Keithed Short

Ah the wonderful world of Johnny. Details, details, details of Keith’s visit to suburban hell… er, Tampa Bay.

So I was f’n stoked on a Saturday Night when the Lightning tied the Stanley Cup finals. Keith, of course, is in disbelief. He had expected to be attending one of the upteenth city parites that would be going on if–no, WHEN the Flames had won.

But it didn’t happen that way.

So what happens when Keith gets home from Saddledome? He’s got to book hsi flight to Tampa. He had tickets lined up since the Flames / Lightning NHL Finals had been set. Game 7 tickets in fact. The series hadn’t been as good as we both had hoped but – gods – this was a game seven! You can’t scalp tickets for an event like this for less than 500 bucks… We got them through Ticketmaster before the game was even scheduled – so we’re in luck.

Sunday night, Keith was due to start flying to Tampa — going to Vegas first and then getting a connector flight / red eye to Tampa. Only problem was his flight was 2 hours late to begin with, which thus made him miss his connecting red-eye flight to Tampa.

Back in the Bay area I am going nuts Sunday night trying to figure out WTF has happened to Keith. He’s stranded, or is he moving? Flyte Comm basically confirmed where Keith was — just leaving Alberta – about the time I was ready to call it a night.

I decided to indeed call it a night, wondering what the hell was going to happen and how Keith woudl be when he finally got here – if he got here…?

I wake up bright and early Monday morning and have a sense of urgency running over me. Not just urgency but anxiousness. Within a couple of hours the Lightning would be playing for a world title and I would be in attendance.

Maybe.

My first thought is – where Keith? His connector fflight took off on time (fuck America West) and that meant he indeed missed his connector flight. I fought on the phone for a good hour trying to find out what happened to him and I find out (through America West customer service) that he’s “Taken another route and going to another city. He’s all right.”

Well, whoop-de-shit. He’s OK. Now where is he? “Sorry, can’t say… but he’s all right.” :rolleyes

I call his cell phone (which I am still told is a wrong number by parties that call back later — but it’s the same number that America West has in their system and same number I have from Keith directly) but I still tell him on his message service to give me a ring to let me knwo what happened and where he is…

I find out a little while later it’s Orlando, and he’s still on his way here.

Fast forward to his arrival around 4 in the afternoon — he’d been bounced around by America West with a few other Calgary fans and then finally gotten to the Bay area via bus, gotten his car and headed to the Burbs and my place. My parents suddenly had a complete change of heart and invited him to stay with us while he was here – nice gesture for people who were also giving me a hard time about having a stranger from out of town showing up without their knowledge (even though I had told them several times).

After a shower and a quick explination of being bounced from Vegas to Dallas to Orlando by America Worst airlines. He grabs a shower, then we skedaddle from the suburbs to our date with Lord Stanley’s cup.

I’ve never felt so guilty about winning before until that night. I could talk to you about the crowds at the St. Petersburg Times Forum in downtown Tampa, or getting screwed at a private lot and paying 25 bucks to park… I could tell you about horrendous conditions where we sat (talk about SLICK! Slipping and slidding everywhere!) or the asshole giving Flames fans a hard time a few rows behind us (who got yelled at by a hot mother who didn’t want her child to have to hear the obscenities coming out of the mofo’s mouth)… But most importantly the Lightning won the cup that night and I felt guilty as hell. i couldn’t celebrate because of how damaged Keith was from the loss and the horror of flight the last 2 days.

Still, it was a great event… I was really proud of some local fans who came up to Keith and shook his hand and pated him on the ack instead of jeering him after the Lightning won the cup.

The next two days were a whirlwind — I was on a high thinking about what had happened Monday night (the Lightning did the unthinkable – they won the Stanley Cup!) and wanted to show Keith around as best I could.

Clearwater Beach, Bellair. downtown Dunedin, Downtown Tampa — well, Downtown Tampa sorta got ruined because of the Victory Parade and me waiting for a friend who never showed up to chill with us…

That night ende4d the whirlwind as we attended a Devil Rays game – which I was purposely avoiding at most costs. Unfortunately for Keith it seems his attendance fo the game started a 11 game Rays winning streak (maybe 12 after tonight’s game against Toronto).

I could ramble on and on about things but I’ll skip that. Having Keith around was an excellent experience and I just wish it could have been better for him — well, better without the Flames winning the Cup. smile