Round 4 Owen: Hockey Hall of Fame

Seems like a good time for the Hockey Hall of Fame…

So. I know practically nothing about hockey; this is the full extent of my knowledge:

• 3 goals in a row is a hat trick
• people beat the crap out of each other basically every time I see it on TV

From this I gather that the sport was created by magicians and is played by mixed martial artists who like the cold?

I wasn’t sure what to expect and/or how to properly prepare for this one so I just grabbed my Tar Heels hoodie (that’s the right sport right?) and off I went.

On my way there I spotted a bunch of Asian tourists looking up, gasping, and taking pictures. This seemed pretty normal so I continued along. I then spotted some white people doing the same. White tourists? No way! I turned around and looked up to see what had everyone so mystified and I saw this:

Pretty cool I guess.

I arrived at the Hall of Fame and I literally wowed at the architecture. Well, I wasn’t in the actual hall yet, I was in the mall that it was in. I don’t know much about architecture but that building looked really cool. I took a picture with my phone but it was blurry and did no capture the epicness so it is not shown. After I finished admiring the building, I looked around and realized I was surrounded by people in hockey jerseys. Leafs, Red Wings, and a bunch of teams I didn’t recognize. Unfortunately there didn’t seem to be any Canes fans.

I walked into the Hockey Hall of Fame:

and examined the female population in the vicinity and came to the conclusion they all fell under these two categories:

• Moms dragged along by their kids
• Girls dragged along by their boyfriends

I was not trying to get arrested or beat up so no girl talk occurred.  I wrote a note to myself at that point saying “WHY DO NO GIRLS ENJOY HOCKEY THEMSELVES?” and left in resignation.

As I walked out of the Hall of Fame I noticed two girls in jerseys sitting by the fountain. Oh snap a chance! But what do I say?

I sat at the other end of the fountain to think of how to start. Ideas I thought of:

• Talk about the blog
• Talk about hockey
• Talk about the cool architecture in the building

I was trying to veer away from talking about the blog as a conversation starter since it wasn’t applicable in real life situations and I didn’t think the girls were as into the architecture as I was so hockey seemed to be the way to go. But what do I say about hockey? I didn’t know anything about it! I texted my friend Daniel to ask what to say; he is smooth with the ladies. He responded: “’Hi ladies, looking for a good time?’ Alternatively tell them you know nothing of hockey and engage them in conversation and get them to explain everything.”

Looks like I was on track but of course, why didn’t I think of using my lack of hockey knowledge to my advantage? I really admire Daniel’s ability to converse and think of witty things to say on the spot.

I planned out what to say: “Excuse me, what is the team on your jerseys? I’ve never seen that team before. I’m writing a travel blog of sorts and this week I’m supposed to write about hockey. Would you ladies mind taking a moment to teach me about it?”

Confident that this would work, I walked up to them and this is what actually came out: “Hi… What is the… thingy on your shirt?” *makes a circle shape on my chest*

Damn, I forgot girls make me nervous. Even with my retarded remark, they politely told me that it was the Chicago Blackhawks. I asked them why they were into such a seemingly random team and explained that I knew nothing about hockey. Apparently this “seemingly random team” was last year’s Stanley Cup champions. They happened to be playing the Leafs that night in the playoffs. It was the first time in almost forever the Leafs made it to the playoffs so this game was a really big deal.

I asked them some other questions about hockey and they told me about power plays and other stuff, but I don’t really remember what they said anymore. I literally tried transcribing the conversation 10 minutes following but could not remember anything… I guess my nervousness gave me memory loss? I recall thinking that the girls were very knowledgeable about hockey though. Looks like I was wrong, there are girls passionate about it after all.

After I questioned them sufficiently aka ran out of things to ask about hockey (what is there to really ask about it…?) I asked for a photo for the blog and quickly left. Here is the photographic evidence woohoo:

I realized I just vaguely mentioned the blog, didn’t even tell them what the blog was actually about / what the url was. Also I didn’t ask for their names. That was rude of me.

What I learned from this:

• Talking to people about their interests is a good way to start a conversation. They’ll gladly share their knowledge with you and most likely will not find you creepy as is the case when you ask about personal stuff like where they go to school. Guess I kinda did it right at the library.
• I’m really bad at talking to girls. Even worse than talking to other types of strangers. Anyone got some tips?

What to remember to do in the future: Ask for their names, listen better and actually try to remember what they say.

I wasn’t going to post this til after Mark went so he wouldn’t be able to apply what I learned but unfortunately he didn’t go this past weekend and I didn’t want to wait too long after to post. So Mark, this is like a handicap. You better talk to a girl now.