stay loose, live the dream, and other lies nemmy told me

As an NYU hockey "fanager" during the 2003-04 season, there were five phrases that were so commonly heard that four years later, I can still spew them out without any hesitation:

1. Stay Loose
2. Live The Dream
3. Explore an Angle
   
4. Explode a Moment
5. Get That Glow

For four years I have lived my life under the assumption that these phrases were Nemchek originals. This weekend, my faith was shaken when The 2 Man Advantage revealed that "explode a moment" was actually the title of a poem written by some 10-year-old kid that they read in USA Hockey magazine. Unbelievable. (Almost as unbelievable as the fact that Dan told me this weekend that t2MA has been in touch with this kid's mother and that they're going to actually fly somewhere to meet this kid and interview him for their show.) I didn't dare ask about the other four mantras. It will destroy me if I find out that "stay loose and live the dream" was actually something that Scott said or that Mason overheard a homeless guy mumbling. Unbelievable.

Dan was just the bearer of bad news all around this weekend - clearly the past eight and a half years have been nothing but lies! Back in 2002, Mary and I thought we had found the next Justin Timberlake (although I guess at that point, Justin Timberlake hadn't launched his solo career yet, so maybe that's a bad analogy). His name was Jerry Valentine and he was the best fake pop/R&B star "with an edge" you could imagine.

He wrote two songs - never recorded, but frequently sung - "Dreams Are Good" and "Hot Mamma." (Sample lyrics: "Your so hot you hot mamma *sings*(its that fire, its that FIYYAAAA!) Girl you give me heart burn *sings*(I need a Tums or a Roalaiiiiyiads!) HOT MAMMA") His career never took off, but he remained my favorite non-existent musician up until Saturday night, when Dan confessed that he actually stole the name Jerry Valentine from some firefighter in Stamford, CT.

What else was a lie, I wonder? I don't even want to think about it!

The NYU hockey alumni game was this weekend, and we had a really decent turnout - enough alumni to play an actual game, enough alumni managers to make sure they didn't run out of water (haha, just kidding! I don't do that stuff anymore - I actually didn't even step foot into the rink, let alone on the ice!). Nobody ended up in the Emergency Room (players or managers)

(alumni game '03 flashback)

Boom-Boom reffed, and somebody was wearing a "special shirt" that we were all able to get a good laugh at. I think my favorite moment of the night was when I pointed somebody out to Melanie who she hadn't seen in about four years but never really knew and she got all disgusted and wanted to know "What happened to his face? Can that actually happen to people?" and then about five minutes later, the actual person we were talking about walked in and I realized that I'd made a mistake and we both just looked at each other and said "oooh." Ha. Even Mr. and Mrs. Hughes showed up for the game, which shouldn't have been a surprise, but it kind of was - a nice one though. Todd brought his wife. That's so weird to me. Todd has a wife. Mike left his wife at home. That's so weird to me. Mike has a wife. I got excited when I remembered that her name was Heather (she was his college girlfriend too, who I'd met several times) and he laughed and thought I was excited because I'd been rooting for her to marry him.

Afterwards, the whole crew went to the Village Tavern on Leroy Street, a street that none of us had ever even heard of before but that reminded me of a joke that I won't repeat here (mainly because I know the punchline but always mess up the delivery - just ask Mary, who had to hear it twice this weekend). Mary and I played 7 songs on the juke box, I got to hear TWO Mika songs (only one at my request), and Gilmore and I rocked out to Spoon's "The Underdog". I apparently have to have a graduation party, and Dan apparently will be there or will pay me $100 (he put the bill "in escrow" in his pocket), but as we've established already, Dan lies, so he probably will not come to the hypothetical graduation party AND I won't get the $100. What a disgrace.

Anyway. What can I say? I love this team.

"I liked the picture section on top of the rinks. NYU had the weirdest team by far.(what were they looking at ???)"

AND - check out what I found on YouTube! So random - it wasn't from my glory days, but it features the last ever Matty double dutch so I had to share it.



Until next time, stay loose and live the dream.