Adventures through Photography: Life Lessons thru Bad Parenting

I'm working through my extreme lack of energy to post this. The photos have been (roughly & quickly) edited for weeks but life has been coming at me too fast and too depressingly for me to find the wherewithal to put jumbled thoughts to fingertips to screen...

But without further ado,

The life lesson I learned at the Capitals/Sharks game:

Bad parenting and a bratty kid trumps
well-behaved kid and meek parenting.

At least when it comes to getting hockey pucks.

Here's the story. We arrived pregame and took our customary place in the second row (okay, our customary place is often right on the glass but that hardly matters, now does it? Back to the story.) on the visitors side. There was a woman sitting with two youngsters, a girl and a boy, right in front of us on the glass.

The girl was a bit cra-cra as we like to say. Yelling, running back and forth, banging the glass, etc. All in good fun. The boy was also having a good time, talking excitedly, laughing, etc. They were wearing Capitals gear and had made a couple of signs for Ovechkin.

They were sitting with a nice woman we shall call Mommy. Daddy, apparently, was sitting over on the Sharks side. So after causing a bit of mayhem, the girl decides she wants to go see her dad. Mom says okay. Exit the kids.

Return the kids + the dad who now sits about 3 rows behind us. The kids make their way back to the glass and resume sitting in the exact seats that they were sitting in before.

Except the girl decides that the boy has a better seat (right next to the bench area) and starts yelling at him to "Get out of my seat!!" The mom says, "Sshhhh, that wasn't your seat. Be nice." Girl tells mom no & turns to Dad. "Dad, he stole my seat!! Make him get out of my seat!!"

Dad makes boy get up and move over.

Girl crows with joy and starts poking her face through the openings in the glass.

About this time, the crew comes out bringing the sticks for the Caps and getting everything ready for warm-ups. Girl starts incessantly pounding the glass and yelling/begging the guys to give her Ovie's stick.

After what seemed like forever, a guy comes over and gives her a puck through the glass. I'm sure to shut her up. But no, this only increases her fervor to obtain hockey equipment.

Mom asks her to be quiet and is met with a resounding NO. Another dude comes over with another puck. Girl grabs it and squeals with joy! Mom says to give it to boy. "NO! He gave it to me! DAD!"

Dad says it's okay. Boy doesn't need one.

Enter the Caps.
Brooks Laich

The appearance of the players increased the wailing of the young ~~banshee~~ girl. Especially as Ovechkin was nearby. Ovie tried his best to pay no mind to the screeching and pounding on the glass. But eventually the cries of "Ovie! Give me YOUR STICK!!!" became too much to ignore.

He started glancing at the girl

and after a few minutes, skated over and handed her a puck through the opening.
This did subdue her cries somewhat although they did not cease until warm-ups did.

For the record, mom looked mortified and dad was rejoicing the whole time. Life in their household must be really interesting. And no, boy never received anything.

/Rant. On to the warm up pics. First, the rest of the Capitals.
Nicklas Backstrom

John Carlson

Jason Chimera

John Erskine

Former Shark Scott Hannan

Hannan and Mike Knuble

Mathieu Perreault

Michal Neuvirth

More Alex Ovechkin

Alexander Semin and Ovie

There were more signs for the Russian players. Here's a couple...

And one more Russian player...Semyon Varlamov

And now...a few of MY...San Joseeeee SHAAAAARRRKKKKSSS!!
Our first look at Ben Eager in a Sharks sweater.

Carter Hutton in his first NHL game! Crappy picture though.

And Derek Joslin in his last game as a Shark. Best wishes for your future Jos!!

Warm-ups ends and we make our way to our seats. Nosebleeds this time. I think this is the highest we've ever sat. But that being said, they were not bad seats. I really enjoyed them actually.

Not only could you see some great bench action during the game such as a lidless Carlson...

But we also got to see Jamie Baker and Sharkie watching the game.

Enjoy some action shots:

Joe Pavelski scored a shortie with an assist by Patty Marleau due in part to John Carlson appearing to fall down (although later viewing showed he went down to try to prevent the puck leaving the zone). Carlson got revenge by assisting on an Ovie PP goal.

Scrum

It was a bit of a cra-cra game that saw Marc Eduoard Vlasic leave after only a couple shifts and Dany Heatley score the gwg after being the fourth Shark to touch a shot from the point from Dan Boyle.

But in the end, Sharks came out ahead 3-2.