And I didn't watch a bit.
For the first time in over 15 years, I didn't buy the Center Ice package, so I likely won't have a lot of Devils coverage this season other than trades or the occasional game that I catch against Washington or NHL Network.
The last time that I didn't watch all the teams games, the Devils were playing at the pictured Brendan Byrne or Meadowlands arena and we were living in an apartment before that cable company even offered the package (they did offer it for a few years before we added Directv).
Oh, I'm still a fan and I'll be following the team"old school" style if the old school style can be considered following games online and on the radio, but some things changed and those changes made the difficult decision easier to make.
I had enjoyed the Devils games mostly alone for years, Ryan was a fan of the Ottawa Senators, Cherie never seemed as interested in the team as she did the Cavaliers and Rachel had never been much of a sports fan, so I watched them by myself for the most part.
I breezed along in my Devils fandom, perfectly content to watch arguably (along with Detroit) as the most consistent title contender of their time period battle for championships every year as from 1990-2010, the Devils would miss the playoffs just once, win three Stanley Cups and four conference titles in a pretty good run for a fan of any team, let alone the team that was arguably at times in their history the third team in a three-team market.
The Devils missed the playoffs and then began a miracle run to the Stanley Cup finals where they would lose to the Los Angeles Kings, but in that season things began to change.
Rachel started watching games on occasion and by playoff time, Rachel was cemented with fandom for the team, for Adam Henrique, and watching all the games with me.
Rachel enjoyed that run, but she wouldn't see a lot of success on the ice as the Devils began to make risky moves with veteran players who were washed up or brought injury issues with them and the franchise began to pay the price as the Devils would miss the playoffs for the next five years under a despised coach (Peter DeBoer) and one that we liked, but the team was rebuilding in John Hynes.
Rachel was still a diehard fan with trips to Hershey to see the AHL Devils, the remembered trip to meet Henrique, and more Devils items than I ever had!
We watched the games together and despite the unhappiness with the losing, it was a great time to be a fan as I was teaching Rachel the game and enjoying the one thing that we've been able to share.
Rachel made lots of friends with a popular Devils Facebook page that she produced and I even made a friend as well.
She kept the page current daily and she enjoyed doing the page, and talking to fans, even though the team wasn't a very good one.
I had always admired her dedication to Adam Henrique and remembered how it felt to have that kind of honeymoon as a fan of a player and the team.
I also knew that doesn't last forever and I had talked to Cherie more than once wondering if Rachel was more of a Henrique fan or a Devils fan and sooner or later, we'd find out.
On November 30 of last year, Adam Henrique was traded to Anaheim and I learned just how devoted she was to Henrique as she just didn't want to watch anymore, although she did watch a playoff game or two as they slid into the playoffs as the eighth seed.
What I didn't expect was this- I didn't enjoy watching as much without her and my interest waned despite the Ray Shero revamp into a young and fun-to-watch team with Taylor Hall becoming the Devils first player ever to win the league's Hart Trophy as MVP.
I did watch, but not nearly as much, and by the end of the season, when most Devils fans were sky-high about the team's future, I was wondering about watching the next season.
So, I reluctantly ended my Center Ice package (and I wonder what I'm going to do without Devils or Cavaliers every night) and I guess I'll get back into something over the winter.
The title is from the 70's film Goodbye Girl and goodbye doesn't mean forever for me either.
Perhaps a year away will reignite my fire and I'll be back next year ready for the season.'
Maybe I'll be returning to watch more college basketball or maybe it'll be nothing at all, but at 50, I never expected things to turn out this way.
To Rachel, Adam Henrique (at that time, at least) was more important than the Devils.
What I didn't expect (on a leisure time basis, anyway) was that watching the Devils with Rachel was more important than watching them at all...
Back later with the PPM and Boxing Challenge.
No comments:
Post a Comment