Fanatics

At the root of the word fan is the word fanatic.

On Saturday evening, my wife and I went to an early dinner at the Palm in Tysons Corner. We went early because we had gone on a date to a movie and then went to dine so we could rush home and watch the Caps game. By the way, we saw the film The Blind Side which we both liked very much.

Our server took our order and very efficiently brought us our salads. As we were eating a young man - who is also a waiter - walked up to our table and said, “I don’t mean to interrupt you but I wanted to tell you that I have a great friend at church. She is 75 years old. She emails you all of the time and you once sent her an autographed hat from Ovie as a Christmas gift and some free tickets as she can’t afford to go to games. Sir, that was very nice of you. She talks about you all of the time. You are very generous. And she sure loves her Caps hockey. I also wanted you to know that I don’t like the Caps as I am a Penguins fan. I also have to be a Pirates fan, too. It comes with the geography.”

He then wanted to shake my hand and walked away.

Then on Sunday - to relax - I went to the Grooming Lounge to get my beard trimmed and to get a hot lather shave. They use seven hot towels and then an ice cold towel. It is very relaxing.

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Tom Poti and I Have the Exact Same Allergies

As a kid growing up, I was always having severe allergic reactions to peanuts and nuts and cats and shellfish. Tom Poti does as well. Read this article please.

I always carry an EpiPen with me as does my son.

This is a constant battle.

When I fly on a plane and they serve nuts and peanuts or when I go to a baseball game and the fan next to me is eating peanuts and crushing open the shells, I have to run away.

This is a real concern for folks like Tom Poti, my son and me.

Have empathy. This is a real issue.

We Get One Point But We Should Have Gotten Two

Yes we are quite disappointed in last night’s outcome. We didn’t play very well in the third period or overtime. We didn’t hold onto a 3-1 lead.

We get a single standings point. We now have 32 points out of a possible 48 points for 24 games played to date.

We are tied for first place in the East. We are tied for second most points in the NHL with Pittsburgh and Chicago behind San Jose who has 36 points.

But we all agree that we are leaving points on the table and we aren’t playing great hockey. We need to regroup. Our leaders need to lead. Our best players need to step up. We know it. Thank you for the reinforcing emails.

Some of our core players are struggling.

We seem dyspeptic and tired. Dyspeptic - good “vocab” word, huh?

Our goaltending has kept us in the games and our young goaltenders deserve better fates. They have been outstanding of late.

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