Exhaustion

I have officially reached exhaustion point and the NHL playoffs haven't even started yet. Because of all the college basketball and hockey that had been on the past few weeks I was already quite tired when last Thursday came around and Mrs. Pike called me mid-afternoon to say that she had been given tickets to that night's Bruins game against the Florida Panthers. Given as in free. Sweet loge level seats for free. To illustrate how tired I was that day, I almost said "No". (I'll give you a second to go back and re-read that last sentence so you know your eyes didn't fool you). Yes, I almost said no to free Bruins tickets. But I did finally go and suffered through a grueling 1-0 loss to a terrible Florida team. The only nice part of the game (and I do mean ONLY) was that Scott Clemmensen looked pretty good in net for the Panthers in earning the shut out.

After finally returning home that evening I was greeted with the realization that even though I did not have to work on Friday (one of the benefits of working in the financial services industry is Good Friday being a market holiday) I was not sleeping in. Mr. Geek Squad was coming to fix my dishwasher at 9am the next day (granted he didn't actually fix anything as they diagnose then come back a week later to fix). Spent all day running those pesky errands that I couldn't do with Mrs. Pike (who did have to work) and then was still denied sleeping in Saturday morning as there was yet more appointments and more errands to run early in the morning.

Saturday night was spent up late watching a very stirring Final Four. Well, at least the first game was. It amazes me what Butler was able to accomplish against Michigan State despite two of their better players (Mack & Howard) not playing much in the second half due to fouls and injuries. That game was one that I feel was truly affected by the officiating. By calling many "touch" fouls during the evening players like Howard and the Spartans' Raymar Morgan were unable to really get into the flow of the game. But I give the Bulldogs all the credit for keeping it together and landing themselves into the final game.

Then came Sunday. After a relaxing Easter afternoon with the in-laws, I carted off to Fenway Park for my first Opening Day. I knew I was in for a long evening from the get go as Sox-Yanks is always a long game. They are the only two teams who could play a 1-0 game and have it last 4 hours. The atmosphere at the park was great, fireworks, Pedro Martinez, Neil Diamond, a small child reciting Herb Brooks, Sox, Yanks, the weather was perfect. I was at the game with my buddy and not Mrs. Pike which meant the evening included one more small detail - beer. As the game swung from the Yanks to the Sox and the beer flowed, rest was not looking like much of an option for the evening.

Now today I am paying the price. Brain function is low. Energy is non-existent. Yet I still have the NCAA b-ball championship tonight and the Frozen Four later this week. I'm exhausted - but I wouldn't have missed last night or the championship games. I'll have plenty of sleep when hockey season is over!