Days of Love 5

[thefourthvine]

Annnnnnd it's another pair of recs. I can't help myself. But, okay, here's the thing. For reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture, I have a strong interest in soulbonding right now. I admit that for a few weeks of the specific soulbonding project of doom, I spent a lot of time reading soulbond stories and saying, "That's not how it works." Because, you know, this is fandom, where I will fight for my right to be incredibly dogmatic and dictatorial about a completely imaginary concept.

But then I started actively seeking out all the different depictions of soulbonding in fan fiction, trying to figure out what the key elements of a soulbond are. (Yes, I have a list. It is a short list. Soulbonds are mysterious and mutable, is what they are.) And I found some fantastic stories in the process.

#BOOM!, by 26miledrive. Hockey RPF, Ryan Kesler/Andrew Ladd. (Helpful pairing primer featuring everything you need know to read this story. Although to be honest you don't even need to know who the guys are.)

Okay, so, first, I just need to say that this hockey thing has gotten out of hand. I know this because of two interactions with Best Beloved.

Scene 1: I am watching old hockey videos on YouTube, which I suspect is just about the worst way there is to watch hockey, but, whatever, it's what I can do. I am absolutely not yelling at the screen, no matter what BB says. BB is taking a bath.

BB, from bathtub: *laughter*
Me, assuming her book is amusing: What's funny?
BB: You. What happened?
Me: THAT WAS A COMPLETELY ILLEGAL HIT. THE BRUINS ARE FUCKING THUGS.
BB: *further laughter*
Me: It was! They are!
BB: I just can't believe you have opinions about this.
Me, sulkily: That isn't an opinion. It's a fact, and everyone knows it.¹
BB: *laughs hard enough to displace a significant amount of water*

¹ Yes, I said this even though I did not know it until very recently, and had to be taught by J. (Name redacted to protect the relatively innocent.) Thanks, J!

Scene 2: Dinner. I am breathlessly relating some hockey facts I have learned.

BB: Is the hockey season on right now?
Me: Yes! Of course!
BB: When does it end?
Me: Regular season ends in April. Why?
BB: Find out if there's tickets. Or whatever.
Me: But why?
BB: I can sense it coming. You're going to want to go to one. You might as well be prepared.
Me: Don't be ridiculous. I'm not going to a hockey game.

[Some days pass.]

BB: You want to go to a hockey game, don't you?
Me: ...Yeah, I kind of do.
BB: *does not say anything, but radiates smugness from every pore*

My point is, there has to be an end to this, and quickly, before I end up at a hockey game with no idea what is going on. (Keep in mind that I do not do well in crowds, do not like loud noises, do not process visual information all that splendidly, and have no idea what attending a hockey game might be like. I am basically the last person who should ever go to a hockey game. With luck I'll be able to hold out until April. If not - has anyone out there ever been to one? Any tips?)

But it isn't my fault I'm like this! Hockey fandom is just so great, is all, and this story - yes, we're back to the story now - is proof. Because, okay, I suspect that hockey doesn't actually, in real actual fact, have evil fairy godmothers nicknamed Biz Nasty. (Seriously. The man tweets as BizNasty2point0. On the one hand - if you were nicknamed Biz Nasty, wouldn't you try to pretend you didn't know? On the other hand, man, I wish every evil fairy ever invited to a christening was named Biz Nasty. That right there would improve most fairy tales by at least 50%.) And I also suspect that Mr. Nasty can't actually forcibly soulbond people to make them work out their differences. (Through hatesex. I mean. How else are you going to work out your differences? It's hockey.)

But, oh, it's so much fun to imagine a world where hockey does, and he can. And this story is where that happens. It's the comedy of the soulbonding world, filled with bad behavior in Vegas and poorly-chosen helicopter tours and some really, really questionable decisions made by your friend and mine, Bad Fairy Biz Nasty.

Read it for the giggles, my friends. Read it for the giggles.

Apres moi le deluge, by beyond_belief. Generation Kill, Brad Colbert/Nate Fick.

And then, when you're done laughing, read this one for the quiet beauty and totally fascinating soulbond. (Sorry. I am basically the world's foremost soulbond scientist at this point. I cannot help categorizing these things; it is just my way. Look for my upcoming monograph, The Unbroken Thread: A Taxonomy of Soulbonds and Related Fantastical Connections, available wherever really boring books are sold.)

