Don’t hate the playa, playa

Last Friday, in our game against the Flying Wizards, I was sarcastically called ”classy”, and later on an ”a–hole” – and not even by members of my own team.  Let’s combine them and go with classy a–hole.

There was a time when I would have taken offense to such categorization by opposing players.  But, for some reason, being called those things on Friday put a smile on my face.  Of course, trying to live up to that label will only get me knocked on my butt (which won’t be a major accomplishment for anyone who does that to me).  But, for someone like me who always admired guys like Esa Tikkanen (one of the most successful agitators in the NHL), being called such a thing by the opposition is a little point of pride.

In this game, the Flipping Wizzles took a 2-1 lead on the strength of their best player who set up their first goal and scored their second one.  The guy was dominant everytime he was on the ice, being able to skate around players to avoid checks, throwing excellent passes (including one to himself behind his back on the boards) and constantly leading the rush into our zone.  We had difficulty containing him.

I took note of the fact that this Flying Wizzer had no jersey number despite the fact that according to our league’s rules: 

…Each team will need to play with a team set of matching jerseys, with numbers.  Any player without a matching jersey or number will be excused from the ice.  Both light and dark jerseys are required.

So, according to the league’s policy, this player should not have even been on the ice.  I did some soulsearching on the bench, and three seconds later I decided I was going to call the Flinging Washer out to the referee.  People know I’m prone to doing such things, rightly or wrongly.   But, if it’s a rule, and it’s being violated by their best player, I’m within my rights to call it out – especially because I go to some effort to make sure my team is in compliance with all of Skatetown’s rules and policies. So, don’t hate me people, hate the game.

On my next shift on the ice, I pointed out to the referee that the player did not have a number on his uniform and shouldn’t have been on the ice. 

The referee told me he would look this up in the rulebook and get back to me.  In the meantime, the player was allowed to continue playing.  As we subsequently set up for the faceoff, I could hear the Flashing Wallabee call out to me from the bench about how “classy” I was. 

Later during the game, the referee came up to me and told me that while the jersey number rule is a rule, it’s not “really” enforced.  I let it go, other than to point out to the referee that said rule is on the Skatetown website, and it’s silly to put it up there if it’s not to be enforced.  But, I left it at that.  I’ve learned that how the rules in our league are applied is subject to “referee’s discretion”.  The referee told me they knew who he was – that he was number 14 – and so there was no problem.  I accepted the ref’s decision and made no further issue of it.

On the scoresheet after the game, the Flaking Wicker in question was listed as 00. 

The second part of my new label – “a–hole” – came at the end of our game.  In a scrum in front of our net, with the Flicking Wishers looking to tie the game, one of their players got tied up by one of ours, and proceeded to take issue with it.  I got involved to try and break it up, and as I pulled the opposing player away, we started having a “discussion”.  I may have asked the player why he was always such an angry man.  

With both of us still on the ice during the next play, one of our players scored on their empty net (they had pulled their goalie for the extra attacker), and the player who I just had a heart-to-heart with skated towards his bench while cussing me out, letting fly choice words such as the “a–hole”.  When I put my hand up to my ear to ask him what he said, the ref put me in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct.  Apparently, asking someone to cuss me out more coherently warrants a two minute penalty.  This was the first time in over a season that I’ve been in the box, so it was nice to get on the scoresheet.  I think the other player took some pride in getting me in the box as well, so it was a good thing all around.

I’m glad we were all able to leave the game happy, more or less. 

I wonder how many enemies I’ll have made before this season is through?

Singh10.