First the confession.
I don’t pay attention to hockey. Never have. Played it as a kid, was rotten at it, gave it up, and never regretted it for a second. Got lots of reading in during the thousands of hours that my friends spend playing or watching hockey.
I spend most of the season praying for the Senators to get eliminated because the games at Scotia Bank Centre mess up traffic on the Queensway something awful. Plus I get tired of grinning weakly when taxi drivers ask me what I thought of the game.
My prayers this year were not answered, obviously, and the Senators will now be competing for the one of those cups, the Grey one or the Stanley one or the World one. Whatever. My point is: I am NOT going to able to ignore this whole playoff anymore. I sense this. It’s my town. And Canada’s only team. Simply uttering “Go, Sens” periodically is NOT going to cut it in the weeks ahead.
Now the plea.
May I enlist the aid of you, my Bunkerian friends? I need about five sentences to help get me through the series…nice, general clichés about the Ottawa team, or whoever the other guys are, that will enable me to sound moderately informed without having to actually engage in a hockey conversation.
The lines are open. I’m counting on you.
Here’s a good all purpose comment:
“It’s just too bad it couldn’t have been Toronto they crushed on their way.” Chuckle right after you say it. Then change the subject.