I love this one because - okay, if you're going to give two people a soulbond, hockey players who play for different teams and hate each other are actually a better choice than Nate and Brad. Usually, in fan fiction, we're writing about soulbonds between two people who spend, like, 18 hours a day together. (Oh, god, I just thought of a key and important question: Did anyone ever write a soulbond story in Sentinel fandom? I mean, they must have, right? Except it would actually be sort of pointless since it's basically canon. Still. If it's out there, I need to read it. I can't believe I never have.) Nate is off in Harvard, engaging in serious study and working to Make Our Nation Better! Brad is off in England, trying to drown Royal Marines! They have lives, is my point.

(And, yes, I did actually have a really long digression here about the worst fannish characters to have in a soulbond. I deleted it for the good of the recommendation, and I want you to know it was very hard to do. But if you have any opinions, feel free to weigh in. I mean, Methos? Buffy? Mycroft? So many possibilities!)

But in this story, in addition to lives, they also have a soulbond, and it's fabulous. I love how they fight it, how they learn to adapt to it, how they learn to deal with each other. And mostly I just love this story. I keep re-reading it, because it's one of those ones I just never feel finished with, you know? I'll be wandering around picking up toys and trying to persuade the child that there is a limit on the number of muffins we can make in one day, and suddenly I'll realize I need to go read that story. Again. And then I will spend the rest of the day thinking about the story while I pick up toys and make muffins.

Really, my only complaint here is that I want at least 50,000 more words of this. At least.

Comments

[umbo]

Hockey games are awesome! Although I admit I've only been to one NHL game, when the Stars and the Wings played many years ago and rusty76 and I went up to Dallas to see it and it was FABULOUS. And I've been to a couple minor league games. But I'd love to go to more. Especially Red Wings games. But you knew that.

They are loud and chaotic, though. That's true. Maybe you might want to watch a few games, like, live on television before you attempt going to a game. Just a suggestion :-)

Also, OMG, you know how I feel about that Brad/Nate soulbonding story. I, um, actually have a few thousand words of sequel written, and more of it plotted, because I just HAD TO. The story wouldn't let me go.

[thefourthvine]

...I really need to get a hockey icon. ANYWAY.

I am hoping to watch some games on TV, but as we have no broadcast TV capability, that requires getting someone else to download and the reupload them for me. (I can't get membership in the hockey torrenting site right now.)

And, yes, that Brad/Nate soulbonding story is AMAZING. Just. Amazing.

[musesfool]

Hockey is the BEST SPORT to see live! IT IS SO AWESOME. Ahem. But it is very fast-paced and loud, though much easier to follow in person than on tv. Of course, I learned to follow hockey on radio, so um, I think it's pretty easy on TV because hey, you don't have to imagine what's going on in your head and keep a visual of the ice at MSG in your head at all times! But yes. HOCKEY. IT IS THE BEST.

[thefourthvine]

Hockey on the radio? Seriously? That is - so far beyond my capabilities I am astonished to discover that people who are the SAME SPECIES AS ME, at least technically, can do it.

I am just going to sit here and admire you for a while. Do you mind?

[melannen]

There is a lot, quite a lot, of fic involving Methos and soulbonds. In fact there was a whole subset of the fandom, back in the day, that derived itself from that one scene in canon (which is never explained nor mentioned again) where Methos and Mac have a spontaneous glowy conduit between them through which they share souls.

Buffy + various vampires has her own set of soulbonds, too. And there was at least one really highly rec'ced Sherlock fic (which I haven't read yet) where Sherlock, I believe, was Mycroft's soul, or something like that.

Most of those stories use the soulbond to change the characters, or at least fundamentally change the way they relate, though. It's sort of a shorthand for forcing characters into settled relationships and lives when they otherwise wouldn't, and it can be amazingly idtastically good that way.

On the other hand though what I loved so much about the Generation Kill story you rec'ced is that it doesn't do that - Nate and Brad don't have to change their lives, they just keep doing what they're doing, and add this one little wonderful secret to it. I want there to be more soulbond stories like that.

(I also really liked Eccentric Isolated Instances, which was rec'd to me on kink_finders, and is MCR RPS. If you want to discuss inappropriate people to get soulbonded to, how about your brother's boyfriend?)

