Prior to 2009, I could not have cared less about hockey. In fact, if you were to ask me about it as a 22 year old, I probably would have told you I thought it was stupid. The team that I was supposed to root for was largely irrelevant, and had horrible ownership. Why should I have cared? Then towards the end of the 2007-2008 season, I heard Adam Burish on the then quite good Mac, Jurko and Harry show on ESPN1000. I fell in love with the guy. His personality was what I imagined all hockey players were like. Goofy, humble, hard working and appreciative of support they got. So I ended up watching the end of that season where they just barely missed the playoffs. But I was hooked.
The 2008-2009 season started and was a pretty great ride for my initial foray into hockey fandom. A fun team to watch, with a cast of likable stars. I would say they had a successful season that year, making the Western Conference finals when nobody really though they would. That set the stage for what is to this point in my life, my favorite sports memory of all time.
The 2009-2010 Blackhawks season was awesome for so many reasons. For starters, at the time me and just about all of my friends lived at home with full time jobs. So as one can imagine, the disposable income to spend at bars during games was flowing. We would go out in big groups and all have a great time no matter where we went, just about always half in the bag. One of the best specific memories I have from that season was the debut of Marian Hossa. It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving against the San Jose Sharks. He had a huge game and the Hawks won handily, all while me and the entire bar were piping drunk with pre-Thanksgiving beer.
The season went on and the Olympics were almost as fun to watch as the NHL season itself. But that was just the tip of the amazing iceberg that was the second half of the 2010 season/play offs.
It was such a great time being at bars packed to the gills with Hawks fans, losing their shit with every ebb and flow of play off games.
I watched game six against Philly at my house. With my mom, dad, uncle and most of my closest friends. It was awesome. I don't really count watching Bulls championships as I was a kid and I didn't really appreciate it. So to me this was the first championship I was ever really able to enjoy. And let me tell you, I did. A lot. Work was hell the next day but so worth it.
What made this whole run really special was the fact I was with just about ALL of my friends through the whole thing. It's something that I don't think will ever happen again in my life. It was our last couple years of not really having responsibility other than being to work on time, and living just blocks away from one another.
The next couple of years really stung. Now that I was an actual fan of the game, and trying to understand it more and more each day, the aggravation set it. Two first round play off exits, and a couple broken remotes later, we arrive at today.
This season was spectacular in its own right. Short, sweet, and in the end, just what we all wanted. It was truly different than 2010, but didn't lack for its own memories. The regular season was so short it was kind of a blur. But the play offs, man... I remember yelling to loud my throat bled when the Hawks beat the Wings in game 7 (thankfully I was just in my parents basement). Kane's game 5 hat trick during the Kings series was at the tail end of my best friends bachelor party. Fighting every natural instinct I had to say awake for the Cup Finals opener.
And finally, watching the Hawks win their second Cup in 4 years with my mom, dad and uncle. Celebrating in a very different way than I did at 23 years old. High fives, a single fist pump, some social media, then bed.
I'm really thankful that the Hawks got their shit together as an organization and helped me become a fan. I'm thankful that I have something to do on nights in the dead of winter. I have a valid excuse to go to the bar in the middle of the week and rub elbows with people. I'm just thankful that I've become a hockey fan. So, thanks, Hawks.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The New Normal
I'm well aware that the title of the blog post is the name of a probably crappy (I've never actually watched it) TV show, but I can assure you it has nothing to do with said show. Be that as it may, the subject of "the new normal" is something that I've been thinking about for a while now.
When I refer to "the new normal", I'm not talking about societal norms, or things that affect the world at large. It's a personal thing. Your personal norm is constantly evolving, and if you stop to think about it, once you become an adult, it changes so quickly that new things are normal in the blink of an eye.
For instance, this past Sunday I was at my parents house with my sister celebrating Mother's Day. After dinner, as I'm sitting in the front room, I looked at my mom and said; "It's weird that I don't live here anymore." And really, it is. For 20 years I lived in the same house, with the same people, and same daily routine. And now I don't. Now, it's not weird that I'm a 26 year old grown man that moved into his own house. It's weird that all of the sudden this was my life and it feels like I didn't even need to do anything to make the transition. It felt strange for maybe a week and then bang, that's life deal with it. That's how life goes, I guess. You kind of just jump into a thing that's already happening and you're forced to go with the flow or you're just going to make this difficult for yourself.
The concept of this rapid transition to normal is something that I never really thought about until I became what I call "a real grown-up". You're a grown-up once you're past college age and are in the workforce full time. But once you live on your own, you're a "real grown up". You have responsibility. I've lived on my own for just shy of a year, but if feels like it's been decades. And that's because of how rapid new becomes normal. I didn't have to cut the grass, weed whack, make sure my dryer vent was clear etc when I lived at home. I could get drunk on Friday and sleep 'til noon on Saturday and it wouldn't make a lick of difference in how I viewed my weekend. Now if I waste that much of a Saturday sleeping, I'm depressed about the lack of things I got done over the weekend. Weird. But that's my life now. I'm totally fine with that, but again, it wasn't like that a short time ago, and now it is.
