hooray for hockey?...!...?..!

So I woke up yesterday and, per my normal routine, grabbed my phone and started scrolling through my Twitter feed (which is where I get most of my news) to see what happened in the world overnight.

About 15 tweets in, I had to pinch myself to make sure I was really awake, because CNN, ABC7, and my fave local hockey writers @helenenothelen and @reallisa from the LA Times, plus players like Dustin Brown were all tweeting and retweeting that after 100+ days, an agreement had finally been reached between the NHL and the NHL Players Association to end the evil lockout and get back on the ice.

I kind of couldn't believe it. 

I'd given up hope about a month ago. And -- out of ticked-off frustration -- created an awesome excel spreadsheet calculating not only the amount I was going to be refunded in cancelled LA Kings games this season, but also the 5% interest I was earning on that refund by allowing the Kings to hold on to my cash for future purchases of playoff tickets or next season's tickets (vs sending it back to me so it could sit in my bank account earning maybe 0.1% interest if I'm lucky :P). I figured out it would be at least Summer 2014 before they got another not-already-paid-to-them cent out of me! 

I was angry at the greedy owners, getting close to angry with the players I love (although not really) and hated Commissioner Gary Bettman even more than I already did (thanks to two previous lockouts during his "reign" and the fact that he's just a squirrely, annoying little man). 

Then, as I scrolled my feed, I saw a tweet from the LA Kings twitter feed: "First order of business: raise banner."

And suddenly, all my joy from last June came flooding back. My team won the holy grail of hockey on June 11th after 45 years of trying. And they, plus all us long-suffering LA Kings fans, have been waiting since then to claim real estate in the Staples Center rafters with a banner that reads: 2012 Stanley Cup CHAMPIONS!

I'm not saying all is forgiven...  there was serious damage done to the sport and it remains to be seen if anyone actually "won" anything from all this "negotiating." Lots of fans are ticked off and planning to boycott games. 

But I've missed hockey. 

And I want to see that banner go up on the wall. 

And I've got a brand new Dustin Brown jersey that I bought in the early morning hours of June 12th that hasn't been to a game at Staples Center yet. :)

So I am keeping my schedule free from next Thursday night onward, waiting for the NHL's shortened-season schedule to be released. And I will be in Section 205 when that banner is raised. 

I guess I love hockey too much to hold a grudge. Sorry Angry Fans :P