Small Price to Pay

As far as the realm of sports goes, there are 2 kinds of people in this world. There are fans and there is everyone else. A fan is different than a casual observer in many ways, but the only distinction that ultimately matters is what I'll refer to as the "it's just a game" factor. Any person who has ever uttered the words "it's just a game" is not a true fan of either team in the game. When a team is on the cusp of doing something very special, the stakes are raised and it becomes even more of a life and death situation. Look, I'm a Christian, and obviously believe that the actual results of sporting events are irrelevant when looking through an eternal lens. Are there more important things in life? Of course. Also, I could (but will not) easily dive into the reasons why a sports team winning or losing have real significance in a culture. Those things aside, however, as long as I'm on the earth and make a hobby out of being a sports nerd, I will be completely an utterly insulted when someone says, "it's just a game". But let me get to the point of this...

Shoes with a Monopoly money theme...Just kidding, although those bad boys are pretty wild. I posted the picture below because it came up when i was google imaging money-related things, and I was entranced by it. I sometimes am drawn to eccentric styles, but 99% of the time would never actually rock the gear I stalk online.



The reason I was googling money was because I am about to spend a large amount of it this weekend. I planned a trip to see my man TommyBoy a few months ago, and have been chomping at the bit for Memorial day weekend to arrive ever since. Tom's place of employment is lodging me and providing the majority of meals I will have there. It's going to be a great time, one that originally looked very inexpensive also. But fate would have it differently, and as I already stated my wallet is going to end up being much lighter after this weekend...

The Flyers stumbled into the playoffs, got some favorable matchups, and more importantly began playing up to the level they were capable of. They made history and came back from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series and another 3-0 deficit in the clinching game to reach the Conference Finals. After Chicago dominated their own Conference Final Series, we took care of business and finished off Montreal in 5 games. Because both series ended quickly the Stanley Cup Finals are set to begin in the Windy City on Saturday. What do you think the probability was of Philly making the Finals, drawing the Blackhawks from the West, and playing the opening game of the series in what might be the only 3-day period for the rest of my life I visit Chicago? If you answered, "Holy crap, I have as good a chance of winning the lottery as that actually happening" you would be on the money.

So there I am post game, watching the Stanley Cup Finals Schedule flash onscreen as my trip to visit my Philly-transplant homie approaches. It dawns on me in that moment that I just can not miss going to the first game of the finals under any circumstances. It's just too huge of a chance to pass up, and too many things fell into place for me to not buy a ticket to the United Center for Saturday. And there's no getting around it: I'm going to have to shell out some major bucks to make it happen.

Now Tom and I both work with kids, because we are just that altruistic hah. But seriously, we both love what we do, and share the joys of our fields and the down points equally. One down point is that we are not compensated in the financial department as much as an individual would like to be. It's not a big deal because, well...mo' money, mo' problems. It does, however, make it difficult to buy tickets to a Pro Sports Championship game. Buying tickets when a few hundred bucks could be made back in a day of work is a very different thing than buying tickets when that same amount takes much longer to recoup.

Don't get me wrong though, my point is not to cry about how much the tickets are or how little we make. I can't state that enough. If the Fly guys get smoked in game 1, of course I'll be superbly bummed, but it's totally worth the price of admission to be there just because the possibility exists that it could be the sports experience of a lifetime. The point is that fans invest a lot in their teams, and in a variety of different ways. Being a Philly sports fan, I feel I have a penance to pay to our hockey team for doubting them at junctures throughout the season. Shelling out a large amount of dinero for the opportunity to be verbally molested by Blackhawks fans in Standing Room is an honor I don't take lightly. And, far more importantly, I feel that the question of whether there should be two more bodies covered in orange and black in enemy territory shouldn't be a question at all, regardless of the investment it takes to make it happen.



I got a text from Tom this afternoon concerning our decision to take the leap for one of our sports teams:

"When we are 80 years old we can talk about how we saw the Flyers play the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup in Chicago during Philly's famous Cinderella season."

Some opportunities you just can't put a price on.