Hockey's Back!

Hi, my name is Sarah, and I'm addicted to hockey.  I know what you're thinking, "It's just a sport, it's not like she's addicted to meth or booze or something serious."  Well let me tell you, it's a real problem! A real awesome problem, but a problem just the same.  For those of you who aren't avid hockey fans, here's a little about what I've been going through in recent months.

Normally, the hockey season starts in October.  When that happens, I'm a happy camper until the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs in June.  In the off season I take in some baseball games and catch up on the sleep I lost during hockey season.  It all works out perfectly for me.

Last year, my brother and I became season ticket holders for the Phoenix Coyotes.  We only had a partial package last year, so we went to around 20 games by the time our team was done with the playoffs.  I may freeze to my very core sitting at Jobing.com Arena, but that place is definitely one of my happy places.  So you can imagine my excitement, when we decided to upgrade our package to a full season.  I was going to get 40 games!  40 nights sitting in the arena watching men beat the crap out of each other.  At least 2,400 minutes of intense anxiety and nail biting.  It's amazing!

This year is a little different.  Like the other professional sports, the National Hockey League has a collective bargaining agreement between the league/owners and the players.  A set of guidelines and rules for everyone to follow.  A big part of the CBA is money related.  How much teams can spend on players, how much players can make and the max amount of years a player can sign a contract for.  That's a very broad overview and explanation, but you get the picture.  Something I think we can all agree on is that money can make things very difficult.  The CBA expired at the end of last season, which meant a new one needed to be agreed upon by both sides.  That didn't happen, so the league went into a lock out situation.  No hockey could be played until everyone decided to play nice and agree on some things.

Needless to say that didn't happen until about 2 weeks ago.  We lost half of the season, the Winter Classic Game and the All-Star Game.  Now, instead of 40 games, I get 24.  Don't get me wrong, I'll take what I can get and be stoked about it, but it was a rough few months without hockey.  I was okay for a while when college football was still being played.  I really enjoy college football, and didn't mind using it as my replacement sport.  After college football was over, I actually started paying attention to the NFL just to have a sport to watch.  I really don't like the NFL.  I never have.  This year I knew way more about it than I'm comfortable admitting.

It was rough.  Just ask my mom.  She would cringe anytime someone would bring up anything hockey related in my vicinity.  I was angry, and it wasn't pretty.  None of that matters now though, because HOCKEY IS BACK!  We had our first home game this past Sunday night.  The Coyotes upgraded our seats that night to the lower level.  We were 6 rows behind our goalie.  It didn't suck.  Now I'll be spending roughly three nights a week in section 207 at Jobing.com Arena watching our boys play and hoping for another run at the cup.

I am once again a happy camper, but being gone most nights at games may make blogging even more sporadic than it already is.  One of my goals for the year was to post more, so I'm going to try and get my life together this week and get back on track.  Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Brother & I stoked to be back in the arena for a game

Our seats for Opening Night.  6 Rows behind the goal.  Very awesome.

 

What February 14th Means to Me...

For me, February 14th has nothing to do with roses and chocolates and over the top, absolutely ridiculous proclamations of "love."  However....my feelings towards Valentine's Day are for another, much different, post.  :)

So here's what actually happens on February 14th.  The state of Arizona turns another year older.  We became a state on February 14th, 1912.  Yes, that's right....that would mean today is Arizona's 100th Birthday!

Now I have to be honest.  Am I Arizona's biggest fan?  No.  I've spent most of my adult life thus far trying to get away from it.  There are two reasons for this.  First, I feel like everyone has a place.  Somewhere that is the embodiment of their personality.  Somewhere that you know when you're there that you're in the exact place that you should be.  For me, Arizona isn't that place.  Well, Phoenix isn't anyway, and that's where I spent the majority of my life.  I also think you can have more than one place (to date I think I have 5), but that's also another blog topic for another day.  Second....THE HEAT!  I mean really, I think the people who claim to love it when it's 120 degrees outside are lying.  It's awful, and it's not like you get a break from it when the sun goes down.  The high is 115 and the low is 112.  It's out of control and I HATE IT!  Give me humidity, cool evenings and lightning bugs over the oven-like feeling and lizards any day!

Arizona does have it's good points though.

• First point goes to Flagstaff.  I spent 4 years there attending Northern Arizona University, and it was the best choice I could have made for a school.  I got a great education, met amazing friends, had tons of fun and got to live somewhere so gorgeous for 4 years.  Located only 2 hours north of Phoenix it's located at an altitude of 7000 feet surrounded by the amazing San Francisco Peaks.  It's woodsy, it snows and the weather in the summer is mild and amazing.  I love everything about it (to the point where I have a hard time believing that it's actually part of Arizona), and if it were a slightly bigger city I might still be living there.  It's definitely one of my 5 places.
• Second point goes to the Grand Canyon.  Because it's awesome.  If you don't believe me...go there and see for yourself.
• Third point goes to the sunsets.  They're unlike any others I've seen.  It's likely because of all of the pollution, but if it gives me something pretty to look at on my way home I guess I'm okay with it.
• Fourth point goes to monsoon season.  My personal favorite part of the year in Arizona.  Lightning storms are amazing to watch, and it's really the only time of year we get any significant amount of rain in the desert.
• Fifth and final point goes to all of our spring training facilities.  It's great to be able to watch baseball games before the season even starts (speaking of which, even though I don't pay attention to much until hockey season is over...pitchers and catchers report in only 6 days!).

Long story short...while it may not be my favorite place in the world as a whole, Arizona will always have a special place in my heart.  My family is here.  It's where I was raised (point six would probably be it's a great place to raise a family).  It's home.  So while I don't plan on staying here forever...for now it's just fine.  

Now, this was a co-blog with mom, so head over her way to see her insights on our home state.  I know you'll enjoy what you read.  Happy Arizona's Birthday Everyone!