Ovie, what's in your wallet?

Max and I attended the Caps Convention this weekend and I rediscovered one of the reasons why, as a mom, I love this team. The panel “Kids Press Conference”, when kids ask the questions of the players, is one of the most popular draws of the day. Three players – Matt Bradley (#10), Eric Fehr (#16), and Alex Ovechkin (duh) – by the way, three players that have all been successfully stalked by me and Max – sat on a podium with a microphone and answered any and all questions asked by the kids. The questions ranged from “what’s your favorite color” (blue for Ovie and Fehr; red "rock the red" for Bradley), to “what kind of car do you drive” (ha, try waiting for them in the parking lot, kid!), to “what is your least favorite part of hockey (Fehr and Ovie – “injuries”; Bradley – “an early exit”), to the clever-but-obviously-prepped-by-an-adult question “Ovie, what’s in your wallet?” (answer “a credit card” – of course, but sorry Capital One, you missed that plug). One little girl came up and told the players it was her birthday, and asked Fehr and Bradley to sing to her in English and Ovie in Russian. They all happily obliged and it was so sweet. When one of the best hockey players in the world is singing “Happy Birthday” in Russian to a little fan, talking about how he picked his number because his mom was #8 when she played basketball, and telling everyone he’s the youngest of three boys (no pressure, Will), you can’t help but forget just how good he is and see him as a regular person. As for Fehr and Bradley, who are awesome players too, I developed a new-found respect for these guys as people that will definitely translate over to how I feel about them on the ice. And the best part of all, Max (and a room full of kids) got to see this too, and truly understand that their idols are people too – funny, engaging, and nice ones at that.

Meanwhile, as I write this, we are just one day away! The Caps start their regular season tomorrow night in Atlanta at 7:30pm (on Comcast SportsNet, I might add) and we can’t wait. After last year, we know the regular season is a long one, and some would say it doesn’t matter as long as they do well in the play-offs. While I definitely do care about the play-offs, I can’t wait for all 82 games between now and April 9, when the tension isn’t so high – games to watch with Max, with Russ, with friends, and with Nate and Will when they care enough. While I really hope they win the Cup this year, I can’t wait for us to just enjoy being Caps fans again.
Let’s Go Caps!!