how i got into this thing called hockey

i was about 8 years old when the stars came to town, at that point i knew one hockey player, wayne gretzky, who was great but for my money was also a huge puss. anyway i never had much interest in hockey until one day i happened upon a game, my first thought was "oh hockey, well its not cartoons but it will have to do." after watching for a moment my second thought was "who is this mike modano and why is he so much better than anyone else out there...wow and he's fast too." you see, for me the cowboys we just starting that run of greatness and at the time they got all the attention. the mavericks were a joke and i didnt care about the rangers, still don't really. but man could this guy wearing #9 play, it seemed like he could score whenever he felt like. and why if he's that much better than everyone wasn't he out on the ice all the time? remember, i was 8, i thought all athletes were superman and didn't need this thing called rest. i also remember watching in horror as punkass mark messier blindsided mo with a cheapshot to the head and gave him a concussion. then while he was on a stretcher, they dropped him. a few years went by and my interest grew more and more in the team and sport, and it didn't hurt that that modano guy recovered from that concussion. i also took notice of one brett hull and thought "man if the stars could get this guy they could go all the way." thats right stars fans, 9 year old me thought that one up, and i gladly take credit for this happening, scoreboard. anyway i loved watching hatcher break roenicks jaw later on, and guys like joe, jere, zubov, mike keane, guy charbonneau, dave reid, and brian skrudland. yeah i said it, skrudland. so eventually they did win it all, but i knew it because as i stated earlier, i let them sign brett hull. so hully scores the game winner and my guy modano gutted out the playoffs with a broken wrist, and to this day the stars are the only team that has never failed to live up to my expectations. yeah maybe i've set the bar a little low the last few years but they still had mike modano, so i was in. while im still bitter that he's no longer here i'm also smart enough to know that it was the best move for everyone, it gave some of the young guys a bigger voice and more playing time. but the fact is the stars my team, my only team and i'm in for life. it doesn't hurt that they have this jamie benn character either, i called it a year ago, he will be the captain. so don't bother campaigning for someone else to wear the C when morrow is gone, i've already put my foot down on this matter. I have spoken, now make it so benn, make it so...