Around this time of year every year is like christmas for all the sports networks. With the NHL and NBA winding down their seasons with tight playoff races, the Masters kicking off the golf grand slam tour, and baseball and auto racing starting up for the summer, there is no need for the fluff pieces on some local phenom who never comes to fruition, or annoying banter between hosts.
All that sports activity also serves as a major distraction to the tri-annual studying season. Being a resident minority here in Leaf nation, I get sucked into the whims of the vast blind majority and all their uneducated devotion to a shitty hockey team. And so last night saw me crammed into an overcrowded bar, packed with blue and white jerseys, as well as the disgustingly tacky pink alternatives whining about every possible bullshit non-call or call against possible.
And then what do you know, the Leafs get some absolute shit luck garbage goals as are so typical of their teams over the years, and they keep themselves alive in the playoffs. To top the evening off, the Avalanche dropped the ball on their playoff run, only to get the help they would have needed from the Oilers beating Calgary and leaving the control in the hands of Colorado.
So where does that leave me today?
After actually managing to get some productive studying in, its left me channel surfing between the Jays game, the Masters, and the New York Islanders game hoping beyond hopes that the acquisition of Ryan Smyth from the Oilers pays dividends, if only to be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
Right now the Isles are up 1-0 and holding tough, making it look like those Canadian teams that aren't in Ottawa will soon get a whole bunch more blind bandwagon hopping support from the large proportion of Leafs fans who actually know nothing of the sport. At this point I don't become much better throwing my support towards the Sens and Canucks, but not so much blindly as hoping to get a cup in Canada for a talented team that isn't the Red Wings for example. The best possible outcome being a Sens cup win just to incense all the Leaf fans that much more.
With that I wish you a happy easter if you celebrate it, and a happy playoffs which you definitely should be celebrating.
Update: In the same vein as last night's fans: na na naa naa, na na naa naa heeyyy heeyyy heyyy, goodbye. What's another year to wait after 40 anyways right?