Chadd

That has happened to a few people I know this year

Getting frustrated by certain people. I feel like I'm being set up to fail and everything I do to avoid it results in criticism.

I seem to be asking the wrong questions for the answers I'm getting as well. This is not going well at all. I thought my streak of bad luck was coming to an end, but I may have been premature in that assessment.

Trying to get used to the 9-5 thing for the first time in about 15 years and I'm getting worn down.

Yeah, the travel sucks. I had been thinking about getting out of that for a while and just found out today that I was offered a job in a different department. A little late to address some of the things that were going on, but it keeps me from having to go back on the road. And in the spirit of the topic, it's a pay cut.

It took me about ten years to burn out completely on it. I've been thinking about getting back into it but I don't want to go down the same path and end up back where I was.

It was just a matter of time. I do feel a little bad about it though, life isn't something to be taken lightly.

Damn, guess we still have Keith Richards

well, it was posh before he got there

If they don't care about things like this, then you need to bail on the league too. Like I said, the guys that I play with wouldn't tolerate something like that. Sadly, it sounds like the best option is to just walk away from the league or team.

If someone did that to one of our players, the bench would have emptied. Rinks like to assume that you will keep coming back, no matter what they do. If you, and others, feel that this individual has no place in the league, I would tell the rink that you will not have a team if that individual is back next season. Get it in an email or writing, so you can withhold payment if they violate the agreement. I would even consider speaking to a local lawyer (someone on the team has to know one) to see if it is worth pressing assault charges on that guy. You could at least potentially prevent him from playing against you.

Quoting spinal tap? Ten points to Griffindor

I wouldn't go more than one step at a time, it's a pretty significant change

Just for the record, Abe Vigoda is still alive http://www.abevigoda.com/

That's what I've been using for years. I was thinking about going to something more shallow but after losing 40lbs, I'm sticking with it.

Most places where I've worked, that would lead to zero hours after the second offense, maybe even the first.

Yep, that's the size and name for the fitting.

Nice goal in the first game, not the worst way to start in a new city.

We have obviously not had the same experiences in beer league hockey. The teams that act like he has described in my area are full of guys looking for any reason to complain. Referring to past behavior would absolutely guarantee complaints before you even drop the puck and around here it would mean a phone call within a couple days, maybe even a written report. I'm all for setting ground rules, and would be up front about the previous game with my partner in the locker room, but there is no way that I would reference the previous game or the standard used at that time. Just off the top of my head, there are at least half a dozen themes that certain guys and teams would use throughout the game.

Around here, saying something like that before the game will turn into "you were out to get us" before you even drop the puck. I used to tell both captains before a game that I tended to call the game tight but I would be happy to answer any question that didn't start out "what the F...?" but it wouldn't be a discussion. If they wanted to do that, we could do it between periods.

The only way to win there is to not take those games

There are always those teams and players that make you regret taking game assignments. For me, it was the parents and coaches that didn't know the rules and would tell kids that they did nothing wrong after the kids took penalties on dangerous plays. At least with the adult games, you can directly toss out the offenders for swearing at you, with youth hockey you would have to clear the stands to do that. There were adult teams that I refused to work after a while, just because I knew how they reacted to any call against them. Like anything in life, you should never make a "never doing that again" decision in the heat of the moment.

Given all of the problems I have seen with people ordering custom skates over the years, it's laughable how wrong your comment is. "Custom" is great for padding the ego and about the 5% of people that actually need it.

Mission S series

Yep, no doubt that Bauer is going to kill off another skate that I love.