...I have to admit that it my private shipping my favorite soulbond pairings are the ones that are incredibly doomed no matter what, where the relationship is so broken that you can tell that even a soulbond won't fix things. Doctor/Master is my favorite - you can write a reasonable canon story that has them having been soulbonded all through canon and it really, really doesn't make anything better.

Similarly: Xavier/Magneto. XMFC fandom has come out with some stories where a soulbond fixes them, but there are at least as many where they were soulbonded all along and it didn't change canon, it just made their dreams less lonely in the decades when they were enemies.

(I also still want to write the XF story where the Cigarette Smoking Man and Mulder's Mom got accidentally soulbonded as a result of that time when he healed her stroke, and that their soulbond was the direct cause of her subsequently committing suicide and him hiding out in the Arctic and engaging in dangerous experimental brain surgery on himself, etc., because, um, that would explain a lot, but I am never going to actually write it, because it would also be horrendously depressing.)

[kitewithfish]

Yes, I kind of love the brokenness of certain soulbonds- though with X-men and telepaths, it seems like it's a expansion of an aspect of canon that just makes things so much more deliciously complicated.

I recommend film TiMER as the closest I've seen mainstream film to get to the idea of soulbonds. A person has the option of getting fitted with a TiMER, a small digital device that counts down to the moment you will meet your One True Love, and it will zero out and BEEEEEEP to let you know that you've found him. In a tiny spoiler, the brother of the main character meets the daughter of the family's new Mexican housekeeper when they are both fourteen, and BEEEEEP. Everyone tries to be really happy about it, but damn! it's a whole new awkward.

[qem_chibati]

If it's like national rugby lead, then.... My suggestion would be: Start of with a non finals/ finals qualifying match, with a team you like. Get someone who likes hockey and is ok chatting mid-game to go with you and have lots of snacks and find a seat with a good view of the game and the display for ref decisions.

[thefourthvine]

...But I don't know anyone who knows anything about hockey! Otherwise, this is a perfect idea.

We need, like, Fangirls at the Ice Day or something.

[jumpuphigh]

If not - has anyone out there ever been to one? Any tips?

I'd recommend going to see a local league play just to see if you like it in person. It's usually not all that crowded as it's usually just friends and family of the players. It will be loud. There is no avoiding that. Earplugs? It's not a game where you need to hear announcers. I can't remember if I had to pay or not the last time I went to a local game. I'm thinking that I didn't. If that is the case, if you discover you can't handle it anymore, then you won't feel like you just wasted a lot of money on something by leaving early.

[thefourthvine]

Sadly, the local state college has an ice hockey team, but they're already done with their play for the season. (Really? I have no idea why this is.) And there's no AHL team anywhere nearby. The nearest ECHL team is, like, 50 miles away - Staples Center and Honda Center are both SO MUCH CLOSER. I - have no idea what other local teams there might be. If I did, that would be an AWESOME idea.

[laurajv]

Ahahahaha the world needs more Paul Bissonnette, evil fairy godmother or no.

[laurajv]

Me: (shows the bit about Bissonnette to husband)
Him: are you sure he only soulbonds people through hatesex in slash? Are you sure he doesn't do it in real life?

[eight_demands]

I think you need to tell us your list, because I am deeply curious. I adore soulbond fics, so: please!

[thefourthvine]

...Watch this space. I'll probably rec them all eventually! The monograph, sadly, will not be forthcoming. It turns out there is no Fangirl Press. *snf*

[marina]

WOMAN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING. I now know 34546476% more about hockey than I ever wanted to, because of you!

...oh my god those wrestling matches on ice *___________*

[thefourthvine]

IT'S THE BEST. DON'T EVEN TRY TO DENY IT. Wrestling matches on ice! Guys sleeping naked in their shared rooms on the road! Players who are so married even the pro journalists are writing slash about them! IT IS REALLY GREAT, OKAY.

[shihadchick]

I'm actually going to encourage you to go to a live game as soon as you conveniently can, because honestly, I think (and this is coming from a person who spent most of her life going LOL, NO, SPORT) that hockey's one of the easier sports to be able to grasp when you watch it live, and while knowing rules and understanding stategies and plays helps, it's really not at all compulsory to being able to seriously enjoy it. I saw a live game before I'd ever seen anything on tv (excepting Mighty Ducks as a child, probably) and I got totally hooked that way. They're SO much fun, seriously.

