Post by Jim H. on Jan 23, 2022 22:09:59 GMT -5
Old Bucks underwent a sudden and complete metamorphosis for Week 18, going from the caterpillar of 4 v. 4 hockey to the butterfly of full benches. Many skaters came back to the fold after long absences. Red celebrated the return of the prodigal Mark Herr who brought his son Gardner, who keeps his prodigality in check whenever dad's around. Blue celebrated the return of Chris and Dan Dougherty, and Paul Egan too, the real Paul Egan, not some cheap knock off like the burly Joe Bruno. Blue really needed Paul too considering that Hannibal’s armies were never more terrifying than when the elephants were brought into battle, and Paul can certainly command that kind of presence on the ice. Mike Tennant was back wearing his trademark USA jersey which always gets under Paul’s skin as if Mike’s taunting him, I’m a naturalized citizen and you’re not. Rounding out Red’s lineup were the Kibbeys, Aaron and Gillian, although Gillian had to duck out during the game for an Ironbound zoom on her cell. In her absence Red tried to regroup, and they did, for what they lost in razzmatazz they made up for in Bobmatazz.
The slings and arrows of outrageous Blue fortune were never more fatal than in Week 18. For one, they took the ice hitting on all cylinders, scoring goals left and right, building up a seemingly insurmountable 8-5 lead, while at the Red end of the ice it looked like, in the words of Boris Johnson, “the biggest stitch up since the Bayeux Tapestry”. Blue’s high point, and Red’s low, was when Chris Dougherty scored three goals in a single shift, much to the bewilderment of goalie Ed Conrad, who would not have been out of line to have screamed at least once at his defensemen, “Come on!” in honor of Marty who was in the warm room watching the football game. It was during this woeful nadir that Mark Herr, sitting on the Red bench, summed it up with a little self-referential candor: “You can be old. And you can be fat. But you can’t be old and fat.”
But then Red’s slings and arrows started to find their mark and Blue’s lead disappeared faster than the old rototiller we put at the end of our driveway this morning. It was a group effort with goals by Tim White, Bob Freiling, Mark Mayer, Eddie O., and incredibly, three from Aaron who absolutely caught fire although Gillian was quick to douse that metaphor with a bucket of cold, “My dad does not catch fire”. Red closed it out in style, 13-11, while Blue fell back on the best balm for wounded pride there is: beer and TJ’s pizza.
The slings and arrows of outrageous Blue fortune were never more fatal than in Week 18. For one, they took the ice hitting on all cylinders, scoring goals left and right, building up a seemingly insurmountable 8-5 lead, while at the Red end of the ice it looked like, in the words of Boris Johnson, “the biggest stitch up since the Bayeux Tapestry”. Blue’s high point, and Red’s low, was when Chris Dougherty scored three goals in a single shift, much to the bewilderment of goalie Ed Conrad, who would not have been out of line to have screamed at least once at his defensemen, “Come on!” in honor of Marty who was in the warm room watching the football game. It was during this woeful nadir that Mark Herr, sitting on the Red bench, summed it up with a little self-referential candor: “You can be old. And you can be fat. But you can’t be old and fat.”
But then Red’s slings and arrows started to find their mark and Blue’s lead disappeared faster than the old rototiller we put at the end of our driveway this morning. It was a group effort with goals by Tim White, Bob Freiling, Mark Mayer, Eddie O., and incredibly, three from Aaron who absolutely caught fire although Gillian was quick to douse that metaphor with a bucket of cold, “My dad does not catch fire”. Red closed it out in style, 13-11, while Blue fell back on the best balm for wounded pride there is: beer and TJ’s pizza.