| Apple vs. Crab-Apple |
| Wednesday, 29 October 2008 16:19 |
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Before i begin let me notify you of my appearance today (Thursday) on Rogers Sportsnet in the morning to discuss many topics including this blog. I am becoming quite the media darling but as we know my 15 minutes of fame will be up once the media is done with me. So i will enjoy it while it lasts. Here we go......... The Apple vs. The Crab Apple Hello again hockey fans. I'm not going to apologize for the delay. I'm neither a writer (obviously) nor a typer (if you could only see how long this takes me to do this) Tonight's bevy of choice......"The Champagne of Beers" ....gotta love it! Again, I'd like to thank everyone for their questions, keep'em coming. I'll get to them soon enough. Over my career I think the most frequent question I was asked was "what's the biggest difference between the NHL and the minors?" or as it's commonly referred to by my fellow Journeyman..the Apple vs. the Crab Apple. WHERE DO I START??!! How about TRAVEL: The Apple: Chartered or Private Plane - Ah yes! the good ol' days. Everyone should travel like this. Take a bus right up to the steps of the plane and climb aboard. I remember when I played for the Rangers (OK, I had a cup of coffee with them) they had their own plane. All first class seats, individual DVD players....when you get on the plane they have waiting: shrimp cocktail, mini burgers aka "sliders", meats, cheeses, wings...you get the idea....and that's just appetizers....the main course is "Chicken or Chicken!!" just kidding..... its usually steak or chicken or pasta or all of the above...And the Desserts.....THIS is where I made my money back.... any flavor of ice cream you wanted , apple pie, warm brownies and chocolate chip cookies.......Man! I miss the Show!!....My last year (I suspected my gig was up) No one ate more or enjoyed the 1st class experience like me...I rang the flight attendant call button at least 5 times a flight..."Excuse me miss my meat is a little well done, "My Chardonnay is not quite cool enough", "My brownie is not quite hot enough", "Do you have any slippers...my feet are a little chilly".....oh yeah I soaked up the experience...You know how some of the teams now have the Fathers travel with their sons for a couple of games on the road....I'm still waiting for the Brothers to get the invite...COME ON BURKIE...I'll be on my best behaviour!!!! Did I mention I miss the Apple??!! The Crab Apple: The Iron Lung....the odd time we would fly (Coach - with all 20+ plus guys in middle seats!!) but mostly it was the bus. I'm sure the bus took years off my life. Here is one of the all time great road trips (And by the way...in the minors they play 3 games in 3 nights or more specifically 3 games in 2.5 nights) When I was playing with the Manitoba Moose we had a Game on Thursday night in Cleveland then bussed 5 hrs after the game to Rochester...played in Rochester Friday night, then bussed back to Cleveland for a noon game on Saturday. Thats right folks!! NOON!! I remember getting to my room around 3:30am, setting the alarm for 8am and thinking if I fall asleep RIGHT NOW I'll get a solid 4.5 hrs of sleep before my 3rd game in 2 days....As I'm staring at the ceiling hoping the rink burns down I remember the scene in Bull Durham where the boys were having a tough road trip and Crash Davis manages to create a rain out.....If only I had the energy to get out of bed, take a cab to the rink, douse the rink with gas, and light a match....Now that I think of it I was Crash ("Get a hit Crash! - Shut up!!!") Sorry...did I black out?!? where were we?? Right..I distinctly remember the clock hitting 5am before I drifted off ...Perfect. 1 hr of sleep for each game on the trip!! And lets not forget about our pregame meal......Try STUFFING Chicken and Pasta down your throat at 8am....Good Stuff....I should have had a the breakfast of champions - donut and a coffee...in fact I think I did.... On the walk over to the game you begin to question the decisions you made and where it all went wrong.....This is right about the time when you get to the rink and find out either a) someone got called up and we'll be a man short or b) one of the Euro's isn't feeling well and has decided to sit this one out.........Beautiful!!!! Here is a little tip for all of you future journeyman out there: Before the game starts you'll be asked to place your food order so it will be ready for you to take on bus to your next disaster. Your choices will look a little something like this: a) Spaghetti and meatballs b) Chicken Parmesan c) Pizza d) Turkey Sub The correct answer is d) Turkey Sub. Cold pasta and overcooked chicken don't work well with a plastic knife and fork eating in your lap on a bus doing 70 mph. Bonus answer: Get the condiments on the side..your bread won't get soggy. Can you believe I'm giving this away for free? This intel has been gathered over the Millions of miles I've traveled while becoming the Journeyman. If I can help one sorry a$$ out there its all been worth it! Thats all for now. If there is something you want me to talk about please keep writing in. I know alot of you have and I'll do my best to get your questions answered. Let's all be careful out there! The Journeyman
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