Body slam

On a lark, a bunch of us went to the Bruins-Flyers game today at the Garden. I was excited--I've seen the Celtics and the Red Sox but never the Bruins and that seemed like a failing for a lifelong Bostonian. One of my friends said there's a line in Shear Madness that goes, "There's nothing more painful than being a Bruins fan," and now I kind of understand. Hockey is great because it's all action. What other sport pays its players to get in fights? There were no fights, however, much to the chagrin of the guy sitting behind us, who kept screaming "BRAWWWWWWWWWWLLLL!" There was no scoring, either, at least not on the part of the Bruins. I think last year's strike broke their spirit. A guy in our group was a Flyers fan and he went home happy. It was nice to see all the fathers bring their sons and daughters to the game. The kids didn't really care who won or lost as long as they got to wave their foam bear paws or their handmade Bruins signs. So that was a fresh start to the new year.