Here’s the plan: Let’s make this one another nail-biter. (Caps Outsider)
I don’t know about you, but the Caps 1-0 OT win against the Rangers was almost too much for me. It was totally nerve-racking. The game was fraught with thrills and spills and close calls—and that was just me trying to serve lunch and watch the game at the same time. But, seriously, it was way too close. The stress was tough to bear.
Caps fans watching at home or at the Verizon Center took every shot with Ovi, felt every hit with Oleksy, and made every save with Holtby. Caps fans are special. They don’t just watch the games, they live the games. They feel the pressure.
Many fans wash the anxious moments down with beer, or eat everything in sight hoping to satiate the tension. Other fans scream, yell and doing nothing shy of calisthenics for relief, but my family is different. During Saturday’s game my husband resorted to doing rigorous yard work during the intermissions. I swear, if there had been one more intermission, he would have mulched the neighbor’s yard, too. He said the Caps were making him crazy. My son, an adult league hockey player and a senior at the University of Maryland, was watching the game at a friend’s house. My guess is that they weren’t doing yard work to ease the stress, and I won’t ask. As a parent, I just don’t want to know. And my dog simply didn’t understand the importance of the game. He was snoozing through it all, except for when he woke up during a brief interview with John Tortorella and yawned—profound commentary in and of itself.
As for me, I did what I always do in tense situations; I crocheted—like a mad woman. Yes, I know it’s old fashioned, but it helps me relax. The former professional football player, Roosevelt Grier would knit to relax, and the Redskins’ Chris Cooley makes pottery so I’m in good company. And it worked. It made me feel better. In the third period alone, I must’ve made half an afghan. I was still vigorously crocheting in OT when the Caps won. Incidentally, the color of the piece I was working on is green. Coincidence? Perhaps.
Anyway, no matter what you do to stay calm during the playoffs, you can breathe a sigh of relief today. We can all take pleasure in knowing that our Caps are heading to New York with a two game advantage over the Rangers. On Monday, we will gear up again, start the countdown to game 3 and work ourselves into another pregame frenzy. Let’s just hope the Caps make this one a little bit easier on us. Please. Let’s Go Caps!
