Where My Ladies At?

THESE ARE OUR STORIES

(How I Became a [Female] Hockey Fan)!

PART I
this one's a little to long to do all in one post!! ; )

Hi there! I stumbled across your blog a while ago and have been following it with great interest ever since; I figured it couldn't hurt to send in my story. I am a Pittsburgher, born and raised, but I have always been a reluctant sports fan. I've gone through all kinds of phases - I was going to be a figure skater, gymnast, and soccer player at various points in my life - before I finally settled on swimming. Even then, it took me a while to get hooked on simply WATCHING other sports. It wasn't until probably my sophomore year in high school that I rediscovered the Pens. I'd gone to a game when I was in 7th grade, but nothing left a huge impression on me except for the fact that I got to sit almost at ice level in the handicapped seats (I'd broken my foot that October). I know we were playing whatever team Jagr went to because they booed him every time he touched the ice. Other than that, I was pretty nonplussed. Sophomore year, though, was the year that my taste in music changed drastically; I started listening to 105.9 The X. I always have to have music on in the background when I'm doing homework and I remember getting frustrated because, more often than not, there was this crazy guy just TALKING on the radio and I couldn't understand a word he said. This crazy guy was Mike Lange and it makes me laugh now to remember how angry I would get when I turned my radio on and he was callling the Pens game because now the only way I can watch Pens games is to mute the TV and turn the radio on. Eventually though, I made the connection between a Pens game being played and the crazy guy on the radio. Some of my friends were rabid hockey fans and so I started listening to the games when they were on so I could talk to them about it the next day. At first, I had NO idea what was going on, but I slowly learned the names of the players and the different penalties and stuff. I started to get really into the games (still kind of hard for me to visualize what was going on, but I got really excited when they scored and Mike would spout off one of his crazy phrases) and, one day, my dad stuck his head into my room to ask what was going on.

"I'm listening to the hockey game," I told him.

He looked kind of confused and said, "I didn't know you liked hockey."

"It's a recent thing," I assured him in all my teenage glory.

"Why aren't you watching the game downstairs?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I didn't think you and Mom would want to put it on," I said. "And besides, I'm happy just listening to it on the radio."

That ended that conversation, but a month or so later we won tickets to go see the Pens play the Rangers. Just he and I went and it was nice to bond over hockey because we didn't get to bond over much else; his work took him out of town a lot. Ironically, I remember that it was the Rangers because I remember booing Jagr every time he touched the ice. I knew I was hooked (or told myself I was) during the first intermission when a picture of Marc-Andre Fleury flashed up on the jumbotron. I took one look at it and said, "Oh, he's cute. Dad, can we come to more games? The players are really hot." Teenage hormones = teenage reasoning. I roll my eyes at it now, but I blame Fleury for my current addiction. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to make it to any more games (as of right now), but Santa brought my dad, my little sister, and I tickets to the March 20th game against the Hurricanes. No, wait, that's a lie; last year, during the playoffs, my roommate and I drove home from school to watch one of the games against the Philadelphia Flyers. I might not have been inside the Igloo, but I had so much fun at that game, especially when Billy G netted the overtime goal and the crowd outside erupted. Definitely one of the highlights of my life.

[TO BE CONT'D ... next Friday!]

- Gizmo

Don't forget, if you wish to submit your story, I kindly ask that you email them directly to me so they don't end up being repetitive for some of the readers. Also, if you don't want me to include your name, please let me know that as well (what I'll normally do is put your first name and last initial if I have it OR just your screen name).  ALSO ... IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO UPDATE YOUR STORY IF IT'S ALREADY APPEARED ON HftL, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME!!

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Also, I ask that you please BE PATIENT as I'm still receiving TONS of stories (they'll be posted in the order I received them, to be fair). If you sent in a story, it will eventually be on the blog - I promise!! ; ) JUST BE SURE TO KEEP THEM COMING (the more the better!)!! AS A NOTE, I'm currently on stories I received back in January 2010!!!

thesteelcitysportsfan@gmail.com

If you haven't, you can READ MY STORY HERE
(how "yours truly" became a [female] hockey fan!)!!