I got something!

I got something I can go from the top of my head that's hockey related: the first time I was not the only woman in the room who liked hockey.

When I go to sports bars, I find it ironic that every sport imaginable is on the itty bitty Tvs but never hockey. Ping Pong. Nascar. Curling. No hockey.

I celebrated a friend's birthday at a sports bar in St. Charles. I adore my friend, I hate her fiance. Guess who I got to sit next to? Didn't get to talk to my friend because her landmass of a hubby to be sat between us.
Bored, I turned to the TVs. Basketball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Then across the room all the way across on the far wall....hockey! It was Toronto versus somebody. The bartenders wouldn't change the closer TVs because they were watching those games, so I spent the remainder of the night propped on my elbows but hunched, the exact angle I needed to peer through the drunken bodies.

The waitress looked very concerned when she refreshed my friends' drinks.
"I'm just watching the game."
My friend's brother stopped drinking. "Which one?"
"Hockey. Waaaay over there."
"You like hockey?"
"Yup."
"Oh my gosh! Keep liking it please."
he turned his chair so he'd be next to me and hunched down to peer through the other half of bodies.

That's the norm. The rush of being a rarity.

Then I presented a paper at the University of Buffalo in New York. It was the first time I'd presented at a conference. I was the only representative from NIU and I was an undergraduate presenting at a Graduate Studies conference.
We went out for a wind down dinner and drink at a local sports bar. No Tvs were on during dinner. Then the clocks struck the magic hour and all TVs came on. Locals flooded the bar. Beer drained from the taps. Standing room only. People calling, "Turn it up! Turn it up!"

It was hockey night in Buffalo, New York.

I had never seen so many people excited to see professional hockey even at rinks back home. During tournaments, golf or the football game would be on in the lobby, a link to the outside world.

A fellow presenter sipped his Blue Moon and checked the nearest screen.

"You like hockey?" he asked, squinting at the raised TV.

"I'm a hockey sister."

He nodded like, "Right on."

Anthems were sung. Silence, except for a few humming Oh Canada. The puck dropped. First moves passes breakaways. Silence. One passes across to...passes back...he shoots!
The goalie swatted the puck with his elbow.
Half the bar cheered and fell silent. The other half remained silent, staring at the TVs, willing that puck to circle round, find someones tape and get shot right back in.
Another save.
Half cheers.

That's when I realized something: I wasn't the only woman watching. I wasn't the only woman who knew what was going on. I wasn't alone!
My joy was short lived. I wasn't the only woman who liked hockey. I had competition. I'd never been challenged in the I-like-hockey arena.
Huh.

Back in the Midwest, it's a quirk I relish. I liked being in a hockey town.
Now I know how football people feel.