Nov 2, 2007

Off-topic: A life lesson for junior male hockey fans

I like teachable moments in life. It's not often that I pull a non-hockey teachable moment onto the blog, but it is my duty as a woman to put this one out there for any mite-sized male fans.

Here's an email I received from a certain high-profile, male Caps blog author:

Hi, Kristin-

In preparing for the upcoming game between the Flyers and the Capitals, we wanted to get the perspective from "the other side." Quite simply, we'd love a one to two sentence soundbite/quote on why you think the Flyers will beat the Caps. We'll include the quote (make it as insightful/clever/snarky etc. as you wish) and a link back to your blog in our gameday preview.

As one of Sports Media Challenge's "Top 10 NHL Blogs," we recognize that blogging is all about community-building, and that's why we're trying to reach out and introduce our readers to your blog and generate some good-natured smack talk.

So if you'd like to participate, shoot an email back to us as soon as you get the chance (no later than the night before the game, if possible), and we'll see where it goes from there.


Now, if y'all pay attention to the authoring, you know that my name is Nadine. However, I was raised to be a respectful person and I went to college at a private school in the South where common courtesy reigns. So, here's my friendly, joking reply:

Uh X, I'm not Kristin.

Nadine

flyers.femme

His reply:

An excellent point, Nadine. My apologies for the prematurely sent and inaccurate email. And thanks for reinforcing the stereotype of every Philly fan! :)

Right. So even with that little smiley face, I'm confused. Why is this degenerating into stereotypes? They are inherently evil. And which stereotype does he mean? (Pardon me, but I've only lived here for three years. I'm not one of those "intimidating" Philly fans. I'm civilized, unless you count the fact that I wear Halloween colors to sporting events.)

I cannot let this go now, because my female freak-out alarm has started up. However, I must maintain that courteous tone. Here's my second reply:

Wow, X. I was just trying to point out that based on your salutation, you had contacted the wrong person.

I wasn't sure if you meant to send the message to me as well, or only to Kristin. I only wanted to let you know that you reached the wrong one of us if in fact you only wanted to write to Kristin.

That being said, good luck to your team tonight.

Nadine

Not offensive, right? His final reply:

No, no. Thanks, Nadine. I was just joshing around.

Should be a good game. I hope so anyway. The Caps really need this win.

Best,
X

Of course, I wrote back to say that so do my Flyers since we confront the evil Rangers that just killed the Caps last night. (While those overly-presumptuous Habs enjoyed wracking up a win on a Flyers team with even worse D than usual and beat the crap out of Gator's face. Please, God, we need Gagne back.)

But, back to the life lesson. It's a fundamental rule for relating to women, which I'm sure every man has learned and one which should never be forgotten:

Never, ever, under any circumstance, do you call a woman by the wrong name.

Sorry, Mr. X. I just had to make a fun post about this one! ;p

11 comments:

admin said...

Oh, my rule is that you can mispronounce my name, but you better make sure you spell it right!

Spell it wrong and you are on my shit list!

Nadine said...

But to not even get it right? C'mon! Kristin is nothing like Nadine.

And while I thank God everyday for copy and paste when I'm at work, this is one time where it really doesn't work in your favor...another life lesson for the junior males! (Dude, I'm having so much fun with this.)

admin said...

Hey...shouldn't you be working and not posting?!?!!! I'm telling!

Nadine said...

Scream that a little louder next time. Yeesh.

I'm working from home and utilizing my home laptop for this...thank you.

(The work one is on Cvent for my seminars' registration web sites construction. I just can't sort through all those details with constant interruptions.)

CapsChick said...

He didn't really do that, did he?? Yeesh. I'll have to have a little chat with J-, er, Mr. X about that.

Or better yet, I'll talk to his wife - she can set him straight!

Should be a good one tonight, no? If both teams play to their potential...well, the Caps are going to get creamed. ;) But anyways. I hope they win since I'll be there. I need this after last night's loss to Lundqvist. Not the Rangers, Lundqvist. Trust me.

Anonymous said...

thats just funny

what CapsChick said

Nadine said...

CC: It was KB.

And, yeah, it's really Lundqvist holding it all down right now. However, in my years of watching hockey, a second someone from the Evil Rangers grows a pair and steps up his game at the most inopportune moment.

That said, last night's score wasn't really that bad...it just wasn't filed under the Caps' "W" column. And the penalty summary is just fantastic! Godzilla even contributed...I knew I could depend on him! (He's among my squees from other teams.)

CapsChick said...

Ah...got it ;) Apparently the Caps have this thing where they wake up Drury and/or Gomez - neither one scores against other teams ($87 million well spent, right?) but they've loooooved to take out my team so far.

The score wasn't bad, it was just weighted in the wrong direction! Bah. But yay Olie for getting a penalty (and he's among a lot of people's squees from other teams, for good reason :P) although I kinda wish he had just punched someone. Not that I want any of your boys to get hurt or anything...really...its just always, always funny when Zilla rears back and slugs someone. I thought it was going to happen last night with how chippy it was getting but sadly, no.

Nadine said...

CC: [In a really sarcastic voice] Godzilla hitting people? He would never do that!

In all sincerity, I seem to recall some footage of the back-up goalie having an Olie-like temper tantrum. It's so nice to see him taking them under his wing. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

I think it's just a matter of time until your boys turn the Drury/Gomez thing around. Just be glad you don't have to play them as many times as we do! As the Isles fans say, "Ranjuhs suck!"

BTW, can't wait to meet you and Shmee in person during the mini meet-up next month!

CapsChick said...

Zilla's just a big pussycat, what are you talking about?? ;) Him hitting someone would be like...Briere spearing! Or Crosby whining or diving! I would be shocked. SHOCKED.

But seriously I think between Olie and Hextall we used to have the two meanest SOBs in the league, didn't we? Many a leg was hacked in the Patrick Division back then with those two, that's for sure.

And yes, that clip you're referring to was probably Brent Johnson spazzing out against the Sabres last year - thank you for reminding me of that horrific game. Johnny has learned from the master, what can I say?

I'm looking forward to the mini-meetup too! It's going to be awesome, I can feel it already. GO BEARS! ;)

Nadine said...

Dude, we had Ron Hextall AND Garth Snow. Neither one of them met a fight they didn't totally like!

*sigh* Goalie fights are just so much fun...

I completely agree with you. If the rest of the team didn't scare the crap out of you, the goalies sure could. (Emery, for as crazy and bad@$$ as he wants everyone to think he is, could learn a lot from Godzilla!)

Good night all you Gentle Readers! Must get some quality sleep before seeing my boys practice tomorrow.

P.S.: If you're a USA reader, don't forget to set your clock back tonight!