Post by Old Bucks Admin on Apr 19, 2021 5:42:37 GMT -5
“Beware the Ides of April.” Such was the theme of Week 7, the ominous deadline of April 15 casting a pall over the lead-up to Sunday’s game. Two-thousand years ago Julius Caesar was told “Beware the Ides of March”. Today we insert “April” because today we do not stab our tyrants to death, we just charge them with tax evasion. But this year the Ides came and went with nothing more newsworthy than Nancy Pelosi’s book about to hit the shelves. Knowing Nancy no bodices will be ripped in the book, only a speech. We can’t wait, not in terms of reading it, but in terms of seeing if our local library will buy more copies of this book than it did of Hillary’s What Happened. Here is a photo of nine duplicate volumes of What Happened ranged together at our library.
Our bet is Nancy gets ten.
It’s hard to get to Old Bucks on time when you have to cross bridges, pay tolls, and find the right exit. It doesn’t help when you hit every light between Veterans Highway and Mulberry. But the kicker on Sunday regarded an old lady crossing Beaver Street on her bicycle. It had pink pedals and one fell off right in the middle of the road. The rubbernecking alone cost us another five minutes. We barely reached the locker room in time for the excitement: Paul Egan announcing that although he will continue skating for Blue, he now identifies as Red and his preferred shades are “crimson” “fire brick” and “merlot”. You could’ve almost heard a skate guard drop when he said this. Credit the tolerance of club to the fact that no one took issue. Which is not to say Blue and Red reacted the same way; in fact quite differently. Blue couldn’t have cared less and resumed talking about how the Boom Boom Room was having its first ever Monster Mug Monday on a Sunday. Red, on the other hand, who was now obliged to accept Paul as one of their own, blue jersey and all, seemed oddly quiet, almost inscrutably so, as if their assent was a conditioned response, imposed on them from without, on the understanding that any contrary belief would be met with the sharpest rebuke. It reminds us of a Cammaerts quote, “Anyone who believes in nothing is liable to believe anything.” Perhaps this is a sign that we are now to believe anything. If so then we believe that Old Bucks is fair and Kenny is a model of integrity.
As for the game itself, it was reminiscent of two weeks ago when Mrs. World was fighting Mrs. Sri Lanka and a beauty pageant broke out. Sure there was some tiara-tugging, but after all, it is hockey. Blue, stocked with all three Dougherty brothers, jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead as if they had all three Sutter brothers, Darryl, Darryl and Darryl. Chris Chairmonte then scored for Red proving that although his name literally means “seat on the mountain” he is not afraid to mix it up in the valley of the shadow of Steve Souza. Paul Egan made it 3-1 Blue. Camped out in Eddie’s crease, he holed a two-foot putt and actually kept his feet for a change. Call him the Apu of Old Bucks: laugh now, apologize later. Like all Canadiens he’s polite even when he’s rough (I’m sorry. Did that hurt? I’m sorry. Did that hurt again?) And when he’s homesick for his native land he goes to the nearest Tim Horton’s in Raritan for a jam buster and double double and harangues the customers on the idea that one day Canada will rule the world and they’ll all be sorry.
Red sure was sorry as Blue continued to run up the score, extending their leads at various times from 5-1 to 10-4 to 12-6. Red tried everything to shut down their offense. Kenny, as the club’s COVID Compliance Officer, even tried calling out Brian Urban and Rich Devlin for exerting themselves too much and breathing too heavily on the other players. It was hard for Red to find a bright side so we did it for them. The father/daughter duo, Aaron and Gillian, had two goals apiece which is tremendous until you realize that Red only scored eight goals and that the Kibbeys were half their offense. Where was everyone else? Probably thinking about the big party tray of Primo hoagies the Doughertys bought for after the game. Grundy, after all, is their home turf so tailgating there is something of a sacred rite. A big crowd showed, the beer flowed, and the hoagie tray did not survive.
Our bet is Nancy gets ten.
It’s hard to get to Old Bucks on time when you have to cross bridges, pay tolls, and find the right exit. It doesn’t help when you hit every light between Veterans Highway and Mulberry. But the kicker on Sunday regarded an old lady crossing Beaver Street on her bicycle. It had pink pedals and one fell off right in the middle of the road. The rubbernecking alone cost us another five minutes. We barely reached the locker room in time for the excitement: Paul Egan announcing that although he will continue skating for Blue, he now identifies as Red and his preferred shades are “crimson” “fire brick” and “merlot”. You could’ve almost heard a skate guard drop when he said this. Credit the tolerance of club to the fact that no one took issue. Which is not to say Blue and Red reacted the same way; in fact quite differently. Blue couldn’t have cared less and resumed talking about how the Boom Boom Room was having its first ever Monster Mug Monday on a Sunday. Red, on the other hand, who was now obliged to accept Paul as one of their own, blue jersey and all, seemed oddly quiet, almost inscrutably so, as if their assent was a conditioned response, imposed on them from without, on the understanding that any contrary belief would be met with the sharpest rebuke. It reminds us of a Cammaerts quote, “Anyone who believes in nothing is liable to believe anything.” Perhaps this is a sign that we are now to believe anything. If so then we believe that Old Bucks is fair and Kenny is a model of integrity.
As for the game itself, it was reminiscent of two weeks ago when Mrs. World was fighting Mrs. Sri Lanka and a beauty pageant broke out. Sure there was some tiara-tugging, but after all, it is hockey. Blue, stocked with all three Dougherty brothers, jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead as if they had all three Sutter brothers, Darryl, Darryl and Darryl. Chris Chairmonte then scored for Red proving that although his name literally means “seat on the mountain” he is not afraid to mix it up in the valley of the shadow of Steve Souza. Paul Egan made it 3-1 Blue. Camped out in Eddie’s crease, he holed a two-foot putt and actually kept his feet for a change. Call him the Apu of Old Bucks: laugh now, apologize later. Like all Canadiens he’s polite even when he’s rough (I’m sorry. Did that hurt? I’m sorry. Did that hurt again?) And when he’s homesick for his native land he goes to the nearest Tim Horton’s in Raritan for a jam buster and double double and harangues the customers on the idea that one day Canada will rule the world and they’ll all be sorry.
Red sure was sorry as Blue continued to run up the score, extending their leads at various times from 5-1 to 10-4 to 12-6. Red tried everything to shut down their offense. Kenny, as the club’s COVID Compliance Officer, even tried calling out Brian Urban and Rich Devlin for exerting themselves too much and breathing too heavily on the other players. It was hard for Red to find a bright side so we did it for them. The father/daughter duo, Aaron and Gillian, had two goals apiece which is tremendous until you realize that Red only scored eight goals and that the Kibbeys were half their offense. Where was everyone else? Probably thinking about the big party tray of Primo hoagies the Doughertys bought for after the game. Grundy, after all, is their home turf so tailgating there is something of a sacred rite. A big crowd showed, the beer flowed, and the hoagie tray did not survive.