Billet stories?

[jmiami 4]

I've didn't do the Juniors billet thing, but have always wondered how players adjusted to that, or did not adjust to that. You are 15 or 16 and suddenly you have a chance to up your game, but you have to move to Des Moines and are placed in a new household. Who has done that, either long term or short term, and what did you take away from it?

The closest I came to being billeted was when our midget team from CT went to play a tourney in MA in 1980. I got placed with a super-nice family that lived above some lake. The father drove a '72 Impala and smoked Pall Mall cigs. The Mom was sweet and hospitable. Their son had the same number as me on the MA team, that's why I was placed with them. When we got home, there was an older brother who busted my chops in a friendly manner, and a little sister who was appropriately shy. We had a nice dinner, talked about this and that, then watched Saturday Night Live before going to sleep. Looking back, I could have easily lived with these people for months if I had to.

It seems all my teammates had similar experiences that weekend. The best being that of Crazy Mark, an Italian-American kid from East Haven, CT on our team who was a great guy (and very funny), but had grown up in a neighborhood that was mostly Italian/Irish and Crazy Mark was, how shall I put it...getting set in his ways...regarding people of color. In fact, Crazy Mark was busting off that whoever he gets billeted with "better serve baked macaroni with "sauce" as Sunday meal" cause that's what he had eaten since he was a kid on Sundays. How can I describe Crazy Mark? Picture a 15-year old version of the late actor Bruno Kirby.

During the first game (before we got placed with opposing team's families), we realize that the only black player on the other team has the same number as Crazy Mark. Throughout the game, we literally watch Mark's face fall as he realizes that he will be spending the night with a black family.

After the game, we get dressed, and meet our host families. And although Crazy Mark's host family looked super-cool, Mark looked like he was being shipped off to Gitmo.

CUT TO: our team bus loading-up the next day. Mark emerges from his host-family's car, his face beaming..."they were great!...And we had macaroni with sauce for Sunday dinner!...Can you believe that!"

We all breathed a sigh of relief.

To this day I'll never know if somebody tipped off Crazy Mark's host family about the macaroni and sauce ...but does it even matter? I like to think that Mark gained a new perspective on life from that weekend. I hope he did.

Share some stories MSH'ers!

[mack 44]

I remember a family in Seattle I lived with that was very nice, but had the saddest dog ever. Poor guy was a million years old and had just gotten over a bout with cancer. His back half was bald and rarely moved.

The first night I was there, my mother had come down and I went out to dinner with her and the billets. My other teammates that stayed back all took their mattresses down to the family room where the video games were at. I thought that was a way better idea than staying in the room we were in until after our first practise, they came home to mattresses covered in piss and worms. I slept like a champ the rest of the stay there. That's pretty much the PG-rated sides of living with another family, plus the night games of whiffle ball in their backyard.

[Dougie8 0]

This year was my first year billeting with a family. After one of our exhibition games me and my team mate met the billet family that we're going to stay with. They seemed like nice people at the time, so we were pretty pumped just to move in and get things under way. The day we move in, they're renovating a room saying "yeah, you guys will have your own rooms once were finished our reno's". So in the mean time we had to share a room, with just two mattress' laying on the floor beside each other. Eventually the room was finished and both of us ended up moving into that room as well which was even smaller than the previous room. We go to see what's in our old room... and it's two different computers. These computers are for gaming, the parents both played WOW and Dungeons and Dragons.. all of these types of games. They also had 2 little kids, 11 and 13 who both played the computer games with music cranked all the time, a few days before we decided to move out they were playing at 3 in the morning, screaming at each other about their game. One day I was sitting downstairs playing COD and I hear the kids yelling and rumbling the floor upstairs. I go upstairs and their in a fist fight, which isn't a big deal because they're brothers and they do that kind of thing. So after watching it for a bit I break it up and send both to their rooms, making sure they don't go back at each other. But what do I see next? The youngest kid ran to the kitchen, grabbed a knife and was running back at his brother's room yelling "I HATE YOU!" So I had to grab him and tell him to put the knife down.

These are just a few of the stories I could think of from earlier this season. Not to mention the food was awful and no name. Now we have moved out and it has been great, living with the team trainer.

[sickwilly 37]

I had amazing luck with billets/host families.

The first family (in Sweden) was great. They seemed uptight and really strict at first, but were really, really cool when we got used to each other. If I came in at night, they wouldn't give me any shit, the dad would just smirk, tell me exactly when I rolled in, and that was it. The food was always homecooked, and amazing. My younger host brother there was a metalhead, too and a kickass guy. They got me a Jofa Bubble cage for Xmas.

The next family was really cool, too. Wound up sharing a room with a guy from an arch-rival team in HS (we lived in the same "territory" so that team had our rights). The food was plentiful and great. Also, they lived right next to the St; Lawrence river. We used to play lawn darts (the 1st edition, kill/maim a small person ones) at the Canada geese that would hang out and shit all over their lawn. Never got a one of 'em. They'd always move right at the last second.

The third family was really chill as well. They were the parents of one on my teammates. Had my own huge room in the basement. The weight bench was in there. They also had a sweet rec room with a pool table that my teammate used all the time. The guy wound up quitting the team, but the family let me stay. Good people there, too.

[mxihockey 0]

I've heard some Tea with Miss MicGill stories with a particular Texas team..

[legiahockey 3]

hahah "The only thing better than a glass of beer, is tea with Miss McGill." ..was that team the renegades by any chance? might know who your talkin about

[mxihockey 0]

Witchita Falls.