(And I can tell you from my own investigations that as of about a month ago both the Ducks and Kings -- who I think are your two closest teams? -- have seats available still for some of their games.) Alternately, if you want to get a taste for watching the game without having to worry about being able to clearly see dudes you may wind up reading porn about, check out some of the AHL or other league games -- those are just as much fun to watch but also mean you can get to sit a lot closer for a lot less money.

/evangelising

And, uh, less word-blurt-y, I'm loving your recs -- thank you for sharing!

[thefourthvine]

Sadly, there's no AHL or ECHL anywhere near us. (Fucking ONTARIO is the closest team, and that's - not close.) Perhaps they concluded that with two NHL teams we kind of had enough? WHO CAN SAY.

So, what do you think: Kings or Ducks? In terms of travel time, I'm about equidistant from both (closer to the Kings but the drive is worse).

...I cannot believe I am seriously considering going to a fucking HOCKEY GAME. What are you DOING to me, hockey fandom?

[toft]

Someone has surely, surely written Sentinel soulbond fic. I can't believe it doesn't exist. And yet I can't think of any right now. Maybe because ALL Sentinel fic is essentially soulbonding fic, since, as you say, it's canon.

[melannen]

I was trying to remember an old Sentinel bonding story I read ages ago so I posted on storyfinders about it, and in less than an hour people have come up with three different novel-length-or-more Jim/Blair dystopian slavefic soulbonding AUs to my description. I think Sentinel soulbonding fic is one of those cases where one can't see the trees for the forest.

[kathmandu]

My opinion is that you should take the really long digression about the worst characters to have in a soulbond, and do it as a separate post.

[thefourthvine]

...You could be right about that. I have to finish Days of Love, and then do the post I promised BB, but that is GOING ON THE LIST.

[tevere]

I know absolutely nothing about ice hockey-- come on, I live in Australia! the snow we have here is confined to, like, four mountain towns with a combined population of 5,000!-- but oh my gosh, I would be all over a story about these two cohabiting hockey dudes like white on rice: http://quettaser.livejournal.com/326736.html. SO MARRIED. I totally dig the ages and dynamic, too.

[paxpinnae]

Giroux and Briere broke up! Giroux moved out, and Briere adopted another rookie who's even younger than Claude. I guess "I'm the team big brother/I may have a thing for jailbait" is a better media story than "I'm totally married to my team captain, have you met our adorable French-Canadian children?"

[bingeling]

SOULBONDING! I think Mark and Eduardo from The Social Network make for great soulbonding fic. That's why I'm sad that apparently there's so little of it, I only remember reading two (although there are several that go in this direction without labeling it as such). But they are so perfect for it! Eduardo who has all the feelings and Mark who strives to have no such things. And then there's of course the part where they hate each other and live halfway around the world from each other, that complicates things. All in all it's so perfect, I could read a hundred stories about it. Even though this one got it pretty much right on first try.

[altri_uccelli]

Dude, you made me have EXACTLY the same conversation with my poor befuddled partner today as I was watching vid of a Caps/Pens game.
Me: (loud enough to be heard in the next room) Fucking Ovechkin!
Partner: (pokes head in room, looks alarmed) Um, er, what?
Me: Fucking Ovechkin! That was so illegal.
P: Um.
Me: We are never going to a Caps game, all right? Never. Unless we can go and watch Ovechkin get crushed. When Sid comes back, we'll go then.

Context is the fact that I never gave one fleeting thought to the NHL until your Danny/Claude post. I hope you're satisfied. ;)

[pineapplechild]

... fellow Penguins fan? *hopeful face*

[annaalamode]

What is not to like about soulbonds? I aks you this. Also, live sporting events are awesome. Have you considered going to an NCAA game before tackling an NHL experience? As long as you don't live in like Minnesota, an NCAA game would be a lot less noise than an NHL game. It might be a gentle way to introduce you to going to games. And would be cheaper!

PS Or, just to put that out there, have you considered going to a baseball game instead of a hockey game? Just, for, you know research. Into the atmosphere of sporting events. Or something!

[pineapplechild]

*laughs so much about MN* We are rather fond of our hockey. Going to a women's game over a men's might help too, if going to college games. Women tend to have smaller crowds, and although some of the rules are a bit different, and the play is different, it'd still be a good test case.

