I've become that fan!

Everybody knows that sports fan.  The one that rearranges their schedule to watch the games.  They start every conversation with - do you see how the _________ played last night?  Important days go by the wayside because they are too involved in what is happening with their team.  The primary color of their wardrobe is the colors of their team.  I used to make fun of these people.  And then I experienced the last couple months.

It's been about two months since the Flyer's lost game 5.  For the first week almost everyone who knows has started out the conversations with - "I'm sorry about the Flyers" as if I had lost somebody close to me.  And in a way I have.  From October to April (hopefully May & June as well), the Orange and Black take up alot of my free time.  From checking twitter feeds on game days, going to games, watching them on TV, discussing them afterwards, the Flyers are like a family member.  A family member who drives me crazy most days and causes all sorts of tension on our household but a very loved family member.

But the Flyers are really starting to permeate more than just October to April (or May and June).  They have started to influence how we plan family vacations.  For the past four years, our family has gone down to Disney World around the last week in June.  We go at this time and not earlier because the Stanley Cup Finals are usually still being played in the beginning of June and if the Flyers are in it, we don't want to miss it (In 2010 this theory actually worked).  And at least for one of the days, I make my whole family wear Flyers shirts and I get pictures taken.  I always have plans for these pictures to be used for Christmas cards but it doesn't always happen!  And when you walk through Disney with matching Flyers shirts you know who is from Philly because they all say something when you walk by - it's pretty cool.

But where my true devotion to the Flyers seem to have won out over everything else in my life is July 1, 2012.  July 1 is Canada day for our neighbors to the north.  July 1 is also the start of Free Agency in hockey.  This past July 1, I went down to Philly to visit my Cousin's new baby who had just been born the night before.  Generally, I like to check my twitter often on this day to find out what moves the Flyers have made as well as moves the other teams have made.  Well, on this particular July 1, I left my phone on the kitchen table (which I NEVER do) so I couldn't check anything until I got home later that day.  I was so preoccupied by my missing phone and not being able to check what was happening in free agency that I forgot that it was a very important day.  July 1 is also my anniversary.  I didn't remember it until the 3rd.

So, sports don't just make husbands forget birthdays and anniversary's and other important days, it happens to us girls as well.  And as I sit here writing this post in my orange shirt that I got at one of the playoff games this past year, I have finally accepted the sad truth - I am that fan!