Yesterday, I relapsed into my addiction. I'd been clean for...wow, I guess it was a year or two, and things had been going really well for me otherwise. Unfortunately, sometimes you run across a bad influence or two, and you find yourself falling off the beaten path, and plummeting back into the depths of your vice. If I had to take a good, long look at it, I'd probably surmise that there are two people to blame for my relapse into addiction; our jolly old editor, Adam Amato, and a good friend from school by the name of Michael Mitnik. If blame were to be assigned to anyone, it would be those two.
So thanks, guys. Thanks a lot. It's your fault that yesterday afternoon at about 3:00pm, I found myself inside Millennium Sports, finalizing the purchase of a Dion Phaneuf Leafs jersey.
My name is Adam, and I am a jersey addict.
Since I was in grade 9 and had enough money to actually purchase anything of value, I have enjoyed collecting hockey jerseys. Even in grade school before that, I would occasionally wear the jerseys of my hockey teams. Occasionally someone would make a comment, but hey, whatever! It's my wardrobe and I can wear what I want, right? As soon as I got into highschool, I realized that maybe it was time for me to migrate on to the jerseys that the professionals wore. I'd previously owned an old Edmonton Oilers Gretzky jersey that I wore out in grades 3 and 4, but that was it, and the realizations that I could purchase these cool-looking fabrics was like an absolute revelation for me. For a long while, that was a large part of my identity. I was the "hockey jersey guy".
Of course, collecting jerseys is expensive, and as you grow older, you find yourself wanting to have more clothes to wear around to different places - I found myself more comfortable in hooded sweatshirts and t-shirts than always wearing around a different jersey, and eventually, when I was 22, the addiction basically subsided. I had been cured. I still wore jerseys every so often, but usually only two or three times per month, depending on the circumstances.
Everything was going great...up until a week ago, when Amato unlocked the door of my addiction, and then Mitnik knocked it off it's hinges.
The day that Adam approached me online to write for this blog, I was sitting at work. I'm currently employed as a facility operator for the Town of Richmond Hill, which is a great, easy job in which there's a lot of downtime if you work hard when you need to. I was at the point where I was simply waiting for the last group to leave, so I could lock up and go home. Adam messaged me about the blog, and when he told me that he thought that I could write about being a jersey collector and a beer league player, I felt a little torn. Half of me didn't want to tell him that I hadn't bought a jersey in years, and that they weren't a focal point for my dress nearly as much as they had been. The other half started thinking that - hey, maybe it'd been a while since I'd gone out and picked one up...perhaps I was due?
I left work that night happy that I was going to have another outlet for my writing, and that all of my ranting about sports and sports-related topics, which would often fall upon the deaf ears of my classmates (few of whom are as hockey-mad as I) would finally have a forum. I also pondered how much jerseys were going for in this day and age, and recalled thinking that maybe, just maybe, I might have to go in and take a look.
That, of course, was the seed. Then, along came good ol' Mitnick with a can of performance-enhancing seed stimulants.
The following week at school was intense. I'm a television broadcasting student, meaning that I'm essentially a film student learning the in's and out's of television. We produce short films to practice composition, lighting, and editing, and do audio projects to help us with sound editing and design. That particular week (this week, in fact) was the week that our large final projects in Audio and Visual Skills were due, and I was particularily feeling the strain, since I had opted to do a five-minute short film, which had co-opted most of my time over the weeks prior. I was at school on Monday (a day off) doing some last-minute audio work on it, and preparing to print the video to a tape in one of the editing suites. Perhaps unsurprisingly, most of my class was also there, in the editing suites, and I ran into Michael Mitnik in the hallway on the way for a much-needed injection of Tim Horton's.
A word about Mike - he's a goalie, camera aficianado, and all-round nice guy. What I didn't realize until that moment is that the man may in fact be more addicted to jerseys than I am.
Mike was clad in what looked like a brand new Leafs jersey, complete with Jonas Gustavsson's #50 on the back. I complimented him on the purchase, as he'd called me the day before to inform me that they were on sale at the mall in which he worked. We chatted a bit about the jerseys, and then went back to work on our projects. I gave him tons of credit; wearing a jersey in the dead heat of summer takes some serious dedication to one's wardrobe. I figured that he was just probably pumped at buying it, and didn't think about it again.
Until the following day, when I came into class, and Mike was now clad in a white J.S Giguere jersey! I remember looking at him, and making some sort of comment in the vein of "really!? Another one!?" It was here that he jokingly laughed at my old self-professed title of jersey whore, and something inside of me snapped. I simply smiled; I knew what was coming. The first moment that I had during the week, I made a trip to the mall. I recall going into the store, and seeing the rack of jerseys. All on sale, thanks to the new design. $79.99 for a jersey with a name, $49.99 for a plain one. Both goalies, Komisarek, Beauchemin, Kessel, some leftover Jason Blakes, and three Dion Phaneufs.
I admit, I waffled for a bit, but knowing that the Phaneufs were going fast, and that they had one in my size...I quickly bought the jersey and left the store. To assuade my guilt, I then went into Bluenotes and purchased some jeans to try and legitimize the spending of money on a jersey. I came home with several bags, therefore it was a clothes shopping trip! I just so happened to buy a jersey! Right? RIGHT!?
I still have half a mind to go back and buy the Kessel, too.
Damnit.
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