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12-1-02 // 11.05 am "but hartford, the whale, they only beat vancouver maybe once or twice in a lifetime" Erin and I were at this "Deals for a Dollar" type store last night looking for a spray bottle (to spray lemon juice on the bottom of the Christmas tree to deter cats from chewing on it). In the big rack of videotapes near the register, I found a highlights tape from the 1992 Stanley Cup playoffs. So I'm sitting here, messing around on the computer, drinking a cup of coffee, and watching the tape. Oh man, does this bring back memories. From the age of 10 to about 13 or 14, I was totally into hockey. I mean, I never stopped following it, but in the years from about 1990 to about 1994, I played street hockey, I collected the trading cards, and I watched every Blues game I could. Of course, all of this fandom coincided with the waning years of the NHL's non-major sport status. The playoffs weren't on TV. There were some games on cable, but on a network that like 90% of all cable users didn't get. And my family didn't have cable at all, not till the end of 1994, anyway. But I loved hockey. I remember saving allowances and money earned from doing chores for neighborhood people to finally buy my first Blues jersey. I remember Ken Wilson calling games on Channel 11. I remember having to tape weekday games on the west coast on the decrepit Betamax machine that lived in the basement. I remember playing NHL '93 and '94 on the Genesis with my friend Todd (before he got all sullen and hoodlum-ish). I remember sitting watching games with my dad, eating popcorn from the big silver bowl and drinking cola (with a straw, of course) from that thermal mug we got from McDonalds. Watching this tape is making me nostalgic for that era of the game. I miss the days when St. Louis and Los Angeles were as southern as teams got. I miss teams in Harftford (the Whale!) , Quebec and Winnepeg (with that arena they played in with the big portrait of the Queen of England hung up in the rafters). I miss the Minneosta North Stars. I miss Chicago Stadium, Maple Leaf Gardens, and Boston Gardens, not to mention the drafty, leaky, creaky St. Louis Arena. I miss Blues vs. Blackhawks games the night after Christmas. I miss the pre-expansion vibe. Nowadays, there are teams in places that are unnatural enviroments for ice -- Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, Nashville. There's a team named after a Disney kids movie. They knocked down all the old barns and replaced them with places that are far too cavernous for hockey. Competive balance has been sacrificed to big business. I miss the old NHL. Maybe that and everything else sounds selfish, but hey. Apologies if this entry bored everyone to tears, but I wanted to write it.
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