A New Game in Town

So it has been eight full days since the last time that the Pitt basketball team has played, and during those eight days, I have had to come up with ways to entertain myself. It has been hard, but during that span I came across this new type of activity or game, you may even call it a sport. The more I watched it, the more entertaining it became. So let me fill you in on this new thing.

When I first saw this game being played, I thought that it must be something new, something the kids came up with due to this recent cold weather. Why else would anyone make up some game that is SUPPOSED to be played on ice?

Anyway, in this new game, everyone on the sheet of ice has a stick - kind of dangerous if you ask me - and the goal is to use these sticks to guide a piece of rubber into nets that are set-up on each end of the playing surface. It’s not as easy as it sounds. Once you get almost all the way to the net, you have to hit the piece of rubber, which is called a PUCK by us people in the know, past a person wearing tons of pillows, or something of the sort, who is taking up most of the net.

So during this eight day lay off, I noticed that this game was on television quite a bit, and I was able to learn a lot about it. Like its name: HOCKEY. I also learned that many cities around the world have teams that play this game. In the North America, the best teams belong in a league called the NHL, or National Hockey League (makes sense). Pittsburgh even has one of these teams!!! As luck would have it, my buddy Gulish called me tonight and offered me a ticket to go see this Pittsburgh team play in person. I had to jump at that opportunity, this new game suddenly seems to be the rave of Pittsburgh, so I wanted to make sure that I was one of the first to take part in watching these games live. Gulish told me to meet him at Gate 3 of the Mellon Arena for the game. Oh no, I thought to myself, the Mellon Arena, what did I get myself into? The only things that go on in that old building are bad concerts, bad basketball played by the Pittsburgh Explosion, and graduation ceremonies for universities that don’t have anywhere else to hold them (Point Park).

As I walked to our seats (center ice, 6 rows back), I realized what an event this was. I was joined by 16,807 of my closest friends to take in this hockey game.

I really didn’t understand all that much of the game, all the rules and strategy which I like to know for games, but I managed to follow it pretty well, I think. As it turns out, the Penguins, the team name for the Pittsburgh team, is pretty good, and based on the programs they gave me, they have a lot of really good young players. I even overheard some old guy next to me saying that the one player on the team is the best in the entire world. He is probably exaggerating a little bit.

Anyway, the Pittsburgh team beat the Nashville team 4-1 and the Nashville team is the best in the league, so I guess they did pretty well. I just wanted to update everyone on this new crazy game going around. Like I said, the name is HOCKEY, and the Pittsburgh Penguins is the local team. You should try to check them out soon before it is something that everyone is talking about. It is pretty entertaining stuff, too.

Let’s see college basketball ends in early April; I wonder when this NHL thing ends. I’m kinda looking forward to watching it again.