2:32- On the way to my car, someone calls out, "Yo, you playin' pokah tanight?" Poker, how can I focus on cards? I can't get hockey out of my head. And did he just say yo? As in Mike Yeo, assistant coach for the Penguins. Man, I'm in too deep. "Sorry, man, I gotta cut the grass, maybe tomarrah."
2:33- I hop in the car, anxious to just get home and crash on the couch, maybe play some video games. I wonder if Crosby and Staal are sitting around playing video games right now? I mean, geeze, those guys are younger than I am. I can't even imagine...
2:44- I make the last turn onto my road, honking as I pass my neighbor's "Honk for Hossa" homemade sign in the front yard. Jim is 84 years old, and he told me he waits for that honk every afternoon while he's sitting on his back porch.
3:30- The phone rings, it's my girlfriend. "Hey, what are you eatin' tonight?" "Eaton, Mark Eaton, he's been hurt all season, he's a liability, the Pens need to move him. No doubt he's a great defenseman, but he's missed 60+ games the past two seasons because of injur..."
"ERIC! STOP! What are you eating for dinner?"
"Sorry babe, I have some pizza from the other night, so I'm good."
"Okay, geeze, bye."
"Man, somebody's got a hook in their gills, their Hal Gills!" (click)
3:36- I realize I deserved that hang up.
Somewhere around 4:00, I fell asleep. I wish I could dazzle all of you with dreams of skating on a line with Lemieux and Kevin Stevens, but I can't remember what I dreamed about.
7:38- I wake up, glance at the clock, and feel an empty feeling in my stomach. It could be because I only had three pieces of pizza left, or it could be because I realize that at this very moment I could be watching them drop the puck at Mellon Arena for another 60 minutes of Penguins hockey.
7:40- After the stunned feeling wears off, I decide to flick on the TV. As usual there are 15 baseball games, 12 sitcoms, nine game shows, and five news programs dominating the airwaves. ESPN is showing a beach volleyball tournament... I should have went back to sleep.
I job around for the next two hours, then decide to sit down at my computer.
10:15- I start to write this article. The feeling I have can't really be put into words. I'm a die-hard hockey fan, have been since I was old enough to understand the game. The off season is the truest test of a fans' dedication to their team. It seems like years before the puck will drop for the first preseason game. One can only bear so many grueling innings of Pirates baseball.
On the bright side of things, no matter how much I try to avoid it, thinking about the Pittsburgh Penguins has become second nature to me. Call it obsessive, call it crazy, call it weird, call it whatever you want to call it, but I just can't get hockey off my mind.
It may be the combination of the best Penguins' season since 1992 and knowing that there are so many uncertainties surrounding this off season that has my mind set on what will happen next.
Regardless of the reasoning, I can't seem to shake hockey from my mind. September seems like it's forever away, but I know that somehow it will be here before we know it.
Until then, all that's left to do is keep uttering "Let's Go Pens" while playing NHL 08 on PS2, and keep tapping that WWGRD sign above the door every morning, hoping that Gary will give us just one more season.
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