Planes, Flames & Expomobiles

It occurred to me the other day that this is the longest I've gone without getting on an airplane in more than 25 years.
Not that flying ever bothered me, hell, I would have rather something that got me there quicker
(Teleportation ?),
But I don't miss it at all.

It's all a byproduct of course of Montreal no longer having a baseball team,
one that I worked for or covered in one way or another for eighteen years.
In fact, the last flight I took was the one home from New York after the Expos last game.

Much has changed in my life since that day.

While I just turned 50, I get to see every day of my young children's lives.
I still enjoy baseball but don't get wrapped up in it the way I did for nearly half a century.
For some crazy reason I can recite the starting line up and reserves of let's say, the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets of the NBA but not the Washington Nationals.

OK, I play fantasy basketball and it IS in season.
And of course, nobody can name the Nats players these days, not even in Washington.
This season they may just roll out the worst pitching staff in baseball.
The whole fantasy sports thing has been good for me.
It keeps me up on the players in all sports with a little competitiveness thrown in,
without losing thousands to a bookie or the government's own sports collection agency.

Of course that baseball play by play thing was a nuisance,
getting in the way of golf the way it did.
I miss the play by play a lot more than I miss the baseball,
never would have thought that would have been the case.
It was with mixed feelings that I watched the Ken Dryden sweater retirement ceremony this week.
It was tough growing up a Blackhawk fan in a city where the Habs won almost every year.
Dryden's maiden NHL voyage was the toughest of all.
Just one cup...ONE !!! that's all I wanted.
That was the year.
2-0 lead at home, game seven.
Cried myself to sleep.
It didn't seem fair, The Habs won all the time and they wouldn't miss ONE CUP.
TWENTY THREE STANLEY CUPS !!!
Would that be an embarrassment ?
I hated the Canadiens, but I don't anymore.
It stopped the day I started covering them in 1982.
And while the Hawks still haven't won one, I covered every game of
the Patrick Roy led 1986 championship and it kind of felt like my first.
It was quite a thrill to be on the charter with the team back from Calgary.
Still that night in 1971 hit me harder than Blue Monday.