I'll be honest, I don't own season tickets to the Caps. I would love to, but right now I'm concentrating more on paying my mortgage. However, I am very lucky to have married a woman whose parents have season tickets. They've had the tickets for over a decade now, so having all of Six Flags rented out for you and your cohorts is pretty passé for them, but a total treat for me.
One of the things that keeps amazing me about hockey players in general (keep in mind, I only started being a fan back in late 2007) is how cool they all are. Not cool in the sense of "I'm a multimillionaire and I have lots of stuff," but cool in the way that makes you think you could be friends with them, or at least, you could razz on them as if you were on the team.
Here's a couple of examples:
As I was standing in line waiting for Nuevirth and Alzner's signature, I saw some ginger walking by wearing a Flash Gordon cape. Pretty funny, I thought (since, as I'm sure you know, one of the player's nicknames is Flash). It wasn't until I saw the guy's face that I realized it was actually Fleischmann.
The line for Alzner and Nuevirth was pretty long for two rookies, but seemed appropriate based on how well both have been playing as of late.
Fehr and Erskine were setup near them, so I hopped over to the next line and got their signatures as well. While Fehr was signing my jersey, he asked if I had gotten on any roller coasters yet. He seemed generally interested when I told him that I had tried to ride the Ride of Steel, but didn't get a chance because after Mike Green got off the ride, it broke down and didn't start up again until at least when the signing started.
After that it was off to Hendricks and Gordon. They were unfortunately placed directly in front of the speaker in the kid's section of the park, so it was playing some very childish, repetitive music that only 6-and-unders would appreciate. When I got my chance with the boys, I asked them how they liked the music, and without missing a beat Hendricks said that the music was playing off of Gordo's iPod. Well played, sir. Well played indeed.
Right around the bend was Brooks Laich. No story there, but I did get him to sign my jersey as "Hockey Hero" Brooks Laich. He was a little hesitant at first, but he eventually came around. Sorry Brooksie, but when you pull over to help somebody change their tire, that's the kind of name with which you get labeled.
And finally I got to Bradley and Steckel. Bradley, of course, used to do the science videos during intermissions at the Verizon Center. He would even dress up in a lab coat. He was forced out of his role for what I am sure was some unjust reason, but he's still "The Professor" in my mind. So when I got my turn, I asked him to sign it as such. Steckel overheard this and leaned over and started spelling "professor" for Bradley. Apparently Bradley is not a professor of English, and I'm sure he gets razzed for that in the locker room.
All in all, it was a great time had by all at the season ticket holder party. It's great that even after hours of signing, all of the players are so approachable. I can't wait until I can actually afford my own season tickets.
