Loyalty is my payment for trust

I am in the middle of reading Don Quixote for a class called "Cervantes and his times." Last night's reading brought together tens if not nearly hundreds of themes in just a few chapters: friendship, forgiveness, love, lust, perception, temptation, deceit, marriage, courage, loyalty, trust...

I got a call this morning from my Bruin ticket hook-up. He had been out of town earlier this week and apologized but said he still had five tickets kicking around for tonight's game, one which he explained should feature a few fights right off the bat. After watching and also tuning in and out of the last two or three Bruins games, I nearly vowed not to return to the Garden until they showed significant improvement. Maybe even a closely-contested loss would do. But here I am again, lured by promises of fights, a better game plan, immenent action, surely a better all around product, but most of all, by the undying loyalty I have for this team. I can't stay away. But I will stay away if their promise is broken, thus forging my loyalties.

And before the Bruins rush into a trade, let's quickly review what we've let lost over the past year. Joe Thornton, the league's Hart winner last year. Enough said. And on a lesser note but beginning to make his loss evident is Andrew Raycroft, the B's rookie of the year just a short while ago. He boasts a 23-16-4 record, a 2.94 goals against average and he has won his last three games while giving up just one goal in each of those (and also making at least 28 saves in each). Surely, the Leafs aren't a team with as much talent with the Bruins, right? They have held the Rangers, Hurricanes and Canadiens to a goal a piece in the last three games. The Bruins? 19 goals allowed in the last three games.

It's clear that one of these teams needs to realize and react, right away. See you at the Garden and hopefully, tonight won't be a gloomy one for the post-game bar scene.