For My Dad

Today would have been my dad’s 85th birthday.  He passed away in March ‘07 from pneumonia after having had a heart attack.  So today, in honor of my dad, I thought I would share a few stories that were special to me. 

My dad was a diesel truck mechanic at a lime plant outside of our little town.  He was only 5′8″ but had about a 44″ chest.  He had massive shoulders and was incredibly strong.  His hands were massive as well.  He wore a size 14 ring.  No that is not a typo.  Dad was always tinkering around with cars and my sister and I both got cars when we turned 16.  But of course they were major fixer-uppers.  Consequently, some of our favorite stories have to do with cars.  My sister is 5 years older than me and when it came her time to get a car, my dad got her a Volkswagen Beetle with a sunroof.  It was a pretty cool little car but it had a faded green paint job, so Dad promised her he would paint it for her.  When he asked her what color she wanted she said purple!  My sister had an obsession with purple.  Dad said, “Now Jan, You can’t paint a car with just any old paint, it has to be automotive paint.”  This was the mid 70’s and he wasn’t sure he could find purple automotive paint.  What would be her second choice?  She said blue, so off he went to see what he could find.  When he returned he was really excited.  There was a purple Plymouth Duster out at the time and he had returned with the perfect purple metallic paint.  And so my sister’s infamous Purple Bug was born.  It was something with it’s purple shag carpet and blue plaid seat covers!  He was just as proud as Jan when it was done, maybe not as excited, but just as proud.  Dad had always encouraged us to not just follow the crowd, but think for ourselves, so the fact that my sister wanted a purple car was fine by him. 

What I Learned About Brad Richards During My Summer Vacation

My original plan for this piece was to do a compare/contrast between our two latest big acquisitions, Brad Richards and Sean Avery.  They are both big name players, born a little less than a month apart, both Canadian (no surprise there), both shoot left (doesn’t everyone who plays for Dallas?), pretty close to the same size.  But obviously they play vastly different games.  No need for explanation there.  I thought it would be interesting to see how else they might compare.  So I started reading up on each. 

First, I read about Avery.  It was pretty much what I expected.  Lots of celebrity news sights, gossip columns, and hockey stories about what he had been accused of doing over the past few years.  The typical hot young celebrity stuff.  Then I started reading about Brad and quickly realized that I could not do the comparison piece.  Even I could not be that mean to Sean Avery.  Shocking, I know.  The stories on Brad were amazing and so incredibly positive.  Comparing almost any hockey player to him would be kind of mean.  So I decided to share what I found out about Brad with you instead.

A Blast From the Past and How I Came to Love Hockey

I received something very exciting today!  It is a copy of the March 3, 1980 Sports Illustrated in excellent condition.  What is so exciting about that, you ask?  It is, of course, the issue with the famous cover of the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team’s defeat of the Soviet Union.  One of my closest friend’s husband is a huge sports fan and has quite the collection of baseball cards and other sports memorabilia.  He is also the Head Thief over at Landthieves, an excellent and hilarious blog on University of Oklahoma and Big 12 sports.  His game previews are a must read every week during football season.  Anyway, he was going through a box of old SI’s issues and found this issue.  Knowing my love/obsession of this team, he gave me the copy.  Words cannot express my gratitude. 

 

My love/obsession of hockey started right here.  The first hockey game I ever watched was their game defeating the Soviet Union.  I was 17 and a junior in high school.  I distinctly remember watching the game with my dad and being so overwhelmed by the emotions of the game.  I also remember being overwhelmed by how cute all the players were as well!  I was 17, remember, and just the right age to fall in love with these guys.  Unfortunately, after the Olympics were over there was very little hockey to be watched in Clifton, Texas in 1980. 

