Ben & Jen Shepard

I can’t believe I am about to say this.  I would have sworn that nothing like what I am about to say would ever have fallen from my lips.  And yet, here it is.  I like snowboarding.  After years spent refusing to try anything requiring something strapped to my feet and a hill, my eyes have finally been opened to what other people seem to find so enjoyable. It has taken some time, but I am proud to say that after sticking with it through the bruises, the falls and a few tearful tantrums (thank you to my wonderful husband for enduring those), I have a completely new and positive outlook on snowboarding.  There is one thing though, that has proven to be a major obstacle to my new found hobby: the devil chairlift.

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Hockey.  I wasn’t really all that into it until the Buffalo Sabres made it into the 2006-2007 playoffs and came agonizingly close to winning the Stanley Cup.  Even though it was the Ottawa Senators who finally dashed our championship hopes to icy pieces in a 4-1 loss, I had caught the fever.  Hockey had the best of everything in mainstream sports – the action was fast, the tables could be turned in seconds, and the fans were stubbornly devoted to the home team.  Star Sabres players could frequently be seen have a pre-game meal at Chef’s, one of Buffalo’s famous Italian restaurants.  They were celebrities, but they were eating spaghetti just like everybody else.

One of these days Ben and I will get to a Sabres game.  It’s tough to get tickets and not cheap.  In the meantime, however, we enjoyed a trip to Ben’s hometown to watch the Syracuse Crunch take on the Rochester Americans.  Now, Rochester used to be the Sabres’ farm team until recently.   I don’t know that I could have rooted against Rochester in good conscience had that still been the case.  But it turned out to be a good thing that it wasn’t, because the Crunch crunched Rochester 4-1.  Sweet.