I was going through the sports section of The Toronto Star (yes, it is the first section I read! ^_~) when I saw this great big ad for "The Sports Forecaster: The all in one HOCKEY annual magazine 2002-03." Immediately I started planning to go to a nearby Coles bookstore to pick one up during my break. Obviously the ad did its job.
Well, almost. See, I did in fact go to the bookstore--during my lunch, even earlier than the break I'd planned to take--to buy the thing, but when I got there, I saw the 2002-03 yearbook for The Hockey News, and after flipping through both the Forecaster and the Hockey News books, I decided to get the THN book instead--mostly because it actually had articles rather than just stats, and because it had more pictures. =Þ
My collection of hockey "literature" is slowly growing. In fact, just yesterday I bought a book on "Hockey's Greatest Teams" (originally $29.99) for only $6.99. Unfortunately the hockey books that I really want--like "Why Is the Stanley Cup in Mario Lemieux's Swimming Pool?: How Winners Celebrate With the World's Most Famous Cup," Hockey's Best Shots: The Greatest NHL Photography of the Century," and "Tough Calls: Nhl Referees and Linesmen Tell Their Story"--and are still pretty expensive.
No matter! When I went shopping with my mom tonight, she bought me "The Sporting News Hockey 2002-2003" (it's different from the yearbook because it has more individual stats) and the "2003 NHL Yearbook." Can you say happy camper? Or maybe ultimate scammer would be more appropriate, considering that today my mom also agreed to getting me a subscription to THN. ;)
Oh, but speaking of shopping today, I found and bought an 8x10 (unsigned) Joe Sakic Team Canada portrait photo! I'm especially happy because I've been eyeing a framed version of the exact same picture in a framing store near my work all summer long. It's $79.99 on sale and I really considered buying it when it was on sale for an additional 25% off ($60), but then got persuaded out of the purchase by a friend and my dad (and I checked today and it's back to $79.99). Anyway, now that I have the photo, I can get my dad to frame it for me, which is a lot cheaper considering that I don't actually have to pay for the framing this way, and the photo itself only cost $7.99 + tax. =D YAY!!
Hockey hockey hockey hockey!! Woo hoo! With all the hockey reading I've got, and since the softball season will be over this weekend, it seems like hockey season is really close, even though it's only really preseason that's coming up. I've already got plans for a hockey scrapbook for this year. The articles on Quinn and the Leafs from yesterday and today will probably be my first entries. I'm thinking about having writing comments contrasting his physical improvement with his declining reputation as coach and GM for the Leafs. Too bad I forgot and recycled the MetroToday yesterday, I wanted to keep the mini-article talking about how fans gave Quinn grades of D to F for his job performance. ^^;;
Anyway, y'all are probably tired of listening to my hockey babbling, so I'll stop here. Except, now that I think of it, maybe my scrapbook will help to use up all my hockey fever so I won't talk about it here so much. OR, even better, I could make a separate blog for my hockey thoughts! BING! (Lightbulb soundeffect) Why didn't I think of that earlier? DUH!! ^_^
