My Nemesis

I think it's good to have a nemesis. It makes life a little more fun and interesting.

I don't personally know my nemesis. I don't know what they look like. In fact, I don't even know if they are male or female. All I do know is that my nemesis is a Calgary Flames fan (season tickets holder as far as I can tell) and owns an air horn.

I refer to him/her/it as "Air Horn Dude."

I first came across my nemesis in game 3, round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2004. As I watched the game from home in Vancouver, I could not shake from my mind the incessant blaring of that annoying air horn.

And it was there, for every game played in Calgary during the Stanley Cup playoffs - of course they went all the way to the Stanley Cup finals - and I watched those games - cursing and swearing under my breath at Air Horn Dude.

Unfortunately, for me, during the off season and the year-long NHL lockout, the air horn did not meet an untimely end. It did not get run over by a car, or trampled in the Red Mile, for there it was, blaring away during the first Vancouver-Calgary home game of the 2005-06 season. And it is still there. Every game the Canucks play in Calgary (which is why I believe that Air Horn Dude is a seasons ticket holder - or they just happen to go every Canucks game in Cowtown). And what makes that air horn even more the bane of my life? Thanks to the NHL's new scheduling the Canucks have already played 5 games in Calgary - thank god there are no more this season.

But then there's the playoffs...

(Disclaimer: the blog is all in good fun and humour - my real nemesis is Greg Millan ;)).