Sense of Accomplishment

Is there anything better than the feeling of self accomplishment?  Putting your mind to something, investing time into it, and coming out on top or just finishing whatever it is you set out to do.  The bigger the task the better the feeling too.  It really makes me wonder why I don't do more in my life.  I thoroughly enjoy the feeling of accomplishing things, so why am I not proactive in completing the tasks that are right in front of me.  I honestly don't know; I could say it's laziness but who isn't lazy, so I think it might be something else.  All I know is I need to start doing more and thinking less.  The more I think about it, the less likely I am to actually do it (That's what she said).  Oh well, tomorrow is another day full of chances to accomplish things, and after tonight, I'm looking forward to it.

Chapter 1

Today started off like any other day.  Ronaldo woke up, grabbed a quick shower, and watched some Sportscenter while he ate his lunch.  He was still tired from a long day of fishing the day before.  It's not often he actually catches fish when he goes fishing, but yesterday was different.  The fish were attacking his bait like a lion attacks a gazelle.  The sun had taken a lot out of Ronaldo and had burned his face a dark shade of red, the one place he had forgotten to apply sunblock.  

Not long after finishing his lunch did Ronaldo start to notice the humming sound that was coming from just outside his bedroom window.  Being the curious cat that he was, Ronaldo slowly opened the blinds to reveal a magnificent sight.  There was a large rectangular shaped box sitting on the grass just outside his window.  It was a dark green box with all sorts of pictures and phrases on it.  It looked just like a weapons box that people in the army used to hold their stuff.  Ronaldo was intrigued by this strange yet exciting box and decided to venture outside to see what it was.  He left his room and walked to open the garage ripe with anticipation.  He couldn't believe that something interesting was actually happening in his dull and repetitive life.  As he opened the garage and rounded the corner of the house where the green rectangular box was just moments ago, Ronaldo stopped dead in his tracks.  The box that had been there just seconds before, was there no longer.  Ronaldo found himself staring at nothing but the air conditioner and garden hose that was also located outside his bedroom window; the box had vanished.  "There was no way someone could have lifted the box by themselves and moved it that quickly" Ronaldo thought to himself.  Now more depressed than normal, Ronaldo stomped back inside to get ready for work.  Little did he know, that soon his life would be changing forever.

No Message Sending?!!

"When the game is out of reach, there is to be no message sending".  This is what the NHL has said about this post season... WHAT... WHY?  Playoff hockey is all about message sending! That is the best thing about the playoffs.  You battle and fight your way through a grueling 7 game playoff series and when you lose, you let the other team know that if you can't beat them on the scoreboard, you're going to beat them physically.  You're going to pound on the other team until the final horn sounds.  You let them know that you're not going anywhere, that the series is long and you're in it to win it.  

To take this element of playoff hockey (which has been around since before I was born) out of the game is not anything that will be appreciated by the fans.  I'm extremely upset about it and I hope the players rebel and ignore what the NHL is saying.  Fighting/message sending, whatever you want to call it is a part of the game, and to take it out is changing the sport.  It would be like removing the three point line in basketball, or taking away field goals in football, it's just absurd!

I understand the league's concern of injury and how allowing players to fight at then end of a game can look barbaric.  I'm completely for making fighting safer and making more stringent rules about it, but to try and eliminate it from the game like they're doing with the no message sending rule is ridiculus.  How about limiting players to one fighting major a game.  If you fight more than once in a game then you are suspended for the next one.  Something like this would still allow the roots of the sport to shine through, while being able to keep playoff games from getting out of hand.  Playoff hockey is about passion.  When you remove fighting to send a message at the end of a game from the sport, you take away from that passion and leave the players and fans wanting more.