Being a hockey fan and living in southern Alabama makes life difficult.
I grew up playing every organized sport there is, except hockey.
The game has always had my attention though. It's probably because one of my earliest hockey memories is of the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals, where the Detroit Red Wings defeated my favorite team, the Philadelphia Flyers.
I believe it is one of the more difficult sports to master because, well, it's played on ice.
A hockey player has to handle the puck, avoid defenders and balance on skates.
It's amazing how NHL players can incorporate all of those factors so fluidly into a game.
The honor in the game also attracts me to it.
It's one of the only sports where a player can be called for taking a dive, a skill Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has mastered.
They also get to fight.
Every other sport frowns on fighting and usually hands out hefty fines to athletes that, for lack of a better term, drop the gloves.
Hockey teams have players on their team who specialize in fighting.
Ever since the owner's lockout in 2004-2005, it has been nearly impossible to watch a hockey game on TV.
I'll only be able to watch seven more Flyers games this season at home.
If I want to watch any of the others, I have to find a place that has the NHL Center Ice package.
Listening to the online radio broadcast of games or receiving text message updates isn't the same as getting to watch it.
Even outside of the NHL, Auburn doesn't have a varsity or club team like most schools up North.
When I go visit my parents in Marietta, Ga., I always drive over to Kennesaw State University to watch its club hockey team play.
It's always a good time and I go out with the team to party after the games.
It would be great if I didn't have to drive across the state line to see a hockey game.
I also like to hang out with other hockey fans, but they are few and far between in Auburn.
Not a week has gone by, however, that I haven't argued with the sports editor Abby about whether the Flyers or the Washington Capitals are the better team. (I usually get snubbed because the Caps have beaten the Flyers three times this year.)
There is a passion in hockey fans I don't see in other fans.
In football, I'll root for another SEC team playing an out of conference opponent and chant "SEC" whenever we are playing an out of conference team.
I cannot bring myself to root for another team from the Atlantic Division or the Eastern Conference of the NHL.
I also can only hate Alabama in football, but in hockey, I find myself saying I hate almost every team Philly plays.
I hope February brings some much needed relief with the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Women's preliminary rounds begin Feb. 13 and the men's begin Feb. 16.
And, speaking of the Winter Olympics, who can forget the great Olympic past time of curling?
I'm looking forward to it.
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