The Outsider

From this perspective, without any emotional connection, the Stanley Cup playoffs are fun to watch.

I don't care who wins. I don't care who loses. I don't care how things turn out. However I find plenty of enjoyment watching how things unfold. Specifically, last night's Caps-Flyers game. The atmosphere in Philadelphia was incredible. Sensational. Electric. The kind you can feel. The kind that emanates through the TV screen into your body and down your spine.

Its the kind of atmosphere I can't appreciate when I'm emotionally tied to the game. I'm too wrapped up. I'm obsessed, I'm focussed, I'm addicted, I care. So much so I'm precluded from absorbing the action. Instead, I anticipate it. I fear it. This is a constant grind throughout the entire contest to the point where I'm ready to pass out, freak out, go out, or pop a gravol or two just to chill the f*** out.

Those were the days.

No longer do I ride this rollercoaster of emotion and excitement. Its not that I don't want to, its just I can't. Its not my ride. Hasn't been for the past 3 years. Now, from a safe place, I watch other adrenaline junkies go through the thrills, spills, chills and pills of NHL playoff hockey. I watch from a place where nothing's at stake. Where there's nothing to worry about, nothing to fear. That's life when the risk-reward hockey that Spring brings once again eludes you.

At least I can sleep at night.