FIRST AVALANCHE GAME

Let's try something here. Imagine popping Alka-Seltzer into a 2-liter of Coke, slamming the cap back on, and then putting it in a paint mixer for a couple minutes. Assuming it hasn't exploded, now try opening it WITHOUT making a mess. Got the visual?

Now you've got an idea of what it was like trying to keep Tobin (and Blane to a lesser extent) under control at the Avalanche game a couple weeks ago. Those seats are tiny as it is, and then when you try to keep a child of Tobin's, um, spirited nature entertained and under control, it's clearly not a big enough building.

But it was a great time. I was glad to be able to take both my boys with me to a hockey game. I don't know how much they loved the game - in fact, either do I...I can't remember much of it at all - but they surely enjoyed the thousands of dollars I spent on junk food for them.

Hot dogs, pizza, Sprite, Dippin Dots (ice cream), popcorn, cotton candy. Yes, it was a good day. It was actually kind of interesting to see the affect of the sugar in that small space. No sooner was a bite of something down their throats, and they were bouncing all over the place. Dancing, yelling like the maniacs all around us, and just basically out of control. Then 5 or 10 minutes would pass, and they'd come back down from their high. And then it would start all over again.

I wasn't surprised when they were both nearly asleep by the time we got to the car in the parking lot. I doubt Tobin will remember that day. In fact I'm nearly sure of it. (If the young age doesn't omit the memory, then the combination of sugar and junk foods should have induced short term amnesia I suspect.) But I will remember it. Not the game mind you, but I will forever cherish taking both my little boys to the hockey game with me. It's one of the joys that a dad will always remember.