Coincidences

See that word up there? 

Yeah.  I don't actually believe in it.

To me, there are no such thing as coincidences.  I know it's not what you might call rational, exactly, but it's what I believe.

Today, the NHL Hockey Awards are on (400PM Pacific Team on Versus).  Also, it's John Dillinger's 108th birthday.  And you guys know how crazy I am about 1930's gangsters, especially Dillinger.  I am as crazy-excited about this award show as I am about the Oscars because I am crazy-excited about hockey.  Like, seriously.  I'm planning to study abroad, but will only do it during the summer because hockey season ends around the same time summer begins.  Yes, you read that right.  I planned my educational travel around hockey season.

And just who is my team?  Obviously the Anaheim Ducks.  Considering I was born in Anaheim.  And the team is supremely fantastic.  I have always been a native fan - like, I'm a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Anaheim Angels and the Los Angeles Galaxy because I'm from the area.  I'm also a Red Sox fan, a Celtics fan, a Green Bay Packers fan (since 2000, by the way).  But do I actually watch these games?

Um, no.

I watched the Super Bowl and will watch any USC-UCLA game (Go Trojans!).  I will watch the news for baseball scores and soccer scores and football scores, but I'll be honest: I really don't care.  I'm rooting for my area, of course, but I really don't care.

But hockey is a different story.  I've watched Ducks play - I've been to quite a few games this past season, including the fifth playoff game.  I saw that amazing Bobby Ryan goal live.  I watched as Corey Perry scored his fiftieth goal this season and simultaneously completed a hat trick live.  I watched as my favorite player and goalie Dan Ellis block over forty shots against our cross-town rivals, the Los Angeles Kings, guaranteeing us not only a place in the playoffs, but fourth seed live.

In order to prepare for today, I went up to the Honda Center to the Team Store - where they're having a fifty percent off sale in celebration of the award ceremony - and squealed in delight when I saw there were actual Ellis shirts.  I had to have one.  Who cares that they were men sizes and even the small would drown my frame?  There was a small.  I happened to have found the last small, AND it was fifty percent off.

Coincidence?

I don't think so.

I think "coincidences" - whether it's the combination of your favorite things, such as hockey and John Dillinger and pirates (Jerry Bruckheimer will be presenting an award) or getting into the car just as your favorite song starts on the radio - are just the universe's way of letting you know you're on the right path and that it has your back.

So when I flip to Versus today at 200PM (you know, for the red carpet stuff because any hardcore award show viewer won't skip the red carpet), I'll be wearing my Ellis shirt.  I'll be rooting for Corey Perry to take home the Hart Trophy because he deserves it.  And when it's over, I'll be counting the days for hockey season to start back up.

And throughout it all, the universe will have my back and will show me it does through what those that don't actually believe call coincidences.  But I'll know better.