[kateshort]

I only ever went to one Capitals game when I was, like, eight or nine? But I guess it was fun. I got a hat out of it and wore it ALL THE TIME. One of those red and blue winter knit caps...

anyway. There may indeed be some local high-school or community games. See if there's a local ice skating rink-- they may be able to tell you about any local teams or organizations and where they play.

If it's a smaller local thing, it may even be appropriate for a kiddo or two. I know that's pretty iffy, so even watching on tv with him might be fun in terms of the questions he might ask about *how* the teams are playing and what answers you will need to come up with. [See also: my 4-year-old asking questions about the Super Bowl, the first football game she's ever watched, including "who is the boy in the black and white" (the ref) and "where are the girls?" (um... yeah.)]

[alethia]

Apres moi le deluge

LOVE that story! LOVE! I maintain that there should be a sequel where sex breaks the soulbond because, hey, let's torture them some more.

Too awesome for words, that story, srsly.

[giglet]

The one game I went to in the Bad Old Days (that would be the 1970s) was loud, yes, smelly (there were *so many* substances being smoked in the arena) and kinda fun.

Except that I Could Not See the Puck.

Couldn't see it. It was too small and moved too fast, and we were in the nosebleed seats.

It made the game a lot more like incomprehensible performance art than something that actually made sense. I mean the fights -- which broke out and mostly dissolved incredibly quickly too -- were at least understandable. I could see the players and even their sticks, when they weren't moving too fast.

[paxpinnae]

Ooo! I got into hockey about five minutes ago, but baseball (particularly night baseball, and night Little League with three blown lights) has given me a lot of practice with tracking the flow of a game when you can't actually see the ball. The trick is to watch the players. All their attention will be focused at one point, which is almost always where the puck/ball will be. In hockey particularly, the player with the puck will move very differently from players without the pluck, because of the stick handling required to keep the puck moving in the correct direction at the correct speed.

[aderam]

Yay Hockey! I would also suggest watching a game on the TV before paying to see a live game - especially if there is no AHL level hockey in your area. - because when it's on TV the commentators usually tell you what's going on. Which is important. Even after playing hockey since I was eight, I often have to rely on the commentators to tell me what's happening, but that might be related to the amount of beer I've drank and how much attention I'm paying to the game.

You should be able to pay for a single game of either the Ducks or Kings through NHL game centre (from the team websites) for a reasonable price (it's about $3 CDN up here for Canucks games) with high quality streaming. And there are several illegal options, although generally the picture quality is poor and sometimes hard to understand even if you do know what's going on.

In the debate of Ducks vs Kings (which I saw in some of your earlier comments). I hate the Kings less than the Ducks. Admittedly not much of a recommendation, but still. Also the Kings are better this year. My uncle used to work for the Ducks, but left because the organization was not good people. I have respect for the Kings even though I personally don't like them that much.

[inkbug]

I love love love when you don't even need to know who the people are because, yeah, irrelevant, but then it's so good you want to know who they are. This fandom thing is getting completely out of control without more to add to it. *panics*

[aka_rat]

I went to my first game a couple weeks ago and it was so fun. It was loud but it was an ECHL game so the crowds weren't a problem at all. I had no clue about the rules, and it didn't matter one bit, still enjoyed it! You should definitely go to a game, it's a million times better than watching hockey on a computer screen.

(And speaking of Paul Bissonette, my local team is the Wheeling Nailers, where BizNasty got his start and also made a really really terrible music video with his teammates, back in 2007. :D)

[delurker]

Hockey! I would suggest, based on the two very small games I have been to (I live in Australia, so):
- Dress warmly. It's an ice sport! Which means the arena will be cold. So obvious, but just in case. (idk, maybe your arena will be warmer, but I have my doubts. Everyone in the crowd always seems to be rugged up in their coats.)
- Enjoy the opportunity to kind of shout randomly. While generally discouraged on the streets, it's quite a lot of fun.
- Try and work out some of the referee's signals before you go, because there are a lot of them and it's hard to work out what they all mean. (I assumed I'd be able to work it out from how everyone else reacted, but - no.) In particular, there's the washout signal, which basically means you might have thought that was icing or a goal, but you were wrong. Everyone responds to this signal by continuing on as they were, which makes it particularly confusing if you don't know what it means. It's the one where they look like they're imitating a scarecrow.
- Try and get your head around icing and the offside rule.*
- Even after having done the latter two steps, give up any hope of knowing wtf is going on.