Stars Stuff Fun

Well, it’s been pretty quiet on the hockey front lately.  We were very excited to get the new schedule in our hot little hands this week.  I’m working on Hub to go along with getting a 12 game season ticket plan for the three of us, but not making a whole lot of progress.  It’s a pretty good chunk of change to plunk down on something totally frivolous, but sometimes you just need frivolous!  In that vein, I am very excited to announce that we purchased our first hockey sweaters/jerseys, whatever you want to call them, today!  Mine is, of course, an Ott jersey and Hub’s is a Robidas jersey.  Kid got the pink, silver and white version of the white ladies jersey since she loves pink sparkly stuff and she still can’t decide which player she likes best.  We promised someday when she has stopped growing and has settled on a player, she can get a player jersey.  I still can’t believe we got them and I still can’t believe I just spent that much money on a freakin’ shirt.  Or that my husband, Mr. Tight, agreed to getting them.  But he has become a pretty big Stars fan himself and seems to think the jerseys are pretty cool. 

We made our monumental purchases while we were at the AAC for the Stars/Mavericks warehouse sale.  Don’t get too excited, they did not have them at the sale, we paid full price for them in the Fan Shop, after going to the warehouse sale.  We had a great time prowling through all the stuff and didn’t even mind standing in a very long line, as we all took turns foraging and waiting in line.  We came away with 5 caps, 4 t-shirts, 3 pins and 1 Turco bobble-head.  Even Mr. Tight picked out 2 caps and a “Lock It Down” t-shirt.  Kid picked out the same t-shirt, a beanie-type cap and a pink and grey lodge cap, the aforementioned  bobble-head and was delighted to find a Turco bobble-head pin as well.  I got a play-off t-shirt, a cap and a pin that is a miniature of the old “star poncho” jerseys.  I also picked up a 2007 ASG Miller #30 t-shirt in homage to all the IPB Irregulars who are Sabres bloggers.  We skipped the Campbell jersey though! 

Now we are all going to be sufficiently decked out in Stars regalia for this coming season.  Even the car is going to be decorated with a Stars flag and antenna ball. A good time was had by all (well maybe except for when Hub had to pay for the jerseys)!  It was just one of those silly kind of outings that seem to happen all too rarely these days.  Can’t wait for Training camp so we can get everything signed!  Now if I can just talk Hub into those season tickets!  Go Stars!

Lightning Frightens Me

I just heard that Mike Smith has gotten a 2 year extension with Tampa Bay.  I really wish him all the best.  I loved that crazy kid.  But I must say Tampa Bay frightens the heck out of me right now.  These new owners are making some very bold moves.  Like signing every known available forward and locking up Vincent Lecavalier for 11 years.  (Apparently, Vinnie really wants to stay in Tampa Bay.  I would have wanted to wait to see how these new dudes worked out, but anyway.)  They’ve brought in Ollie Kolzig for their other goalie, whatever that means.  Plus, they’ve brought in new coach, who hasn’t coached in quite a while, and have run off their GM.  Then there is their defense.  It was pretty non-existent last season until they brought in that new kid, Picard.  Plus, they didn’t have a clue as to what to do with Mike Smith’s puck handling abilities.  So what have they done on defense?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Beats the heck out of me.  I’ll be watching to see what happens.  Who can resist a potential train wreck?  For our misplaced Stars and Vinnie’s neck (which I love), I certainly hope they don’t crash and burn.

Stars Prospects Skills Competition

We attended our first Skills Competition today.  I must confess, I basically had no idea what kind of drills they were doing half the time.  Jen over at The Shootout has a great post about it, including the different drills.  I was a little more comfortable when they started to scrimmage, but I did feel like my hockey watching skills have gotten a bit rusty.  All I can say is they were moving really fast and taking lots of shots and the goalies were making saves all over the place.  It was fabulous!  I keep wanting to make those funny noises Tim Allen used to make on “Home Improvement”.  Weird, huh.

David McIntyre was a standout in the speed skating, unfortunately, he fell on the relay.  Ondrej Roman did well shooting.  Others who continued to catch my attention were Austin Smith (not just because he is from Dallas), Trevor Ludwig and Matt Stephenson.  Francis Wathier cracked me up, he is a real talker.  You always knew where he was, on the bench or on the ice.  On the ice, he had the skills to back it up, too.  Then there were the goalies.  Watching Besko work was amazing.  The kid can really move.  At 6′ 4″, seeing the eighteen-year-old goalie flopping all over the place like the Scarecrow from Oz was awesome.  I know he has a ways to go still but it was fun.  Oh, and he is adorable, too.

