Remember when George Costanza suddenly had the entire summer off work thanks to a severance package from the New York Yankees?
Well, I'd like to officially welcome you to the Summer of Ian.
With the Ottawa Senators out of the playoff picture, I have more downtime than I've ever experienced in this job. And while I don't plan on taking up Frisbee Golf like Costanza, I do have four things planned for the coming weeks:
1. Slapshot Movie Marathon:
A few months ago, I wrote an entry about how I've never watched the movie Slapshot. Over the Christmas holidays, my brother-in-law thoughtfully purchased the Slapshot trilogy for me. The movies have remained wrapped in the original plastic, as I briefly contemplated trading them straight-up for the Look Who's Talking Trilogy. But in the coming weeks, I plan to watch all three Slapshot movies. And here's the kicker: I'm going to watch them in reverse order. I'll be the first person in history to watch Slapshot 3, then Slapshot 2 and finish with the original Slapshot. (Come to think of it, I might become the first person to ever watch Slapshot 3).
2. Tecmo Challenge:
I could never figure out how to consistently stop Bo Jackson in the original Tecmo Bowl game. Was anyone else's childhood haunted by this? I'm going to devote countless hours to my original Nintendo system and devise elaborate defensive schemes to shut down the Raiders running attack. And when I have successfully come up with a gameplan, I will post it for everyone to see. My wife would probably prefer that I spend my time doing something productive for my household. But let's be honest, shutting down the 1988 version of Bo Jackson is the most important thing on the Mendes family agenda.
3. Start A World Hockey Championship Pool:
I will send out an e-mail to all of my friends this week, to officially launch the first-ever IIHF World Hockey Championship pool to be started by someone living outside of Europe. Would you take Freddie Brathwaite over Martin Gerber? You could cut the tension with a knife. I'm even thinking of serving scones and tea at the draft party to give the whole thing a real European flair.
4. Answer Some Serious Questions:
During the daily grind of reporting on the Ottawa Senators, I'm unable to tackle serious questions that have been burning on my mind. Questions such as: What is the real story behind Stu Jackson's funny-looking eyebrow? What ever happened to Floyd Youmans? Can I make the old Hartford Whalers theme song my ring tone? Is Stan Humphries the worst quarterback to ever play in the Super Bowl? I will have the answers to these questions by the end of the summer. (Provided I can shut down Bo Jackson by the middle of July).
