Terms of Endearment #9

Light the lamp - (v.) To score a goal.

There's a red light that goes on when a goal is scored. Sometimes it rotates, like the light on top of an ambulance.

Photo by Burns! (cc)

FAN MOMENT

By now you know I'm a big Los Angeles Kings fan. I really don't know what inspired me to do it, but I reworked the song, "My Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music to fit the LA Kings. It took me hours. It was really hard to get the names of the players in there. I didn't even succeed in naming everyone. I probably could have, but the song was already way too long.

Anyway, I tweeted it today to a few Kings people, and Patrick O'Neal, Fox Sports West TV reporter, tweeted me back. OMG. I about fell over.

"wow, nice work. I sang..."

That made all the work worth it. Here's the song. Feel free to sing along yourself. :)

My Favorite Things

 (To be sung to the tune from the Sound of Music)

by @Kate_Willoughby

Shots stopped and gloves dropped and sweet empty netters

Stanley Cup patches on LA Kings’ sweaters

Brownie our Captain, a cunning Right Wing

These are a few of my favorite things

Both Jons in goal on the road to the Playoffs

Richards and Stolly both winning the face-offs

Jake in the box for a hit with some sting

These are a few of my favorite things

When the Shark bites

When the Hawk strikes

When it’s looks like war

I simply remember my favorite Kings

Will capture the Cup once more!

Foxy and Evans, O’Neal and Miller

Shorthanded goals made by penalty killers

Number eleven, that nimble Slovene

These are a few of my favorite things

Pucks cleared and Pen's beard and multiple hat tricks

Power plays gained off of somebody’s high stick

Nolan and Clifford both taking a swing

These are a few of my favorite things

When you lose teeth

When your team’s beat

When it’s looks like war

I simply remember my favorite Kings

Will capture the Cup once more!

Men in home jerseys who kick ass and take names

Road trips that finish a series in four games

Carts on a break’way: my heart starts to sing

These are a few of my favorite things

Lewy and Dewy, a match made in heaven

Clogging the lanes we see “old” number seven

Days with Lord Stanley and Tiffany rings

These are a few of my favorite things

When your skull cracks

When your knee’s whacked

When it’s looks like war

I simply remember my favorite Kings

Will capture the Cup once more!

PLAYOFFS!

I am most of the way done with a second hockey story. It's about an injured player and his fight to get back into shape after nine long months of recovery. Like the last one, this has been a joy to write. I hope the trend continues. I have eleven ideas for future books.

The NHL Playoffs have begun and the Kings have a good chance of winning the Stanley Cup again. Sure, they lost their first game against he St. Louis Blues, but it's just one game. I have faith they can win four games. Their coach said that a few of the players hadn't ever played in the Playoffs before, and it's a completely different experience than playing during the regular season. The pressure, the crowds, the intensity, the physicality, the emotions--everything is magnified to insane levels. If I were a player in the Playoffs, I'd have lost all my hair by now, have a mouth full of canker sores, and serious gum disease. That's how my body deals with stress.

And get this! They were playing a commercial for some medical center and the doctor talks all about ACL injuries and how they perform a tendon graft to repair it. And that's exactly what the hero in my second book goes through! It's a sign, I tell you, a sign!

Pictured are (left to right) Mike Richards, Drew Doughty, and one of my very favorite players, Dustin Penner. This picture was taken during the parade following their win of the Stanley Cup. Good times!

Note to PrimeTicket: You guys suck. The cut to the basketball. The f-ing split screen??? Are you kidding me? Basketball: First quarter. Nothing happening. Hockey: SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME. Epic fail.

Photo by JulieandSteve (cc)

For Shame

It's been a month since I last posted? How sad. So much has happened.

I have submitted "the hockey book," now tentatively titled Hard to Resist, to Carina Press. I participated in a one day Twitter pitch session and three editors at Carina--Mallory Braus, Melissa Johnson, Angela James--asked to read the manuscript.

I am now waiting to hear if any of them would like to obtain it.

The Los Angeles Kings, the hockey boys I adore, are in fourth place in their division. I hope they stay there so they can go on to the semifinals for the Stanley Cup. That's me in my Kings cap.

I have begun work on another Barracuda hockey team book, but I'm trying to keep this one shorter. It's been going well so far. I'm really excited.

Terms of Endearment #8

Empty-netter - (n.) a goal scored when the goalie is on the bench.

You non-hockey fans out there might be thinking, what the heck? When is the goalie not there in front of the net, blocking the puck like Wonder Woman does bullets?

Sometimes when a team is losing at the end of the third period, in a last ditch effort, the coach pulls the goalie, which allows them to put one more man on the ice to score a goal for a six on five advantage. However, sometimes they lose control of the puck and the team in the lead scores.

When the Kings get an empty netter, sometimes I feel fierce, "In your face!!!" And sometimes, I feel a little bad for the losers. Most of the time, I'm just glad they won. I would love to see them win the Stanley Cup again.