As I’m writing this blog, no decision has been made who’s going to the Stanley Cup Finals. Our favorite hockey team, Colorado Avalanche is leading 3-0 against Edmonton Oilers. From the Eastern Conference, either Tampa Bay Lightning or New York Rangers will go to the final.
….Wait a minute, what’s this gotta do with “Personal Chef” and “Food”? Well, this may just be me boasting about how much I love this State…or perhaps, it’s about “Community”.
I didn’t know anything about NFL when I first moved to Colorado from Japan, and I really didn’t get the rules, especially “why it’s 6 points when someone makes one touch down?”. Because I grew up in a crazy baseball town, Osaka Japan, and I always remembered one home run is one score.
Colorado is Broncos County. Coloradans treat “Orange & Blue” with pride no matter how good or bad the team is doing. I finally jumped on the bandwagon when Broncos went to Playoffs, to the Super Bowl Championship in 1997, and won the Super Bowl. I probably annoyed Aric to the hell, kept asking him about rules and penalties over and over during the game. But oh what a celebration it was! I cried while watching John Elway holding the Super Bowl high up, tears running through his cheeks, and finally achieved his, and the team’s dream.
I totally missed when Colorado Avalanche won their first Stanley Cup in 1995-1996. I thought hockey is just too aggressive and dangerous to watch. But when the Bianchi brothers first opened a Grateful Dead bar “Quixote’s True Blue Cafe” on East Colfax in 1997, I got hooked with this exciting sport. One day at Quixote’s, there was no one there but us; we kept changing the TV channel because there was nothing too interesting to watch and kill our time. Then, my hand stopped when I saw a goalie who had intense eyes through the goalie mask. (Can you guess who he was? Yep, Patrick Roy!) So I asked Aric “Is this hockey, right? How does the game go?” And his answer was “You see the Burgundy and Blue jersey, that’s our team and the black ball on the ice, it called a puck. When it goes in to the other team’s net, we get 1 goal”. I replied to him, “Oh, so it’s not so complicated like football” and we kept watching the game.
Since then, I’m obsessed with hockey. I’ve gone to their practice almost daily for many years, trying to get photos with players and asked for their autographs. When they finally won the Stanley cup in 2001, I collected all the newspaper and magazines, went to the parade, celebrated with everyone in the crowd, and got some T-shirts and some merchandise.
When Colorado Rockies went to the World Series, although we knew that we didn’t have a chance against Boston Red Sox, we cheered our team. And it’s really exciting to see how well the Denver Nuggets have been playing and keep getting in to the Playoffs for the last several years. I go to a Muay Thai gym, and I love watching MMA/UFC as well. Last week, I spent some time with my dear friend at LFA (Legacy Fighting Alliance) watched some Colorado fighters went against fighters from all around the world.
I love when the home team is doing well. I feel like the tension between people changes, and we start smiling more with strangers. For example, when the Rockies were in the Playoffs, we’d honk the car horn at each other when we saw a Rockies car flag on the other car. When the Broncos have a winning streak, we’ll see more and more orange/blue T-shirts and jerseys in and around town.
And today, I happened to be wearing an Avs jersey when I went to a grocery store for a few things. I was passing by a person in the aisle and said,“excuse me” but before I passed him he quickly said, “Go Avs!” and he had smile on his face when I turned around. I answered him with “tonight is it!” and I smiled back at him. This happened to me not only once, but three times in a short visit to the grocery store today, and it’s not even the Stanley Cup Final yet! So when I saw a guy who was wearing the Avs T-shirt, I whispered at him “Go Avs” he turned and looked at me, immediately smiled and said, “Yeah, go Avs!”.
I love this feeling. I love the way our home teams can bring the community together. I love when I hear “YEAH!!!” across the street from our house when the Avs score the winning goal. I love how Colorado changes the mood and how of people, and how optimistic and upbeat we become because our team is winning.
Nowadays it’s so hard to feel the “community” especially when we hear so many awful news like the recent mass shootings. If it’s only sports that can cheer us up and bring our community together, I’ll take it. But I also know it’s not the only one. We created our own community through Muay Thai (for me) and Grateful Dead (for the Bianchi brothers), I also created my small community through dog training and now, Aric and I are ready to build our new community through our delicious dishes with U!
U n’ I Personal Chef Services is very excited to announce that we're organizing our second annual fundraising event on July 14, celebrating the lives of our big brother, Phil Bianchi & Momma Marge. Stay tuned, more details will be coming soon!
UPDATE: COLORADO AVALANCHE IS GOING TO THE STANLEY CUP FINAL!!! YAAAY!
