The Flyers Come to Town

Tonight's game against the Flyers promises to be entertaining. Since I loathe Philadelphia (particularly their sports teams), I really hope the Caps can come up with a convincing win.

Ovie has had a tough couple of games. If you go by the Jasper's Rink assessment, it's been almost dire: "The six shots on goal AO was credited with last week were as many or fewer than in any of his previous half-dozen games. Two hits in two games, a fine, and a team 0-for-11 on the power play (including two shorties against) also speak to a rough week for the best player in the world."

Yeesh!

So, in the hopes of boosting his karma, here is my photo with the Great 8! Yes, I paid $20 for this at the Capitals Convention and waited in two long lines. No, it's not the most awesome photo of me ever taken, but it's still one of the coolest things ever. It took the team a while to get it to me. The photo was taken on Sept. 26th and the team emailed it to me in mid-October. Now I am unveiling it to the blog-reading public:

Several things went through my mind while waiting in line and having my photo taken with Ovie.

• I watched everyone walk up onto the platform and shake his hand and I began to worry intensely about H1N1 and other infectious diseases. This is a common worry of mine. I do not want my Capitals getting sick.
  
• I wondered what I could do or say to let him know that I am cooler than your regular fan, that he should, in fact, be friends with me... I simultaneously realized that there was nothing I could say and that I am not actually cooler than other fans. 
• I watched a woman a few people ahead of me give Ovie a hand-crocheted doll of himself complete with a #8 stitched to the back of the red jersey. I then watched Ovie look at it in a slightly puzzled way and hand it to a team staff member which is when I thought about how glad I was that I didn't do something like that to distinguish myself. That doll must have taken her hours.
• I saw a girl, probably a teenager but she may have been in her 20's, begin to have a panic attack in line. She was so excited to meet Ovechkin that she was having trouble breathing and eventually began sobbing. This made me feel a little better about my fluttering heart.
• I was relieved to see that crying girl pulled it together in time for her photo.
• The marketing professional in me noted the fact that the background was kind of terrible for pictures. It was way too busy and too shiny for the flash. I think the team should hire me, I really do.

 I hope to meet Ovie again someday in a less insane environment. This means I will probably have to turn into a stalker at practice or get lucky and wind up in the same place as him by chance. Hopefully, I'll have a camera when it happens.

Side note: I have done a small amount of shameless promotion of my little blog and it is starting to work. Caps owner Ted Leonsis added The View from 419 to his blogroll under Favorite Sports Blogs! Thanks Ted!

And with that, let's go Caps!