Day #3 - Who is my favorite AHL team?

While I don't EXACTLY follow the AHL much, my favorite team would have to be the Chicago Wolves. Shocking right?

I've been going to Wolves games since I was in like, 5th grade. The first time I actually went to a game, I got tickets through the D.A.R.E. program in school. I don't really remember how, but I was like, "All right cool, free hockey game." I think I've been to probably 5 or 6 games since then. They're always fun.

Since moving to the area last year, I've now gone to a couple of Rockford Icehogs games. They've been pretty fun too. Except for the fact that out of the 3 games I've been to, they've only won once. That kinda sucks. I always like going to the Metro Centre and looking at the wall with all the former players who have gone on to play in the NHL. And I can't help it, every time I go to a game, I have a childish moment where I laugh at Rob Klinkhammer because his last name cracks me up. I can't help it. Don't judge me.

I like the games because it's something fun to do, most of the time it's relatively easy to get tickets. And they're usually pretty cheap. The first Icehogs game I went to, my cousin got us tickets that were like, 6 or 7 rows away from the glass and they were around $20-$25. Can't beat that. The funniest part about it was when we got to our seats and the players were on the bench, we were like, "OH MY GOD, they're huge!" Mostly because when we go to Blackhawks games, we've been in standing room or the 300-section. It was just kind of funny to see hockey players up close.

Oh hey look, it's Nick Leddy

Day #2 - Who is your favorite hockey team?

Well, if you have read ANYTHING that I have ever posted, or even LOOKED at my blog, this one is fairly simple and obvious.

The Chicago Blackhawks.

I have been a fan of theirs since I was a kid. One of my favorite stories is my mom telling me that, when she was pregnant with me, she would watch Blackhawks games, and I would be moving around and kicking like crazy. Some things are just meant to be I guess. Even before I was born, I was a hockey fan.

Since I'm from the Chicago area, it makes sense that they would be my team. Even if I wasn't, I'm fairly certain I would be a fan. They're one of the underdogs in the NHL. They've had so many rough seasons throughout the years. They've gone through times where people in Chicago didn't even care about hockey. But they still fought on, and I have the utmost respect for that.

The Blackhawks are such a big important part of my life. I can't contain my excitement when they win games. My heart breaks every time they lose. When I see one of them get hurt, it hurts (and terrifies) me. When I watched them win the Stanley Cup last year, I swear that had to be one of the times in my life where I cried the hardest. It was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen. I watched the games that season, I saw them work their ASSES off, and finally, FINALLY all their hard work had paid off.

I'll watch pretty much any hockey game, and I'm also a big fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Chicago Blackhawks will always own my heart. I am so proud to be a fan of them.

Day #1 - Why do I love hockey?

I honestly feel that hockey players are some of the most skilled athletes out there. What they do is no easy task. I don't play hockey, hell, I can't even skate, but I can see how tough it is. It takes strength, determination, and focus to do what they do.

You can see it on their faces. You can see it during the game, when it's getting close to the end of the 3rd, and they're still down by one. You can see it when someone scores a goal and they all gather around them to celebrate. You see it when they're interacting with fans, and with each other outside of the game. You see the absolute love and dedication they have to it. They're out there, playing the game they love, and living their DREAM. How many people actually get to do that in their lifetime?

Hockey is a dangerous sport. We all know this. It's been proven to us time and time again. It seems like this season has been especially rough, there's been so many terrible injuries left and right. It's hard to watch. Hockey teams are like a family, and no one wants to see someone in their family hurt. But they still go out there every night, they put on their gear, they lace up those skates, and they go out on the ice, because that's what they were born to do. They do it because they love the game, and because someone saw something in them, saw their talent, their abilities, and gave them a chance to prove themselves to the world. And then, if they are lucky enough, the day comes where all their hard work, all the struggles, the highs, the lows, all the hours, days, weeks, and months spent, and they get to hoist that Stanley Cup over their head. I can't even IMAGINE how that feels. But I can say, when I saw the players of the Chicago Blackhawks doing it, it was absolutely one of the most amazing and beautiful things I had ever seen. I actually saw HISTORY being made. It was so surreal. Any time I see footage from that game 6, when we finally one, I get chills, and I start to cry all over again as if it were yesterday.

A lot of people will hassle me about hockey. I have friends make fun of me for being infuriated when they lose, people who tell me that hockey is the only thing I care about, and that I'm "obsessed" with the Blackhawks. I know it shouldn't bother me, but it still does burn me up inside. I know it shouldn't, but I just don't understand why people would make fun of someone for this.