But my favorite moment of the morning came from the other goalie, Richard Bachman.  He has good glove work, but I agree with Jen’s assessment that he does tend to come out of the crease a bit to far/often.  Overall, he did very well, I thought, and did remind me a little of Turco.  To say he had a great year this past year at Colorado College, would be a major understatement.  But my favorite part is what came afterwards.  As soon as they were finished on the ice, he skated over to talk to some of the kids.  While he signed a few autographs, he gave his stick to one of the boys to hold for him.  Then when he went to leave, the little boy and his mom were saying, “hey, you forgot your stick.”  Bachman said, “No, you can keep it.”   The kid was like, “FOR REAL?!?”  And so was his mom.  Bachman laughed and said he was sure and walked off.  The kid was ecstatic, to say the least.  It was definitely a “Mean Joe Green Coke commercial” moment.  What more can I say.

No Camp Talk Tonight, Shop Talk Instead

I’m bummed.  We headed over to Frisco this afternoon only to find out that they had cancelled the afternoon session of Development camp.  So no camp talk tonight.  No little prospects googling their name and finding my blog.  I had one kid’s name come up like six times on my stats tracker.  I hope he liked my post. : )  Hub, Kid and I are heading back tomorrow morning for the Skills Competition, so we’ll have that to discuss tomorrow! 

So in usual fashion, when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.  Kid and I went to Ikea instead.  Ikea is so amazingly awesome.  I cannot even put into words how much we love Ikea.  We made it out with only a few kitchen gadgets and some things for Kid’s room, so not too expensive.  The plans Kid formulated for redoing her room may not be so inexpensive.  I guess I really shouldn’t give Avery too hard a time about shopping, because we always manage to fit in shopping when we head to Frisco for Stars practice.  Call it bribery for the Kid to be patient at practice.  She likes watching hockey but does not have as long of an attention span for it as her mom.  Plus the shopping options over there are fabulous.  Besides Ikea, there is the toney Stonebriar Mall, The Container Store and, our most beloved, Sam Moon.  We went to Sam Moon on our Tuesday trip.  If you have never heard of Sam Moon and live in the DFW Metroplex, you must live under a rock.  Run, do not walk, to your nearest location.  We frequent the one in Frisco and the one at 35E and 635.  If there are more, I do not know.  You’ll have to google it yourself.  They have the most amazing selection of handbags, jewelry and other accessories evah!!!  We made it out under $100 which is not too amazing because everything is so inexpensive.  But that makes it really hard to not go completely crazy.  We’ve had a lot of fun over the last couple of days, or as Kid said today, “Mom, fun just seems to find us wherever we go.”  I wonder how long that will last.  Someday soon, I’m afraid, she won’t be thinking that anymore.

Sean Avery Watch, Day 1

As hard as it is for me to accept, Sean Avery is on his way to becoming a Dallas Star.  Bob and Dan on The Ticket interviewed Sean today.  This was the first time I’ve actually heard him.  I’ve read lots about him, not much flattering.  I can’t say he said anything different from what I expected.  You can tell he is young (read immature) and unmarried (read immature).  I know he is only 28 but he is a young (read immature) 28.  He started off by asking if Ross Perot had a son because he was wondering about who he could hang out with besides his teammates.  He was looking for, quote, his J.R.  Lame.  When asked about why he wasn’t staying with the Rangers, he insinuated that he left the Rangers because they couldn’t agree on how much he was worth.  Hmmm.  That is definitely possible, but you gotta wonder.  

The conversation moved to his relationship with Hull.  He said something about maybe Hullie teaching him a little too much too soon about sports and maybe women.  Lame again.  Learning about women from Hullie?  That could explain some about Avery.  I got a kick out of the factors he listed for deciding which cities he would consider.  These included shopping and the girls.  I can understand the girls for most single players, but I found shopping to be a bit odd.  I have since found out, after much discussion over on IPB, that a lot of NHLers like to shop.  Especially since they have a lot of down time when they are on the road.  I guess that makes sense.  It’s just hardly any of the men I know like shopping, most loathe it.  So I get the shopping and the girls comments now.  

