll be lucky indeed if that's televised here in the godless south [i.e., south of Canada], and perhaps contract signings, but overall not too much going on). I may watch other playoff games: I'm primarily a Bruins fan, but when the Bruins are either doing well, or are out of the picture altogether, I'm a hockey fan more generally. It's actually more relaxing when I'm not as emotionally involved. Other than when Ray Bourque and Colorado won the Cup, if Boston wasn't involved I've never really cared who won*, so I can just enjoy the games. It's nice.
*Sometimes I cared who lost, if it was a team that eliminated the Bruins. It's like the baseball t-shirt says: I root for two teams, the Red Sox and whoever beats the Yankees. They need to do one of those for hockey; I'd buy one that said, I root for two teams, the Bruins and whoever beats the Canadiens.
Unlike Saturday. I mean, I did have a good time, just not a bouncing, excited, isn't this great time. They lost 6-3, in case you didn't know. And deservedly so. Bergeron had 2 assists, and also won the John P. Bucyk Award before the game; we got to see the local awards handed out, so that was a nice thing. And, a surprise guest, Ray Bourque was there:
introducing his niece, who sang the Canadian National Anthem (and very well, too). So that was nice! We were also in great seats (this is with no zoom, by the way):
which was very nice (via friends of my parents, thanks again!). Pro sports are so expensive these days, I'm used to the nosebleed seats, and boy, if I win the lottery (note to self, buy a ticket), season tickets are on the shopping list. Good seats, like these. Although if I could not be sitting next to ... ummm ... how to put it ... a person of size, who had been drinking quite a bit, whose ideas of personal space differed considerably from mine ... that would be more comfortable. Although he wasn't screaming constant abuse at the players or officials, or spilling his beer on me, or doing any one of a number of things that I'm sure could have been even worse than what he was. No picture of him, certainly!
Actually, most of the pictures I took were during warm-ups, and aren't exactly photos of mass appeal: a lot of similarity to them. It was a fun evening, but in the end a little depressing. The team changed the GM, coaching staff, and about three-quarters of the players, and finished a whopping 2 points ahead of last year. Didn't qualify for the playoffs. Lost 10 of their last 12 games. What a lot of energy I poured into rooting for them this year. (More than the team showed on the ice Saturday night, may I say.) All for this, exactly the same nothing as last year, as so many recent years.
Before the game Saturday, they played a video montage of Bruins history, which was great, then of this season, and they must have pulled just about every goal, every save, every hit of the season to fill the time. It wasn't that long.
Anyway, before I depress myself completely, I'll focus on something small instead (t-shirt of the day: They say I have ADD, but they just don't understand ... oh look, a chicken!). Going to the arena today is different in some ways from when I was a kid, and the same in others. The scoreboard looks different (am I at the movies?):
But they still don't have the game clock and the penalty clock synchronized, so you can watch them count down out of sync, which always seemed stupid to me then. Today? Ridiculous.
On the other hand, the Garden does not blow one of those hideous air horns or flash strobe lights when the home team scores, and I approve of that. I hate those things with the passion of a burning sun, even if it's for my team. Too loud! Too bright! Stop!
Of course, the announcer does wind up the announcement of a goal scored with a loud "Woo!" But no one's perfect.
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