So far, with 6 jerseys posted (if you include the birthday jerseys), that part of my blog’s title has been established. But what about the Hockey Love part? Simple.

I Love Hockey.

Yes, that seems simple enough, but that’s not all there is to it. A lot of fans I have met love their team first, and not much else second. Not even the game. They just love their team. I found that attitude in plenty of places, but the most telling was in Philadelphia, PA, where a bartender told me, “We don’t care about hockey, unless it’s the Flyers.” I don’t know how he got his statistics, so don’t go yelling at me about it. You can go tell him yourselves. If you want to know what bar he works at, you can ask. He did put the SCF on the TV for us, though.

As for me, I love hockey first, my teams second. I can go to a game, and be thoroughly entertained, and that means by just about any game. I don’t really need a stake in the outcome, just two teams going at it. If I don’t care who wins, I’ll pull for the home team. Chances are, I’ll see something at a game I have never seen before. I put a list of places I saw games last season here, at what I hope to be a side blog for my hockey travels, and only a few were boring. And those were REALLY boring, if I was bored.

In fact, there are only three teams I don’t like, but if you have to ask, keep reading. They will pop up as I go along. And, if I have a chance, I’ll go see these teams play, but you can bet I’ll wear the opposing teams jersey if I have it..

Also, if you didn’t know (which I didn’t until after I have come up with the title), Mitch Hedberg, the excellent and late comedian from Minnesota, did some spots for the Atlanta Thrashers, called Hockey Love. I think Mitch was one of the funniest comedians out there, and love his work. Even so, I didn’t care for the ads too much. They didn’t seem like hockey to me. Still, how cool is it that the Thrashers got him to do these? Now, these are owned and copywriten by the Thrashers, and I don’t know if I could put them up here, but they aren’t too hard to find, like if you searched on google for hockey love Mitch Hedberg, you might find them at some fan site.

Hockey kicks my a$$ all the time. The more I find out, the more fascinated I am with it. The good, the bad, the stupid. The business, the sport, the skill, all of it. The more I watch, the more I see. and the more I enjoy.

That’s hockey love. If you have some hockey love, spread it. It’s the summer of hockey love.