The past year for me has been extremely difficult. It involved a lot of family/personal issues, lots of drama, a big move, and other things that I don't exactly want to delve into. I can honestly say that if I didn't have hockey, I would probably be a big mess. Sure, I'm not the most stable person all the time, but it's kept me slightly grounded. It can get my mind off of things, even just for a little while. And I'm so grateful for that.

And when it comes down to it, I'm always going to be a fan of hockey. Win or lose, I'm going to wear my Blackhawks gear with pride. I'm going to watch all the games I can on tv. I'm going to yell profanities at the other teams when they score goals on us, or beat us. I'm going to get ridiculously excited when we score. I'm going to blast "Chelsea Dagger" and dance around (this including, the Kaner Shuffle) the apartment when we win a game. I will swoon over players, but I will never let ANYONE get away with calling me a 'fan-girl'. I'll always be terrified of over-time. I will always hold my breath and pray to the hockey gods during a shoot-out. I'll always lose my mind when the season ends, and count the days until it starts back up again.

When I'm lucky enough to go to games, I'm always going to be jittery walking into the United Center. I'm always going to have tears in my eyes when I hear Jim Cornelison singing the National Anthem. I'm always going to take too many pictures. I could be sitting in the 100-section, or be in standing room only, and I will still have the most amazing time ever. I will be absolutely frustrated and angry when we lose. When we win, I will always lose my mind, I will hug whoever I'm with, I will high-five everyone around me. I will drink beer and scream until my head hurts and I lose my voice.

The seasons change, people change, life goes on.

But I will always be a hockey fan.
I will ALWAYS be a Chicago Blackhawks fan.

And that, is something that I can absolutely tell you, will NEVER change.

30-Day Challenge

So since I tend to only use this blog for ranting and raving, I'm going to do one of those fun "challenge" blogs that everyone does. Maybe that way it'll motivate me to keep up with this a little more.

It's a hockey challenge. I know. Big surprise right? I'm pretty certain I PROBABLY won't do it every single day, but I will definitely do my best. Let's see how this goes eh?



Day #1 - Why do I love hockey?

Day #2 - Who is your favorite hockey team?

Day #3 - Who is my favorite AHL team?

Day #4 - Do you follow any of the following leagues: ECHL, WHL, CHL, IHL? Or other leagues?

Day #5 - Picture of your all-time favorite forward?

Day #6 - Picture of your all-time favorite defense-man?

Day #7 - Picture of your all-time favorite goalie?

Day #8 - Picture of your favorite forward from this past season (2010-2011)?

Day #9 - Picture of your favorite defense-man from this past season (2010-2011)?

Day #10 - Picture of your favorite goalie from this past season (2010-2011)?

Day #11 - Picture of your favorite coach?

Day #12 -: Who is your least favorite forward?

Day #13 - Who is your least favorite defense-man?

Day #14 - Who is your least favorite goalie?

Day #15 - Least favorite team?

Day #16 - Picture of your favorite arena?

Day #17 - Whatever tickles your fancy

Day #18 - One arena you’re dying to go to?

Day #19 -Who has the best rivalry?

Day #20 - The player you wish you could of seen play?

Day #21 - Have you met any hockey players? If so, who was your favorite? Did you get a picture with them?

Day #22 - Do you own any hockey memorabilia?

Day #23: Greatest hockey personal memory?

Day #24 - Greatest hockey moment?

Day #25 - Do you have any superstitions?

Day #26: If you could play hockey on your favorite team, what would your number be?

Day #27 - What is your favorite hockey quote?

Day #28 - Whatever tickles your fancy

Day #29- Since 2011’s already happened, who do you want to play in the Winter Classic 2012?

Day #30 - Who do you want to win the Stanley Cup next year?

Sports

So one of my friends sent me an IM tonight on Facebook, asking me about the whole situation with the latest Matt Cooke (of the Pittsburgh Penguins) suspension. I'm not gonna lie, I saw the hit, it was dirty. I like the Penguins, but I agree that the hit he put out was dirty. And now he's suspended for the rest of the regular season, and the first round of playoffs.

I told my friend that it was a really stupid move of him. The team is already down so many players, and now they lose one more. Then he made some comment about how this is probably driving Sidney Crosby nuts. I agreed, I mean, he's the captain of the team, he hasn't been able to play due to his injury, and his team is having a lot of ups and downs lately. I said I felt bad for him. Which led him to make some comment about how he thought it was funny and started to make fun of him.

Ok. I won't lie. I have poked fun at Crosby before. But I never doubted his abilities to play, he is an AMAZING athlete. And seeing him take those hits, hearing and reading all about how he's struggling to recover from this injury, I've really just gained a lot more respect for him. I seriously feel really bad. When I heard that he was starting to skate again, I honestly was really happy to hear that. I hope that he can make a full recovery soon and come back and play.

