There's an interesting post up on Yahoo! today. Actually, it's under the Dear Margo section which, up until seeing it, I honestly can say I had no idea existed. It's apparently one of those "help me with my life because I can't help myself" sort of columns.
But today's installment caught my eye because, well, Jason from BleedingGreenNation sent it to me. But after clicking the link it caught my eye because it's a forlorn tale about a hockey girlfriend whose significant other is obsessed with...the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Read on for more.
I have been dating a guy for two years, and when we met, everything was perfection. We have had ups and downs, of course, but I feel there's one thing that is always putting a strain on our life: My boyfriend is totally obsessed with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Everything he does revolves around them, from the clothes he wears each day (always a Penguins hat and/or shirt) to the car he drives (his license plate boasts the name of his favorite player) to his room, which is covered floor to ceiling with 8 by 10 pictures, jerseys in cases, pucks, sticks, game-used skates and hockey cards. He needs to go to all the home games (42-plus over eight months), and he goes alone because he only has one ticket. His hockey mania takes a huge toll on our relationship because it involves a large chunk of time away from "us." We both work and go to school, so our time is limited, but the Penguin season in the mix makes it much worse. I end up feeling unimportant to him -- almost as if he has a second girlfriend and he's cheating on me with "her." Please help me find a way to make him understand my feelings and to lessen the strain on our relationship.
Signed - Off-season-only girlfriend
Update: Here's the link I stupidly forgot
Admittedly, I had to read into this a bit more to see if there were any subtle hints that would suggest this is my girlfriend writing to Dear Margo. When I read the line about the license plate I knew it wasn't me, since SxMchne is not the name of a hockey player.
The other stuff? Yeah, that might be fairly accurate. But I think it's safe to say the lady friend is supportive of my "other girlfriend" based solely on the fact that she baked a cake in honor of the team. (picture) The Penguins subsequently won the game because of it, or at least I'd like to think so. Also, unlike our hero of the story here, I wouldn't go to a game by myself. That just strikes me as...sad.
In any given season I watch between 70-75 of the 82 games. Occasional things come up that obviously hold precedence, but that doesn't change how I feel about either party involved. I'll even speak for Pensburgh's own fight expert JDunman. Maybe a week or two ago he e-mailed me saying, "Sorry I missed the fight recap, it was the girlfriend's Bday." What do you say to that? Of course it's cool.
Hell, I'm missing the Maple Leafs/Pens game in January for the same reason. I'm happy my girlfriend understands my particular allegiance to the team, even if it meant teaching her the sport via instant replay on NHL '07. She still insists the ruling is "frosting" instead of "icing," (but I'll take it) and she still hasn't grasped offsides. Oh and a "goal" isn't a "shot" and a "point" isn't just a goal, it's an assist OR a goal. And they call it PIM because it means penalties in minutes...
Phew. I digress.
Perhaps even worse than the question is the response Margo gives, whereby she apparently had no clue that hockey is played on ice where people wear skates. I question whether her first marriage to a hockey fan ended because he was hockey-obsessed or she was just an idiot.
In the long run, I guess what I'm really trying to do here is ask the female readers of the site if this is a legitimate complaint. Obviously, as fans of the team, it might not pose as such a nightmare to you but I'd still like to hear.
As for the guys - have you dealt with anything like this?