New normalcy isn't limited to the way you live your life. As an adult, who you live your life with changes just as rapidly as how you live it. I still see and hang out with pretty much all of my childhood/adolescent friends, but not as often. Once you enter your mid-to late 20's, people get married and have serious girlfriends or boyfriends so that takes a big toll on your frequency of hang outs. Couple that with work, and not sharing every similar interest and you pare down your regular hang out buds quite significantly. Fortunately, I have interests where a sense of community and/or brotherhood is considered very important. Through these things I've been able to make friends that are now really important to me, that a year ago I didn't even know existed. That brings me back to the overall point. In all aspects of adult life, things change so rapidly that you barely even notice them changing.
These aren't bitches or gripes. They're observations I wanted to put down on paper. If you read this, thanks.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
What the hell happened to holidays?
With all of the major holidays of 2012 in the no too distant past, I got to thinking about how different things are now compared to the holidays of my childhood. Now, I'm not talking about in general how holidays are different as a child vs as an adult, but how each holiday is approached in pop culture. Commercials, TV shows and even movies are not at all the same as they were in my holiday glory years (starting from when I can remember, so 5 or so, all the way to probably 13 or 14). This is all going off my personal experience, so if I forget a holiday that you celebrate and you're offended, go piss up a rope. I don't care.
A lot of the holidays that most Americans celebrate haven't really changed that much as far as the pop culture landscape. I should mention when I say holidays, I mean days that people actually celebrate (not just days of remembrance like MLK Day, Presidents Day etc). Days like Valentines Day and Easter are pretty much the same. Not a lot of pomp and circumstance but still on the radar and acknowledged by the general public. Valentines Day is still about buying stuff for your significant other, and going out to a fancy dinner. Easter is probably one of the more "seriously" religious holidays that Christians celebrate (at least casual Christians) and it seems to have remained that way. Church, a nice meal and gathering with your family and that's about it. Not too much in the way of commercials and other pop culture impact.
The year rolls on and other holidays are observed. Again, days like Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day are all basically the same as I remember from my childhood. Aside from the fact that 4th of July is my favorite holiday as an adult (Booze, grilling, stuff blowing up. What's not to love?), these have stayed the course and remained pretty much true to what I remember.
Then, we hit the fall. October comes and many peoples favorite adult holiday, Halloween, graces us with it's presence. Here's where I start to get annoyed about how different things are. People that are my age and older probably also remember how big of a deal Halloween was in our youths. There were tons of commercials (like this gem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1eLq_yRuFw), every TV show had a great Halloween episode and people decorated their balls off. Now? You get maybe a week of themed commercials and a couple of sitcoms have decent episodes that may or may not be loosely Halloween themed. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that everyone has cable now, and there are networks specifically designed for kids and family. Whereas when I was a kid, network TV had the responsibility of airing all the greatness of Halloween cartoons, live action comedies, everything. In turn, the commercials reflected the content of the shows. Just not the case anymore.
Halloween passes, and Thanksgiving approaches. And other than the madness of the day after sales and the various parades, it barely even registers on the pop culture radar. It's basically a Sunday in the middle of the week where you eat a fancier meal. There's no longer the great autumn decorations and warm feelings of everyone starting to deal with the cold, dark winter approaching. As soon as October is over, Christmas decorations go up. I can't tell you how many towns I saw with garland and bows on their "Welcome To" signs on November 1st.
You would think that with the hyper fast decorating, Christmas would be in pop culture over drive. But I don't think that's the case. Sure there's still commercials and TV shows, but it's not the same as it was. Have you ever thought about the last iconic Christmas movies that came out? It was probably in the 90's and I couldn't even tell you what it was. The commercials now are just rabid consumerism and sales, not the great Christmas themed commercials for every single thing that exists (watch this). I don't know if it's because the world has become too PC for Christmas itself to be acknowledged, or people just don't give a shit about anything but buying stuff. But I hate it.
A lot of this has to do with how different pop culture is now than it was even 10 years ago. Like I mentioned earlier, everyone has cable TV now, and this has totally changed how television works. Regular network TV doesn't have to cater to kids and family anymore. The likelihood of a 26 year old single male watching networks that do showcase good old fashioned holiday fun (ABC Family and the like) without making a conscious decision to do so, is not very high. So I'm pretty much left to my own devices when it comes to holiday cheer.
The Internet, however, is one way pop culture has changed for the better for old crabby holiday enthusiasts such as myself. I can go on YouTube any time I want and enjoy holiday treats of old, and get those warm sentimental feelings I so desire. I wish I didn't have to seek it out on my own, but with our society being celebrity obsessed and reality TV addicted, that's just how it is. People would rather watch a shit kicker family raise their weird daughter, or TO jump into a pool than enjoy fine seasonal and/or holiday programming.