Then came the whole debate. My friend started talking about how he was a "pussy" and that football players take hits even harder than hockey players. Since when is who takes a harder hit a debate? Any kind of hit by any kind of sports player is going to hurt, whether it's football or hockey.

He said something along the lines of, "These are violent sports. We watch them because of the violence, we watch them to see people take big hits, get bloody, and occasionally see a devastating injury."

Um.

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say that those are NOT the reasons I watch sports. I watch hockey for the skills, the athleticism, for the SPORT. And honestly, I don't think I'm alone in this. Personally, I think if someone watches sports hoping for injuries and looking forward just to things like that, it's downright sick and twisted.

I remember watching the Blackhawks game in February when Fernando Pisani got knocked into the Dallas bench. My stomach dropped. I literally sat there, with my head in my hands, almost in tears. I remember sitting there saying, "Please get up, please get up, please get up." I was absolutely horrified. I remember going on Twitter the night that Zdeno Chara knocked out Max Pacioretty. I looked up the video, and it was the same feeling all over again. I couldn't believe it, it was like it was too awful for words.

I honestly just fail to see why THIS is what would appeal to people to watch sports. There's a big difference between two players getting into a fight, and someone's life being in real and actual danger.

My friend said that we watch things to see people fail, to see people fuck up.

That's not why I watch hockey. I watch it to see these guys living their dream, doing the thing they love, succeeding in something that they have worked hard their whole life for, and finally having their work pay off. I watch it to see them succeed. I watch it for the love of the game.

Rant

You know what I can't fucking stand? When people don't listen to you when you're so obviously right about something.

I am not sitting here on my little glory parade, thinking that I know it all, nor am I CLAIMING to know it all. Not by any means. But when the facts are sitting there RIGHT in front of your fucking face, when EVERYONE in your family is telling you what's what, and you don't listen, it's fucking ridiculous!!!!

It's one thing for one person to have an opinion. And it makes sense. When someone who loves you and only wants to best for you, and is looking out for you and your well-being, you lash out at them. You just don't fucking listen to facts. It's not like I'm sitting here telling you how to run YOUR life, but I'm just asking you to fucking listen to me for once. Like a normal human being. To have a normal conversation. And you just drop this fucking bomb and expect me to take it like it's no big deal.

What would you do if someone you loved and cared for more than ANYTHING in the world did the most ridiculous thing ever? It's one thing for one person to point out to you how blatantly insane and absurd it sounds, maybe you won't take it to heart as much. You might just think that's how that one person feels. If you don't listen to all of it then, fine. I can understand that. But when EVERYONE who you say "means the most to you" have the same fucking opinion, you'd THINK that someone would maybe take the time out, sit back and think, "Wow, maybe they're right. Maybe I am rushing into this too fast."

You would THINK that a normal person would take this into mind that the people that care most about them are simply trying to watch out for them.

But no. They just argue with you, tell you that YOU'RE wrong, and don't even fucking listen. I can't fucking stand it. I just don't understand why people are the way they are.

It's fucking up everything. It's ruining people's relationships, no one can even fucking talk to each other anymore. You'd think if someone had this "GREAT" fucking news, the first people they would call would be their whole family. But no. That's not how people work these days apparently. People have to find things out via text message or even though fucking FACEBOOK. Some people don't even find out directly FROM the person!! What the hell has happened to communicating anymore?

You say that family is so important, yet you don't even fucking tell everyone when you have huge life-changing news. I'm sorry. But that's just BEYOND fucked up. It just goes to show how much you can count on people these days to include you in their lives.

Maybe I should be grateful that I even fucking found out. Not that it's something I really wanted to hear. Honestly, this whole fucking day has been a godamned nightmare. I just wish I could go to sleep and wake up tomorrow and find out this whole fucking day was just a fucked up dream and it never even happened.

I wish I could be so lucky.

One of those days...

I hate it when just one thing happens, and it manages to ruin your entire day/mood.

I started out the day fine, I have a bunch of stuff to get done before I go on vacation this weekend. (I'm going to Vegas for the weekend with my cousin to visit my aunt, and my mom is out there right now visiting as well). So I wanted to do some cleaning, re-organizing, and work on packing.

Then my mom calls me and we start talking about things, which ultimately led to us arguing about something ridiculous. Which is normal, that's pretty much how 60% of our conversations go. But ever since that, I've just felt like crap. I was in a shitty mood last night (see previous post) due to something else, and I really wanted today to be better. I went to sleep last night really determined to have a good day today. And I was. Until all this.

