A year ago I sat here at the Little Café Near Home to watch the Czechs skate against Canada for the world championship. All the tables were reserved last year, but there was room for me and my guests at the bar.
A year has passed, and the puck will drop in fifteen more minutes as the Czechs defend their title against the Swedes. The Café is surprisingly empty tonight; there are a couple more options in the neighborhood now, but more important is that the NHL was on strike last year. Last year the rosters for the various nations reflected the best those countries had to offer (with a couple of notable exceptions); it was like several dream teams playing against one another.
Even the czech regular season was something special last year, as the best of the local boys got to play for their home towns rather than for some city across the Atlantic. (On a side note, the NHL would do well to play more games earlier in the day; there are a lot of people over here jonesing for a chance to see their local heroes play, but when games start at 3 am, the audience is limited.)
This year the NHL playoffs are still going, so the talent available for the IIHF championship is diluted, but there is still something special about this tournament in the hearts of every Czech.
***
The first period is over and the Little Café is pretty full now; the only empty table is the one directly under the television. Alas, the Czechs gave up two goals in the first twenty minutes, and Sweden is very hard to play catch-up against. The good guys had their chances, but never put the puck in the net.
***
Oh, the second period. Oh, the horror. The Swedes owned the Czechs at both ends of the ice. The Czech passing in particular was poor — it seemed like the Swedes knew where the Czechs were going to send the puck before they did. As the period progressed the Swedes got more and more uneven chances. In the period the Czechs had four shots on goal, all from the outside.
There was one point where the crowd here got excited. The cameras found the Czech Prime Minister in the crowd, and the entire bar started jeering. Something about politicians using their positions to enrich their friends. Good thing that could never happen in the US.
***
There’s still quite a bit of time on the clock, but the game is over. The Swedes are playing protect the puck, while the Czechs are playing miss the opportunity. (I was typing while watching the game and looked down to see that I had written pooprtunity. I almost left it in.) It looks like the Swedes will add a world championship to their Olympic gold. Oh, well. There’s no denying that they brought the better team to the game tonight.
Happy Over Easy Day to the god of egg friars the world over.
After reading of the triumphs and failures of the First MOH, Mr. 7k, I, as current MOH under the guidance of the Muddled Gods decree:
The name MOH
Be changed: The Prime Director
Shall lead the Muddled
pooprtunity. Ha.
you also typed ‘going to sent the’ and ‘the came is over’ and ‘cameras tound the Czech Prime Minister’ and ‘ the entire bare started jeering’
Is a loss so despairing that your proofreading goes away?
A sad day indeed…..
Keep the typos. Call them “poetic license.” Make the comparison that your mistakes aren’t as bad as the hockey team’s mistakes.
Actually, I have fixed those typos, but I have yet to find a place to go to post them. I am in Spain now, and have other adventures to relate as well.
Nice try pL, but you jumped the gun. I know Mr42K13. Mr42K13 is a friend of mine. You, sir, are no Mr42K13.
I’d like to thank all the pervious visitors who incremented the site meter so that I could have the pooprtunity to once again claim to lead the muddled masses.
I hope everyone had a great over easy day, yesterday. I’m confident Jer found some fine huevos to go with his cerveza. Please start thinking of a good holiday name for June 22th.
Buenos tardes.
Hi Jer,
In the interest of not wasting any time before I start nagging, how are you coming along on:
1.) my story (elephant fans want to know),
2.) more eels, please, and
3.) a new poll?
Thanks
The question remains, did pL post that poem pre-perviously?
Dang if these spanish people haven´t moved keys all over the place.
Congtats, Bob, on your new MOHitude. Unless it turns out to be your new Prime Directorhood. Unless you change it back.
More important that June 22th is July 2th. The only suggestion I recall is pyrotechnic Preparedness day, but that one is a bit ethnocentric. (In Prague, Pyrotechnic Preparedness day would be December 30th)
Fast out of the block with the nagging, I can see that Mr42k13 is going to take this term seriously. I´ll take a shot at finishing Elephants of Doom tomorrow while Buggy is studying.
I should be able to get my laptop connected to the Internet this evening, which means a couple of travelogue episodes are in the offing.
Also, pL, I know you´ve put up a couple of poems lately. I may not be in a position to put them up for a while – if you could keep track of them it would help me later.
Prime director is a non-starter. While the prime angle is nice, it sounds too much like Prime Directive with the crew of the starship Enterprise violated on every episode.
Mr42K13 is too unwieldy and Keith is sure to mix up Mr42K13, MrC5K, etc.
The title for this millenium will be simply:
The runners up (before and after 42K13 per the sitemeter) were your run of the mill squirrel death affectionado and an egg friar.
Thank goodness MR&HBI got what it really needed:
The above phrase “… with the crew…”, which obviously should be “… which the crew ..” is carrying on the rich and pervious tradition of typos for which this site is famous.
Don’t forget the comma.
Nice tribute to the late senator Lloyd Bensen, Bob.
On the subject of elephants, I made progress, but found myself unable to get to the original setup. I will use this Internet opportunity to save the criteria and continue Elephants of Doom.
Edited to add:
Whoops! I’ve got some contradictions to resolve! Never fear, I’m on the case!
Sounds like fun in Spain. Good luck to Buggy on his business venture. I expect it involves Gibraltar for tax reasons.
Since July the Twoth is about halfway through the year, I’m thinking we should work the word “half” in there somewhere:
Half Squirrel Day?(half a squirrel is better than one)
Half Vast Day? (never try to do vast things with half vast ideas)
Half Another Beer Day? (don mine iff I do)
July is also Boys’ Bacchanal month.
How about Drink Two It Day?
I’d drink two that!
John’s suggestion for a theme sounds four times as good as mine.
How about simply TwoBeersDay?
Of course, if Jerry decides to “summer” in Spain, it will be something like Dia de la Dos Cervezas for him.
[I’m sure that phrase is incorrect somehow. Why would Spanish be any different than English (OK, American) when it comes to typos on MR&HBI?]
The only downside I see is the inevitable “everyday is TwoBeersDay” objection from the same folks who gave us the immortal “its never too late to change your major” and “have a 12 pack and rally next semester”.