Maybe I can be an NHL replacement player...

Think I have a chance. Apparently the league is starting to consider that option for next year. Many news people say this would be a huge mistake and no one would go to watch a bunch of crappy players. The truth is, I would welcome it. Here's what I think:

Fire the old players, Iggy, Smyth, everyone. Get replacement players. Sure a lot of the best players in the world are getting turfed but there is still plenty of talent out there that hasn't been tapped. Very quickly we'll have a few new stars that will emerge and be the big names of the new league. Crosby, whoever. Hopefully some of those European players that lost their jobs to f@(%ing greedy NHL players. These guys readily play with a reasonable salary cap (average salary of $1.7 million, hell I'd do it for $1 million) and then ticket prices can come down. If the tickets get down to a third of their original price, I'll to to 10 times the games I do now and I KNOW there are many more hockey fans out there like me. Rexall and the Saddledome will sell out all the time. Winnipeg and Quebec City could afford to get their teams back in the next expansion. Ultimately the NHLPA will fold because they're tired of sitting around and bitching and spending the millions they already have. Any of the old NHL players that managed to stay in shape can then start to make their way back into the new NHL. We'll have Iggy in Calgary again and I can actually afford to go watch him.

Anyway, we'll see what develops there over the summer. All I know is that I'm finally in Calgary during a year when they probably would have made another cup run and because of all the f@(%ing whiners, on both sides, I'm going to have to do other things than sit on my couch and watch hockey on TV every night. I'm going to have to go for jogs in the river valley, have friends over for evening barbecues, and generally be a happier, fitter person. F-YOU NHL!

Okay, I'm done...pulse is returning to normal. A few things have been going right this week. If you ever read Luke's blog then you already know that we played some pick up hockey with Baker Hughes yesterday at noon. Luke was on a line with BH's most well known sales rep, ex-Flames Lanny MacDonald. I was playing defence on the other team trying to cover Lanny. He's not that fast anymore but can still make me look pretty stupid. I had a couple of nice spin moves in the first bit but he saw through that pretty quick and took me out the next time I tried it. I did manage to break through for one goal though. End to end rush type thing, put it over the goalie's shoulder. We had free pizza and beer in the change room after the game too. Luke asked Lanny if we could go out for a few more Wednesday games and he said "sure, just come on out". Sweet.

I got my tickets to see West Side Story in the mail today. Two tickets so I had to think of who I'd take as my date. I decided my mom would like to come up for this. She thought I was just doing it to make up for anything that gets wrecked at the house this weekend from the party. Damn...she saw right through my plan. Guess we have to clean up on Sunday. If I'm nice though maybe I can get a free meal out of it too, eh mother? Okay, meeting time. Here's one more picture from our trip to Banff. You can find the coolest pictures in the weirdest spots. I love photography for that.



(Little creek near Bow Falls in Banff)