two fun Ken Hitchcock stories today...neither are relevant and one isn't about Hitch as much as it is the red sox.

(background for my non hockey watching friends...Hitch is the coach of the Flyers. And why aren't you watching hockey? are you insane? seriously. get it together.)

Anyway, Hitch loves nothing more than a good verbal war between coaches during a playoff series. He and John Tortorella, tampa's coach, have gone back and forth quite a bit, and it's all in good fun and pretty enjoyable for the fans. So the other day Hitch (a Yankee fan, sadly) is quoted as saying:

"He's Italian, he's from Boston, he's probably a Rex Sox fan, so he's got three strikes against him right there."

Good stuff. Fast forward to yesterday morning, when Hitch is on WIP, the philly sportsradio station, talking to Al Morganti, a hockey guy, Boston native, and Red Sox fan. Morganti mentions that WIP has gotten a ton of complaint calls regarding Hitch's comments. You know...oversensitive America strikes again. So Morganti says that of the 100 complaint calls, 20 were from pissed off Italians, and 80 were from angry Red Sox fans.

Another reason I love the boston red sox.

_ _ _

two years ago I was at work, sitting at my desk cleaning out my desk drawers, and I hear someone say my name. I turn around and there's Hitch, standing next to my desk. he had been hired by the Flyers two months earlier, and was up at the station for one last interview before he moved to Philly. I believe my well thought-out reply sounded something like, "hi!" He then proceeded to tell me that he heard I was a huge Flyers fan, which was apparently my cue to start gushing about being a season ticket holder and pathetically over-emotional diehard fan. The conversation then ended with me telling Hitch how wonderful it will be when he brings a Cup to Philly. In reality, it was probably closer to begging, but that's besides the point.

I'm not one to get starstruck or overly-excited about meeting athletes, but I knew I was standing there, at my cubicle decorated in orange and black, talking to the man who would end the philly drought and bring the Stanley Cup where it belongs...to Broad Street.

I still feel the same way about Hitch, but I've got nothing on last night's game or on the way things have unfolded thus far. I'm emotionally drained.