As many of you know, The Commish travels a bit for work.  Ok, a lot.

And since 9/11,  traveling has sucked.  All thanks to our terrorist friends around the world.    (Spineless piece of shit cowards)

At first we were all required to  empty our pockets and walk through metal detectors.   Then we had to start taking off our shoes (thank you idiot shoe bomber).   Next we had to take off our coats and sweatshirts before walking through the aforementioned detector.   And now we have to remove our shoes, our coats, our sweatshirts, the contents of our pockets and even our belts, and then go into a machine that quickly takes an x-ray of us.    I could see the logic in a lot of the security measures up until the x-ray part.  Do they really need to see picture of my unit before I board a plane?   Whatever.   It is what it is.    So for the past 12.5 years, I’ve waited patiently in lines at the airport before boarding the hundreds of flights I’ve taken.   And it’s been painful.

However, now I have TSA-Pre Check.   And this is how it went when I showed up for a flight two weeks ago.

Commish:  Hi, this is my first time through this lane, what do I need to do?

TSA:  Take your cell phone out of your pocket and go through the metal detector.

Commish:  That’s it?

TSA:  Thats it.

You can keep your shoes on, your coat on, your belt on, your laptop can stay inside the bag, you can have change in your pockets, and they don’t take an x-ray of your penis!

For those of you having trouble imagining just how easy this process was, watch the video below.    That’s exactly how I felt.   I kept the shoes on my feet, the coat on my back and I was eating pizza in no time.  Just like Tony Manero.

And, this is how I used to feel like going through security at airports.

The 2013-2014 HBHL Champions were crowned last night.  The Gray team fought back from an early deficit to win the Honey Badger Cup.

Winning Team members: Weiner, Casey, Ring, Carleo, Tavenner, DiCenzo, Giggey, Berube, Beams.

Also on roster but did not participate in playoffs, Landry, Brezner, Walles.   These players names will not go on Cup*.

*Chapter 6, section 3, paragraph 2a, lines 3 & 4 of the HBHL Rule book state “team members must participate in the playoffs in order to have name engraved on HB Cup.  Any player who fails to do so will not be eligible to have illustrious privlege bestowed upon them.”    Anyone who would like to challenge these rules may refer to struggling attorney Tavenner.   But I honestly don’t know why any of that would cause you concern.

Additional name to be engraved on cup: M Kiley**

**Chapter 12, section 1, paragraph 32, line 6  of the HBHL Rule book states “Any player who is called up from the Sub list during the playoffs will have their name engraved on the HB Cup if the team they played on wins the Cup.”

Congratulations to all winning team members.

Immediately after the game, a reporter was interviewing members of the winning team.   Unbelievably, all of the team members (except Dew Rag, T-Bone and Krafty) answered the following question in the exact same way.

Reporter:  Congratulations, you’ve just won the Honey Badger Cup, What are you going to do next?

Player from Gray Team:   I’m gonna go Home.

L – A – M – E                       L – A – M – E                     L – A – M – E                       L – A – M – E

The Clubhouse is your home after games.  Especially after you’ve just won the Cup.

1992.

That’s the year I started using the HOV lane in the mornings when I commute to Boston.    You could call me a rule breaker,  a rebel.    Breaking the Law by Judas Priest is the only song my car radio will play.

Driving by the poor saps who sit in the right lanes is awesome.   Sometimes I open my sunroof, raise my right arm and extend my middle finger while leaning on my horn.   Just to piss everyone off.    The Commish is a complete bad ass.  (anyone buying this?)

Anyway, guess how many times I’ve been caught doing this.      Exactly.

Until today.

I’ve always thought the fine must be an insane amount because barely anyone does it.   I would’ve guessed something in the neighborhood of $150, plus it would go on your insurance.    Well, I would’ve been way off.

It’s $20 Bucks.  “Fail to obey sign” is the violation.   I’m pretty sure that doesn’t go on my insurance.   What a joke.

After the Trooper handed me the citation, I thanked him for his good work, apologized for violating the rules, started my car, and drove the rest of the way into Boston.  IN THE HOV LANE.

Like I said.  I’m a Rebel.

In September, when I started these posts, I tried to direct everyone to “Mens League, You’re doing it Wrong” on the High Action Hockey website.

http://highactionhockey.wordpress.com/2013/08/30/mens-league-youre-doing-it-wrong/

My comment was “Of course, if any of the Badgers didn’t already know all this, they WOULDN’T be Badgers.”  This still holds true today.   However, I mistakenly only gave you the link to the HAH website when I posted and many of you may have never seen the blog itself.

Now that I’m a seasoned veteran I have to point you to another highly entertaining blog from the same site.  I’m sure many of you have already seen it, but it’s worth looking at again.    Especially now that we have another year under our belts.

“The 7 Types of players in every mens league” 

http://highactionhockey.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/7-types-of-players-you-will-find-in-every-beer-league/#more-682

Go through it and see who’s name comes to mind when you read the description of some of them.

For example:

“The Old Guy” =  Tavenner.  I mean, that’s a no brainer.

“The Mental Case” = Kobelski.  Another no brainer.

“The Guy that Can’t Skate” = While one person comes to mind first, this can be applied to many of us.

You get the picture.

Can you feel it?  Can you feel the heat?  Is it actually warming up or has my body gone numb from the cold weather.  Hard to tell, but I think it’s warm outside right now.  Granted, “warm” to us is not the same as it is to someone who lives in Florida or in California, like some of my friends who decided to move there after college. (My cool friends moved to California, my loser friend moved to FL because his girlfriend, now wife, didn’t want him to be around any of his cool friends anymore… sure miss you Paul. You dope.)  We call those people “soft”, because they once lived here and should know what it feels like.  But they’ve been gone too long and now think 60 degrees is cold.   So they’re “soft”.  Or is it, “smart”.

I went to grab a coat this morning and reached for a light coat instead of the heavy one, and I felt like I had reason to celebrate.  But then I thought of those friends in CA & FL who have been coat-less for months, (Paul is probably forced to wear old man sweaters or a Members Only jacket) and wondered why I haven’t done something that intelligent yet.  Because from what I understand, most of us will move to Florida at some point anyway.  So why wait.

I know, FL is for old people, like our parents.   I personally don’t want to be in Florida for 6 months each year.  Not yet, anyway.    But the truth is, all it takes is one.  One what?  One of us to buy into the Florida thing.  Then the recruiting will start, and then WHAM!    We’ll all be driving Buicks, eating dinner at 4:30pm and our hair will be blue.   If that sounds fun to any of you, you need to get out more often.

Back to our heat wave.  When I walked to the gym this morning (yes, I go to the gym) it was already 36 degrees.  My brain said, Dude, you should run outside.  (My brain calls me Dude)  The thing is, I’m not a runner.  (My brain is an idiot)   But I bought into it anyway.  So I went upstairs, ripped off the warm up pants, and started stretching out.  And that’s when I realized there was no way I could run outside.   I looked in the mirror and couldn’t see my legs.  The wall behind me was white.  Almost the same color as my legs.  So I stayed inside, and will continue to do so until there’s some resemblence of color on my pasty white legs.

It’s now 43 degrees in Boston.  At lunch time, I’m going outside with no coat, and I’ll be warm.

Here’s to not being “soft”.     Bring on the Summer.

~UPDATE~  I went outside at lunch time and it felt colder than it did at 7am.  And I was wearing my coat.  This weather Sucks.