hockey mom

Last night, I went with several former coworkers to the Houston Aeros hockey game.  The Aeros were playing the Iowa Chops ("Really?"  I kept asking my friends.  "The Iowa Chops?"), and we won, 3-1.

I don't know much about hockey (due to the fact, I suppose, I have very, very few memories of ice rinks during my childhood in Trinidad), but my friend Karen, who got us the tickets, is a huge fan; also, my friends James and David are from Canada and Colorado, respectively, so I got a good lesson.  For example, I learned the reason why it is part of the code and culture for the players to fight at the games (it brings in ticket sales).  I also learned why it might not be a good idea to sit between a Calgary Flames fan and a Colorado Avalanche fan (you can't win).

I did not, however, get answers to:

• why it's a good idea to have cheerleaders (excuse me, "power dancers") at a hockey game, particular since they generally did all their dancing at the back of the stands, behind all the spectators;
• why the little lady in the row next to us was incessantly shaking a cowbell. I mean, incessantly, not just when there was a good play, or when the Aeros were on defense; and
• why there was a real-life garden gnome in attendance.

These are the things that shall keep me awake at night for weeks to come.

Song:  Fire, by the Ohio Players.  They played this song after the end of the first period, and this alone might make me return to the Toyota Center to see another game.