Off the bandwagon: a cyclists view of hockey fanatics

The 'City of Champions' is in the frenzy of the Stanley Cup playoffs and what a frenzy it is! I fell off the bandwagon two games ago...wrought with anxiety and an impending feeling of disappointment,I decided I didn't really care about hockey anymore. I don't want to see the Oilers lose as much as the next girl, and with the series at 3:1 I completely have distanced myself from the whole affair. I am tired of the sad, dubbed 'Oilers funeral' songs on the radio. Tired of the honking horns and screaming fans. Tired of the "hockey experts" that know exactly what the professional hockey players need to do to win the series. I'm tired of the #1 story on the news being hockey over missing children and sexual predators living in our communities.
The way I see it, the Oilers have done well. No one thought they would even make it this far. Quite frankly, win or lose our star team will still be raised on the pedestal of Canadian Pastime Fame, and people will be talking about it into next winter.
For those of you fans that are still reading this entry, I do have a positive thing to say. It is really cool to see so much passion for a sport in our city/country. As much as I rant about my distaste for the current frenzy, it is great to see people so excited and hopeful. It is similar to the craziness of an Argentinean soccer game or the packed roads of the Tour de France course.
I guess we all have our sports we are obsessed with. I just got my 2006 Official Guide to the Tour de France in the mail. I plan on using it to come up with my team (hopefully the winning team) for the Pedalhead Tour Pool. I get up at 5:30 to watch each stage before going to work, and have been known to actually take days off work to catch the important stages that could make or break the race and racers. I know the coffee shops that will play it on a big screen and sit on the edge of my seat and yell at the racers....because I know what the professional cyclists need to do to win the race. So, before I go off on hockey fans, I should look at how crazy I get for 3 weeks in July...