It's just frustrating. I'm not even looking forward to this trip, honestly. I know I should be. I'm trying to. My cousin has never been on a REAL vacation, he's never even been on an airplane, so I don't want to be all blah and emo about it and ruin HIS trip. When I found out I was going, it was a complete surprise. So you'd think I'd be ecstatic about it.

Yeah. Not so much.

Then I was watching a bunch of hockey videos that people had been posting, and that got to me too. I'm probably too emotionally attached to all that, but I honestly can't help it. Hockey is one of the greatest things in my life, it's so exciting, and it makes me happy. So I was watching all these videos of the playoffs and when the Blackhawks won the cup, and I cried. I can't believe it's almost been a year already. I don't think I have ever watched any of that footage without tearing up. It was just the most amazing thing to see.

I'm going to the Blackhawks vs. Redwings game on April 10th. As much as I am looking forward to going to another game, it just makes me realize that the regular hockey season is going to be ending soon. And to be honest, the thought of that makes me sad. I know that I'm not the only person who feels this way, I just needed to get that out and vent. Because I know if anyone understands me, it's other hockey fans.

Rant

I really don't understand the mentality of some people. When someone says they're your friend, they shouldn't be judging you, putting you down, or calling you names.

I have a 'friend' who was saying some extremely rude things to me tonight. Things that, I would say, were completely uncalled for. We were talking about dating and relationships, and they told me that I am "too afraid" to be in a relationship or date someone.

Which is not the case. I am not afraid of dating, just because trying to find a boyfriend is not the number one priority in my life, there must be something wrong with me right? I don't understand why people put such heavy emphasis and pressure on someone to be in a relationship. If I don't want to date anyone, what the fuck is the big deal? I would rather be single and happy and accepting of it than spend my days torturing myself about why I don't have a boyfriend.

I'm not saying that relationships are a bad thing. Not by any means. If you can find someone you love, and who loves you back, then all the power and luck in the world to you. If you are happy, I'm happy for you. I wish the people I care about who are in relationships nothing but the best. Nothing would make me happier than to have the people I love and cherish be happy. That's all I want for them.

Then, when I explain my reasonings behind not wanting to be in a relationship, this 'friend' starts making comments saying that I'm 'an angry lesbian'. And that I do not come off as feminine at all.

Well. Isn't that mature.

For one, I am not a lesbian. The fact that someone would call me that almost makes me laugh. Please note, I am not bashing on homosexuality. By no means. It also pisses me off that this person decided to say that to me. What kind of insult is that? That's just childish and rude. We're all adults here, trying to use something like that as an insult is ridiculous. GROW THE FUCK UP PLEASE.

And saying I'm not feminine? That's just plain ridiculous.

I curse, I like to hang out with guys, drink beer, watch hockey, and be obnoxious. But while doing all this, I still like to put on my makeup, do my hair, and swoon over the hot players. I'm not going to try and fit myself into some little fucking mold that people think I should put myself into. I'm not going to change who I am to try and get a boyfriend. Fuck that. I would rather be single for the rest of my life than to change my beliefs for someone else. If you don't like me or can't accept me for who I am, then you can kindly fuck off.

"Chelsea Chelsea, I believe..."

Oh I believe. I definitely believe.

So tonight. The Blackhawks won their 6th, yes, that's right, 6TH GAME IN A ROW. They got 2 points, and are now #4 IN THE WESTERN CONFERENCE!!

Oh. My. God.

I'm seriously so excited about this. I can't believe it. This is just so great. I love it. I haven't been this excited in awhile. The only issue I have is this game got REALLY close. Too close for comfort. I'm hoping they don't pull something like this again because it is not good for my mental health. But the win streak, my god. It's just amazing.





If my neighbor downstairs can hear me, they're probably think I'm nuts, because after every game lately I've blasted "Chelsea Dagger" and had it on repeat and been dancing around the apartment. Oh well lol.




I just love it because a month ago, no one would've expected this. We weren't even an afterthought for the playoffs. And now we have a REAL chance. They just really need to keep this momentum going and we could really have a good shot. They're just really proving themselves more and more and working so hard, and we deserve this.

This season has been extremely rough, I'm not going to lie. There have been SO many times where I've just been frustrated beyond belief at how they played, and I think any Hawks fan knows how that is. But these past few games, wow. It's just crazy how they've turned it all around. I honestly can't wait to see how much further this is going to go on. And I'm going to be cheering the whole time.

Keep it up boys. Chicago loves you and we're going to be behind you the whole time.