Jul
27

Where is my mojo?

Have you seen my mojo?  I think I lost it about 5 years ago.  It’s certainly not in the last place I left it.

I’m almost 30 and I’ve been thinking a lot (too much?) about the future and what it holds for me.  Frankly, it scares me and I’ve never felt less ready for anything in my life.  The thought of being 30 makes me feel even more insecure and causes the last drops of my confidence canteen to drip away into a stream of tears and oil from my 1994 Camry.  Years ago, when I was in college, I had an unabashed look on life that didn’t have the scars of the “real world” tattooed all over it.  I am relatively wiser now but I have none of that gung-ho, care-free attitude I had in college – an attitude that I miss and am unsure how to regain.

Perhaps I just need to be challenged.  Ask any and all of the teachers who had the (mis)fortune to have me in their classroom.  They’ll tell you that I had a penchant for acting up when I was bored and unchallenged.  My 8th grade Social Studies teacher said I’d go on to be a successful business man and that’s still not an unreachable goal.  As a kid, I wanted to be an airline pilot and, later on, an architect.  (My brother beat me to that by a mile, but I’ve always kept my eye out on architecture programs.)  I’ve also wondered about being a television writer, a standup comedian, a music journalist (this happened already), a professional drummer, and a graphic designer.

Years ago, thanks to an ego inflated by a younger youth, I used to think I was brilliant and could do a lot of things.  I no longer feel that way and continue to fall into a crevasse of insecurity that’s dug by a lack of confidence.  Where did I go wrong?  I shouldn’t focus on that particular question because it’s all negative.  The question I need to focus on is, “where do I go right… again?”

Apr
16

A&R Sports: Great Customer Service!

Since the purpose of this blog is mostly to serve as a portfolio of my old writing samples, nobody reads really reads it.  However, I feel obligated to mention here the customer service of a humble sporting goods company out of New Jersey known as A&R Allied Enterprise, Inc (A&R Sports).  They make a variety of hockey, lacrosse, and figure skating accessories that participants of those sports take for granted and don’t think twice about.  Until I visited their site today, I didn’t realize that I had used many of their products in my 9 or so years of playing hockey.

A few weeks ago, I bought one of their garter belts at Sharks Ice at San Jose.  As kinky as that sounds, I have to inform you that the purpose of these garter belts are to hold up hockey socks and nothing more… unless you’re a real freak, but that’s neither here nor there.  Basically, each of the 4 ends of these garters have a rubber peg doohickey thing (it’s a technical term) that inserts into a metal loop while grasping the top of the sock in between.  I misplaced a couple of these rubber peg doohickey things, rendering those garters useless.  I mentioned this to a teammate and he suggested I e-mail the company.  So I did, finally.

Mere minutes after I sent the company an email this Friday evening, Carol Modell responded and quickly offered to send me four of the rubber peg doohickey thingies (again, it’s a highly technical term).  Replacement parts for a simple hockey garter belt are an afterthought, if that, in a complicated world but it’s nice to know that a company and its employees are willing to satisfy a customer (an absolute stranger, no less) with a couple of parts worth a few cents.

Aug
08

Review: Eagle Sentry 1 SR XL 36″-37″ Pads, Glove, and Blocker

The Story…

For 3 years, I had been playing with a set of used first-generation Reebok 6K (yes, branded as “Reebok”) glove and blocker and a new clearance pair of second-generation Mission Motion leg pads. This set has seen regular action about 3 times a week every week but saw even more action during the first few months of this year when I was unemployed.

In April, I was involved in an accident that was not my fault and I eventually ended up having some leftover insurance money after buying a tan 1994 Toyota Camry — a chick magnet if there ever was one. I hopped on eBay a couple months ago and found a set of Eagle Sentry 1 pads, glove, and blocker that was being offered for a song and a nickel (read: dirt cheap). I immediately purchased them and they arrived on my doorstep within a week.

First Impressions

I didn’t expect the pads to be stiff but I was pleasantly surprised at how flexible they were, which was fine by me because I’ve always preferred flexible pads. The eBay pics didn’t show the white outside gusset (shown below) and I didn’t know what to think, initially, but I love the contrast and will definitely get this on any custom pad I get. The outer side of the thighboards also are white but I re-laced them so that the black side appears outward now.

I also noticed that the leather straps felt a bit flimsy, which didn’t surprise me since this is overseas-made gear, but I was taken aback at how long each was. I had to crop nearly a foot from each before ever setting foot (er, skate) on the ice.

I had never used pro-spec gear before and wasn’t too surprised at the size of the glove and blocker. I put them on and was immediately delighted by their snug feel.

On The Ice


The Pads

Almost immediately during my first session I realized that the knee stacks were very flimsy. The 4 thin stacks did little to cushion my knees when I went into the butterfly and I knew that I would have to modify these pads if I wanted to use them comfortably.

I took knee stacks from my old white Mission pads and ran them through 2 RIT black dye cycles and they came out a shade of purple. Nonetheless, I laced them in. (See the white outside gusset, also):

Here’s the difference between the stacks that came with my Eagle pads (top) and the Mission stacks I couldn’t successfully dye (bottom).

Here’s a close-up of the knee setup. The white schmutz is part of the “Eagle” wordmark that’s peeling off from the leg channel.

Still, I love how light and flexible these pads are. If I could change another thing about them, I would ask for a deeper boot channel to aid in pad rotation and provide more skate protection.

Eventually, I will probably replace the leather straps with the nylon strap/plastic buckle setup that I’ve preferred for years. This will also correct the biggest problem I’ve had with these pads, particularly the right one. I’ve had to punch holes in the straps because I couldn’t tighten them as much as I like. Even after cinching the right pad down as much as possible, my knee slipped out of the stacks a few times and ended up a bit bruised and battered. I haven’t had the problem since I punched extra holes but it illustrates why I prefer to have nylon straps and plastic buckles – I can perfectly adjust them to my preference.

The Glove and Blocker

My blocker rebound control has increased dramatically since I started using the pro-spec sized waffle. The blocker feels like it’s right on my hand and I can feel the puck much better than I did with my old blocker. I’ve never been particularly picky about blockers and can’t offer too much analysis about this one other than that it’s balanced well, comfortable, and very protective.

The smaller glove, on the other hand, has given a few problems. I’ve had some problems catching the puck properly with it but that’s mostly a technique and skill issue, I figure. Nonetheless, I love the feel of this pro-spec glove. It has a comfortable classic palm break and offers a surprising level of protection that might surpass similar gloves on the market.

Overall Thoughts


For the price, this set is an absolute steal. If this gear were widely available like RBK’s stuff is, goalies would be doing themselves a favor by at least taking a look at it. For its price point, it may be too much to expect top-notch “fit and finish” but this gear is built well and will serve me well until I can finally get that custom Battram set I’ve planned on getting for a while now. Ahoy!