Andy Chase

Over the last couple of years I've written a couple of things about NHL Hockey, the only sport I've ever really been interested enough in to follow with any regularity. The interest is a relatively new-found one, and despite the fact that sports fandom is completely accepted (expected, even) behavior for white males of all ages, I still find myself uncomfortable with the notion of being a "sports fan". This is largely an artifact of my picked-last-for-kickball and dodgeball-target childhood. It's also partly not wanting to be lumped into the sub-group of homo sapiens that includes the shirtless, face-painted lummoxes you invariably see in the stands at professional sporting events.

That being said, it has been an entertaining post-season for the Boston Bruins, in their seven game quarterfinal series against the arch-rival Canadiens. Although the series is not won, I'm actually going to go so far in my uncomfortable role of sports fan do a bit of gloating, and bitching about the Habs' antics by way of linking to a nice article by Eric Wilbur, titled French whine.

Read that, and then consider the fact that while Ribiero and Kovalev were out there pretending to be hurt and hoping to draw cheap penalties, Bruins' defenseman Ted Donato had his foot broken by a slapshot and skated back to the bench on his own accord, and then played two more shifts on a broken foot. Even the Montreal Gazette is on Ribiero's and Kovalev's case.

Game 5 at the Fleet Center is going to rock.