By Harry Ballsonue
“Life is not measured by how many breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath” Anonymous
I watched as the guys sat on stage on the last night of hockey for the 2014-2015 season. You could see them undress from their wet soggy clothing and put on dry clothing as they chugged down their first beer of the night. “Boy that first one always goes down so quick and tastes so good” says the Matador.
Then there were the hot dogs that The Rake cooked up. You are a good man Rake for coming in and doing that. The boys love the Rake and of course engage him in all sorts of conversations.
Camaraderie….Webster’s describes it ‘as a feeling of good friendship among the people in a group’. I think there should be a picture of the Tomcats on stage beside the word in the dictionary !
It was great to see The Rake bring toppings for the dogs and Snowpants brought chips and salsa and cheese. The boys would take turns asking “Need another beer…..Need another one”?
Friendships, smiles…camaraderie.
We the press, were let in almost right after the final game was played, I got to hear Stevo as he was giving his ‘end of the season’ speech….it was about welcoming new comers Shack and the Green Giant and embracing them as their own. Both had appreciative smiles on their faces, you could sense happiness throughout the stage as he mentioned their names (Shack has a tiny cut, just above his left eye thanks to an errant Hurricane stick).
It was a nice touch by the Tomcats to award a Fedora’s to the last three stars of the Season. Sunny, Soupy and Beep donned their fedora’s and Soupy talked about how he planned on wearing it on the golf course this summer. Soupy brought a bottle of Crown ‘just because’ and more and more of that is done by the Tomcats…guys bringing 24 instead of 12…Nice to see stuff like that.
On Skippy
I spoke to Stevo yesterday about Skippy’s status with the Tomcats and asked him if Skippy has been released completely. Stevo laughed and said, “No, not at all. Skippy’s numbers were down as far as coming out (Not GAA as far as Stevo knows) and due to the fact that we have more mini’s then nights with just two teams, I am always scrambling looking for a third goalie. Shack fits the bill. He is available.
On any given Tuesday and is equal (talent wise) to the Falcon and the Razor. It just makes good hockey sense to have Shack as our third goalie.” Skippy I was told, will still get to come out and play whenever he can, and on those nights, Shack will either be taken out of the line up or will play out. That is another beautiful part of Shack, is that he plays in net and is also a very good player out too. Shack remains a part time player….
On the Banner
Really cool thing that Hollywood did in organizing the Tomcat Banner. It will be discussed at the Board of Directors meeting and Stevo is looking for a couple of people to step up and give it a proper ceremony. “Maybe they can do a video of the past and show it on the Jumbo-tron and the theme from Rocky can be played while the slideshow or video is played…or Maybe Snowpants can just make a speech” Stated Cribzie.
Too Many Sticks
I leave you with a short story that a cop friend told me the other day…
A man calls 911 and says, “I think my wife is dead.” The operator says, “How do you know?” He says, “The sex is about the same, but the ironing is piling up!”
Hey, while you are chuckling to the Police story, do you think I could put my Harry Ballsonue.