Good Friday

Bachelor Party USA was to commence on Friday, June 12th and last through the early morning of Sunday, June 14th. Most of my friends came from out of town:

Mark and Evan - DC
Crispino - Williamsburg
Watts and Tsai - Chicago
Joe - Atlanta
Jeff - Boulder
Reid and Robby - New York City
Gaetan, a true Philadelphian, currently resides in Pittsburgh as he begins his residency (awesome.)

We had planned this weekend for about two months, but didn't really set too much in stone except for Saturday golf and Pirate game. Friday became booked when the Penguins defeated the Red Wings on Tuesday night to force a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals. As soon as it ended, Joe is on the phone with me, plotting when we would meet at my house, what we would bring, and what we would eat.

I have not watched a game with my buddies since high school and now I'm watching, arguably, the biggest game of my fandom career, with all of them in my basement. My dad cooked enough meet to feed Portugal with no salads to be found in sight. Mom had gotten me 36 bottles of IBC Root Beer per my request. We set up another television in the living room so there were three screens going in the house.

At 8:15PM, it was game on. I can remember so much about the game but so little about what everyone else was doing. Maybe it was because of our collective laser-like focus to the high-def NBC feed. It was the greatest.

As the third period was winding down and the Pens were clinging to a 2-1 lead, I kept thinking - there's no way all of these things can be happening at once. If they pull this out, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself.

Sure enough...

Usually after "biggest wins in my lifetime" type games, I'm calling everyone that is important in my world to talk about how the team did or how amazing a key play was. Check that off; everyone's in the TV room.

Like I said back in February, Pittsburgh sports mean so much to the city and community. This is who we grew up with, loyal to each through tough seasons, playoff lapses and the occasional championship. I've been more than fortunate to witness the Steelers raise the Lombardi trophy with no one in sight and the Penguins hoist the Cup with my friends all around me.

Both are so sweet...but I'll take the second one more any day of the week...