I may have an overly sentimental attachment to the idea of the holidays, but it makes me happy to be around that stuff when the time is right. I was fortunate enough to grow up with a wonderful family who spent all of our holidays together. Whether it was my dad taking my sister and me trick-or-treating, or all the Christmas mornings tearing through gifts and giving out handmade ornaments, I have many fond memories that are fun to relive when the stress of adult holidays weighs on you. With all these updated ways to celebrate, it's harder and harder for me to get back to those days. There was a time, as a young adult that I hated the holidays. But now that I've settled into adulthood, I really enjoy being able to relax and reflect during Christmas or Halloween. These are the things I think about when I have free time. I wonder why I don't have a girlfriend? Give me back my holidays, goddammit.
A lot of the holidays that most Americans celebrate haven't really changed that much as far as the pop culture landscape. I should mention when I say holidays, I mean days that people actually celebrate (not just days of remembrance like MLK Day, Presidents Day etc). Days like Valentines Day and Easter are pretty much the same. Not a lot of pomp and circumstance but still on the radar and acknowledged by the general public. Valentines Day is still about buying stuff for your significant other, and going out to a fancy dinner. Easter is probably one of the more "seriously" religious holidays that Christians celebrate (at least casual Christians) and it seems to have remained that way. Church, a nice meal and gathering with your family and that's about it. Not too much in the way of commercials and other pop culture impact.
The year rolls on and other holidays are observed. Again, days like Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day are all basically the same as I remember from my childhood. Aside from the fact that 4th of July is my favorite holiday as an adult (Booze, grilling, stuff blowing up. What's not to love?), these have stayed the course and remained pretty much true to what I remember.
Then, we hit the fall. October comes and many peoples favorite adult holiday, Halloween, graces us with it's presence. Here's where I start to get annoyed about how different things are. People that are my age and older probably also remember how big of a deal Halloween was in our youths. There were tons of commercials (like this gem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1eLq_yRuFw), every TV show had a great Halloween episode and people decorated their balls off. Now? You get maybe a week of themed commercials and a couple of sitcoms have decent episodes that may or may not be loosely Halloween themed. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that everyone has cable now, and there are networks specifically designed for kids and family. Whereas when I was a kid, network TV had the responsibility of airing all the greatness of Halloween cartoons, live action comedies, everything. In turn, the commercials reflected the content of the shows. Just not the case anymore.
Halloween passes, and Thanksgiving approaches. And other than the madness of the day after sales and the various parades, it barely even registers on the pop culture radar. It's basically a Sunday in the middle of the week where you eat a fancier meal. There's no longer the great autumn decorations and warm feelings of everyone starting to deal with the cold, dark winter approaching. As soon as October is over, Christmas decorations go up. I can't tell you how many towns I saw with garland and bows on their "Welcome To" signs on November 1st.
You would think that with the hyper fast decorating, Christmas would be in pop culture over drive. But I don't think that's the case. Sure there's still commercials and TV shows, but it's not the same as it was. Have you ever thought about the last iconic Christmas movies that came out? It was probably in the 90's and I couldn't even tell you what it was. The commercials now are just rabid consumerism and sales, not the great Christmas themed commercials for every single thing that exists (watch this). I don't know if it's because the world has become too PC for Christmas itself to be acknowledged, or people just don't give a shit about anything but buying stuff. But I hate it.
A lot of this has to do with how different pop culture is now than it was even 10 years ago. Like I mentioned earlier, everyone has cable TV now, and this has totally changed how television works. Regular network TV doesn't have to cater to kids and family anymore. The likelihood of a 26 year old single male watching networks that do showcase good old fashioned holiday fun (ABC Family and the like) without making a conscious decision to do so, is not very high. So I'm pretty much left to my own devices when it comes to holiday cheer.
The Internet, however, is one way pop culture has changed for the better for old crabby holiday enthusiasts such as myself. I can go on YouTube any time I want and enjoy holiday treats of old, and get those warm sentimental feelings I so desire. I wish I didn't have to seek it out on my own, but with our society being celebrity obsessed and reality TV addicted, that's just how it is. People would rather watch a shit kicker family raise their weird daughter, or TO jump into a pool than enjoy fine seasonal and/or holiday programming.
I may have an overly sentimental attachment to the idea of the holidays, but it makes me happy to be around that stuff when the time is right. I was fortunate enough to grow up with a wonderful family who spent all of our holidays together. Whether it was my dad taking my sister and me trick-or-treating, or all the Christmas mornings tearing through gifts and giving out handmade ornaments, I have many fond memories that are fun to relive when the stress of adult holidays weighs on you. With all these updated ways to celebrate, it's harder and harder for me to get back to those days. There was a time, as a young adult that I hated the holidays. But now that I've settled into adulthood, I really enjoy being able to relax and reflect during Christmas or Halloween. These are the things I think about when I have free time. I wonder why I don't have a girlfriend? Give me back my holidays, goddammit.
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