I m a Sharks Fin-atic again!

Hockey season is officially back. I love hockey season, all 9 months of it. Talk about a sport that is just always there. Hockey is like a good friend or a comfortable pair of shoes - it's always there when you need it.

Had a tough day at work? It's ok. Hockey season will be there when you get home. Blisters on your feet after walking around looking for the perfect Christmas gift? Don't even sweat it. Slip on a pair of hockey season and lay back in your comfy chair. Yep, hockey season loves you, even when you can't love yourself.

The Sharks opened the season on Thursday night. I got there almost an hour before gametime. I grabbed my chicken nuggets (not sure if they count as real chicken, but they are chicken-like at least) and a water. I nestled into my seat and began what will become a 9-month road to misery and depression.

For those of you who don't know, the Sharks are a great hockey... no, good hockey team. The word "great" is reserved for teams who can actually win in the playoffs. For 3 years in a row, the Sharks have been the chic pick to win the Cup (the Stanley Cup for those of you not in the know). And all three years, they have lost in the second round, to teams they should beat or at least could beat. And in those losses, they have shown that they aren't great, merely good.

In their defense, it is difficult to play hockey well with both hands around your throat (choking reference if you don't get the subtlety).

Anyway, all of the teams I root for bring out this kind of misery. It is a wild ride en route to what is eventually a catastrophic collapse of biblical proportions, but at the end of the day, my teams are always left with their heads held low and some random fan yelling out, "There's always next year."

But until that certainty becomes reality, I will cheer and chide, laugh and grumble, and utterly enjoy the next 9 months as my Sharks lead me down a path of sheer exhilaration. What makes me a real fan? That despite what will probably be another disappointing outcome, I will travel that path with the kind of wide-eyed wonder that all of us real fin-atics have.

Go Sharks.