Can the time pass any slower?

The 2008-09 (otherwise known as the Hundred Years of Habs) NHL schedule is supposed to come out tomorrow. Which means it's still approximately eighty days until the actual hockey starts. Now, I know Phileas Fogg made it around the world in that amount of time. But he had adventure, close calls and the excitement of foreign lands to sustain him. We poor hockey fans are stuck here, pacing, dreaming and...waiting. And waiting.

I'm not sure if the off-season passes slower when you're cheering for a good team or a bad one. If the team is bad, and you know the coming season is going to be embarrassing, you're not exactly champing at the bit to get on with it. On the other hand, you know, in your optimistic hockey fan heart, that anything can happen and teams can surprise. Especially if the last season has been a bad one, you're anxious to see the team get on the ice for a new start and another chance to prove it's not as rotten as you think. But, if the team is good, the agony of the wait is sweet and painful at the same time. You know the season's going to be so much fun, so the anticipation is pretty high. But the wait is interminable.

I'm already tired of the off-season. The nuggets of news dropping from Habs' brass are so small...the Grabovsky and Locke trades, the development camp and Pacioretty's great showing, the good reviews on Pateryn who was acquired in the Grabs deal, Georges Laraque choosing number 17...are relatively insignificant to the big picture, but still overanalyzed and discussed ad nauseum because there's just nothing else to talk about. The worst part is, there's another two months of this before we even get the excitement of training camp to whet our appetites for opening night.

I'm just wondering how I'm going to kill the next Habless eighty days. Hey! Maybe a trip...I wonder if I can follow in Fogg's footsteps with the price of gas as high as it is? Anything, to distract myself from the deadening lack of hockey. In the meantime, a little methadone for the withdrawal. This is the best recap of last season I've seen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSmzujGIr8o

Enjoy the wait. (sigh)