*(Icing: Intentionally shooting the puck from behind the centre red line over your opponent's goal line. The play is halted and a face-off taken on the side of the infraction, nearest the goal line in the defending team's end.

Off-Side: When a player precedes the puck into the attacking zone i.e. crosses the opponents blue line without the puck. The play is halted and restarted with a face-off outside of the attacking zone.)

[pineapplechild]

If you have the option (dunno where you are geographically), I'd suggest finding a college hockey team and going to one of their games first. It gives you a chance to see a game live and, depending on what colleges you have around you, gives you a chance to see and deal with a smaller, less intense crowd.

For instance, at my university's hockey games, it's family and boyfriends/girlfriends only generally. But at the State University, there's big crowds and they play in the same places our NHL team plays because it's The State Of Hockey up here,and we tend to be fannish about our hockey. (on the other hand, *I've* played in some of the arenas our NHL team plays in.)

I have to admit, I *love* going to NHL games. I think the fans can be great, and hockey is seriously the best live sport, in my opinion.

[pineapplechild]

Also, go with someone who knows what's going on, and doesn't mind explaining.

[dzurlady]

There are lots of good game watching suggestions the comments! But there's one thing I found very useful to learn as a newbie sports fan, which is: sometimes you will have no idea what just happened. This is ok! It's still fun even if you're not quite sure what just happened/is happening/is about to happen (and sometimes all three at once).

I say this based on my experience of becoming a sporting fan, where I was initially concerned about my ignorance. (Last season I decided to start going to a-league (the Australian professional football/soccer league) games after a lifetime of sporting indifference.) Football is a bit more straightforward than ice hockey and I previously played field hockey, which is a similar sport to football, but still the were (and still are) times where the ref blew his whistle and I had no idea what happened, and at first I was a bit concerned, but then I realised that I was still having fun so what did it matter if I wasn't always on top of things?

I've also been to some of the Australian ice hockey league's games, and even when I've been baffled at what they were doing (I even went to two games by myself and had no-one to ask) it was fun.

The nice thing about sport is that, at its very essence, it is quite simple. The team with more points than the other team wins. Conveniently, they keep track of this for you on the scoreboard, so you can always be up to date on the essential part of the game. The other bits are enjoyable, sure, but even if you don't quite get them all you can always be up with the key happenings.

[dzurlady]

Also I forgot to say, I love that GK fic - the swapping of clothing is a beautiful concept. And this post needs more GK love, to go with all the happy hockey love. ♥

[leroux]

I have been to lots of hockey games! I FEEL LIKE AN EXPERT. THIS IS GREAT.

1) Hockey games are fun to watch even if you aren't an expert. All you really need to know is which goalie is your goalie, and cheer when the puck is far away from your goalie. Everything else is icing on the cake (heh, icing). I actually think I enjoy hockey games less now that I can critique my team's performance, but that also may have something to do with age. And the fact that the Canucks have rarely won when I've watched them at Rogers. My record is 1-4-1. :|

2) I'm not so good with crowds but am fine with hockey games because the crowd is quite organized. Much closer to "busy day at the library" than "Stanley Cup riot". Don't know if that is relevant for you, but thought I'd share. Also, the lower bowl is often less rowdy than the upper, particularly at the top of the lower bowl (which also has the best sightlines, in my opinion).

3) I've never been to the Staples Center but I have been to Honda, and it was quite nice. The Ducks would get my vote for team to see anyway, because they can actually put pucks in the net and they're on a desperate playoff push that should get quite exciting. Also Teemu Selanne is a legend and in his 40s, and everyone with an opportunity to see him play should take it while they can. He's amazing.

4) If crowds are really really not your thing I recommend a regular season game over a playoff game, both because crowds always pick up during the playoffs and because regular season tickets will be cheaper and thus less of a loss if you end up needing to excuse yourself or just not enjoying it.

5) It will be quite loud. Bring earplugs. Many people do. Also bring a sweater, scarf, and possibly mitts. It's not quite cold but it isn't warm, either, and you'll be in there for three hours.

[katarin]

Also Teemu Selanne is a legend and in his 40s, and everyone with an opportunity to see him play should take it while they can. He's amazing.

TIMES A BILLION!