Anyway, back to the interview.  My favorite part was at the very end, when Bob asked how Sean was feeling these days after the whole spleen injury.  He said he was feeling great but had a girl tell him recently that he looked 34 not 28.  Dan’s reply was great.  He asked, “As you’re asking her, what’s your major?”  Avery sputtered and hmm’d.  A little too close to being right?  Good one, Dan.  

So that was my first radio interview of the infamous Sean Avery.  Not particularly overwhelmed.  Unfortunately, I’m sure there is much more to come.

Still it should be interesting to see how he goes over in Texas. 

Link to podcast of interview on Dallas Stars website.

Stars Development Camp

Kid and I made it over to the The Stars Center for about an hour of the afternoon session of the Stars Development Camp.  Warning, if you are expecting fabulous hockey insights, your are looking in the wrong place.  I’ve only been an obsessed fan for one season.  There is so much yet to learn.  Okay, disclaimer done.

Can I just say, man, I love watching hockey.  It was great just being around the sights and sounds of hockey again–the scraping of the skates, pucks hitting the boards, the speed of the skaters.  Only being there an hour, I can’t say too much.  Sawada looks big and has a pretty nice shot.  A kid named Matt Stephenson kept catching my eye for sheer energy and grit.  Scott Winkler looked surprisingly good to be so young.  Bachman and Beskorowany were in goal.  I liked what I saw but, again, it was only for an hour.  Besko looks huge in goal.  You can definitely tell he is 6′4″.  Bachman had some nice glove work.  It was nice to see Stuuuuuuuuuu there watching.  We plan on heading back to Frisco on Thursday and the whole family, along with several other area bloggers, will be there Friday morning.  I’d say look for the bunch that appear to be having way too much fun for the occasion.

We were so surprised and pleased to run into The Sign Girls when we first arrived.  They were down from Oklahoma for the day and had been to the morning session as well.  They said they’ll be posting again soon.  We, of course, had to discuss the recent signing of Sean Avery and losing Nik Hagman.  We agreed that we weren’t too happy about either move.  I know what everyone is saying about both so no need to try to explain the virtues of either to me.  Let’s just say Avery is going to have to do a lot to convince us differently.  As for Hagman,  he was one of my absolute favorites to watch.  He gave everything he had every shift and his breakaways were a sheer joy to behold.  The fact that his helmet was always crooked drove me a little nuts though.  Then it became endearing.  Oh well, it is a business and things will always be changing so I’d better get used to players coming and going.  We also got into a discussion withone of the sales guys in the Star Stuff Store about Avery.  He claimed no one had a problem with Avery until he pulled the Brodeur stunt.  I begged to differ with him.  Even though I’ve only been following hockey for a year, I had already become acquainted with Avery’s antics and was not amused to say the least.  I advised him to hold off on the Avery jersey he was planning on buying.  Ah, lighthearted trashtalk, oh, how I have missed you…

Rumor has it that Schedule Day is the 16th!  And so another season begins!  Can’t wait!

Real Hockey, Sort of!

Today is the first day of the Dallas Stars Development Camp!  I just caught a glimpse of it on the news.  It felt so good to see skaters and snippet interviews again!  The on-ice sessions are open to the public so Kid and I will be heading over there tomorrow to see what these prospects look like.  We’ll be letting you know what we thought about it, tomorrow night. 

DALLAS STARS DEVELOPMENT CAMP ON-ICE PRACTICE TIMES – JULY 7 – JULY 11

Monday, July 7

Practice 9:30 – 11:00 a.m. @ Frisco Dr Pepper StarCenter

Practice 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. @ Frisco Dr Pepper StarCenter

Tuesday, July 8

Practice 9:30 – 11:00 a.m. @ Frisco Dr Pepper StarCenter

Practice 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. @ Frisco Dr Pepper StarCenter

Wednesday, July 9

No On-Ice Workout – (Team Building Activities)

Thursday, July 10

Practice 9:30 – 11:00 a.m. @ Frisco Dr Pepper StarCenter

Practice 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. @ Frisco Dr Pepper StarCenter

Friday, July 11

Skills Competition 9:45 – 10:45 a.m. @ Frisco Dr Pepper StarCenter

Hub is taking off Friday, so we will all be heading over on Friday am to see the Skills Competition.