The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

If my Ottawa Senators can defy odds and bring home the Stanley Cup to my home town of Ottawa, that would be a dream come true for the entire city and its fans, of which I am one.

I remember the euphoric feeling I had after Team Canada took home the gold medal on February 24, 2002. Everyone was jacked. All my friends that I took that game in with were glowing with excitement. We were hugging each other and I was hugging complete strangers, too. The fans poured out on the streets and headed towards Parliament Hill, and cars where driving back and forth honking their horns while high-fiving people they had just met wearing their red and white Canada jerseys. It was like from day one, when we'd debate who should be on the team, how they can play better, who should play on what line, how are they going to regroup from their slow start...it was sort of like we were all in this together, and our faith and patience paid off and we had won. There wasn't one friend who wasn't cheering on Team Canada, exclaiming how Canada sucks and Team USA is where it's at. We all wanted that gold medal.

The Senators still have ways to go...the playoffs are just barely 1/4 of the way through. But just thinking about how fun & exciting it is when your team comes through is enough to put up with the disappointments most fans deal with year in and year out. There's only one downside to Ottawa's playoff run as opposed to Team Canada's Olympic gold...not all of my friends care for the Sens. As a matter of fact, many HATE the team. They'd rather see Lord Stanley make a trip to Nashville or Anaheim. It's unfortunate for me, because they won't be around cheering with me if Ottawa wins it all.

My other dream, of course, is to overcome the anticipated 2000+ entrants and win a World Series of Poker bracelet this coming June. Mike Caro, noted poker pro and author, sums up your chances in tournaments with this line: "The odds are you aren't going to win". There are so many mine fields to avoid, so much timing, skill and of course the one variable you have no control over, luck, your chances are, well, about 2000-1. But we try anyway.

An unnamed friend said to me what is the likelihood of both of these events happening to me in the exact same year...a Stanley Cup AND a WSOP bracelet? One of these things is already getting greedy, perhaps, but both...how high are your expectations?

They are high, and maybe unrealistic. But it keeps me going, and reliving that same high from 2002 I would give for almost anything. I have dreams, and the only thing left for me is to hope they come true.

And I'll probably naively keep on doing so, until it does.