Flexibility, that is. (And Flyers, too, of course.) If you are involved, either romantically, platonically, professionally, or genetically with a sports fan, then this time of year can be a challenge. For the non-sports fan, the level of commitment and desire to view all pre-game discussions, regulation play, overtime, and post-game analysis is incomprehensible. And most people (sports fans or not) have a social life that requires some advance planning, thus creating a potential competition between your dinner party/charity ball/company picnic/front row seats on the night of an important Flyers game. Rather than go 15 rounds with the fan, I suggest flexibility.
I have riffed on When Something Comes Up before and my main theme remains one of pragmatism and reality. I am not a "Boo-hoo, wah, You promised!" kind of girl. If you drag your bf to the Bridesmaid's Ball the night of the 7th game, will either of you have a good time? Probably not. However, I offer you three feasible approaches to this conundrum:
1. Determine whether there will be a tv broadcasting the game at the event. If so, and if you are able to accept the fact that your date may spend more time staring at the screen than you, go with him.
2. Take another date. This doesn't have to be a jealousy-invoking episode where you sidle up to your luscious neighbor and take him while your bf shouts at toothless and concussed men sliding around a rink beating each other with sticks, although it could be. But that wouldn't be my recommendation--one of the best formals I ever went to was with my hairdresser when my husband had to leave town unexpectedly for a funeral. (Whether he paid for an assassin to off the elderly great uncle so he could avoid attending the gala is a question I have never felt the need to ask.) Take a girlfriend, a colleague, cousin or, if you must, your LN.
3. Don't go. Give the tickets to someone else, cancel the reservation, donate your contribution back to the charity, and embrace the game (or go to a movie and meet up with your bf afterwards.)
But whatever choice you make, be at peace with it and don't drag it up every time you two disagree on whether to order Chinese or pizza. "Well, I really want Mu Shu Pork and you owe me because of the time you bagged on me for the Justin Timberlake concert when the Flyers........" No, Grace, no, no, no!
If you have the ill-luck to be hosting a dinner party the night of the big game, you have a similar dilemma. But never fear, Graces, for there are many solutions to this "problem" and you need not go into full panic or rage mode.
1. Change the format. Make it a casual, game-friendly menu, and let everyone bring plates into the tv room to watch the Flyers crush the Penguins. Planned to serve steak? Slice it thinly, saute it w/ some onions, garlic, hot pepper, salt and Worcestershire, put it on warm rolls with melted provolone and you've got the best Cheesesteak this side of South Philly. Not to mention the happiest male guests in town. Chicken? Marinate it in beer, lime, cumin, soy sauce, and hot pepper, saute or grill, slice it and roll it into tortillas with some salsa for fajitas. Or, dump the whole cooking thing and order a tray of hoagies or pizza. If you want to have a more formal element to the gathering, make dessert a sit down event. By then, the game will be over and you can put out your china, crystal and silver (if you must) and serve at table. Your guests will either be exhuberantly happy or downright wretched, but hopefully your sweets will carry the day even if their team didn't.
2. Push back the time. If you are a night owl, or are not adherent to the hours kept by children and babysitters, serve dinner at 9:30 or 10, by which time the game should be over. I have a dear friend from India who can't understand the American habit of evening entertaining that starts and the early hour of 7pm. When she invites us to a dinner party, she calls for arrival at around 9, and we know we won't dine til nearly 11. We always have a fabulous time, even if we're a bit bleary-eyed the next day. (Did I mention her pomegranite martinis?)
3. Postpone the party til after the playoffs. Some diehard fans are very particular about with whom they will watch a game. They don't view it as a social occasion--this is serious business. They do not appreciate light conversation during the game (even during commercial breaks and time outs); they do not take kindly to ancillary comments like "Doesn't he realize that his tattoos are icky?" or "Isn't he dating that supermodel?" or "I hate orange and black. What do they think, it's Halloween? Don't you think pink and green would be cuter, especially this time of year?". While I strictly oppose violence, comments like these might justify a swat. My husband is still a bit annoyed at me for the time a few years ago when I invited someone to watch the NFC Eagles Championship Game without first screening him. The guy had the ill judgement to mention a neighbor's hair style (a severe brunette page-boy if you must know) during the fourth quarter and has been blacklisted ever since. Another wrinkle: depending on the type of "home theatre system" you possess, potential guests may not be willing give up their wall-size-hi-def-plasma-screen-smell-the-athletes'-swea
t -blue-ray picture they are accustomed to in their man-room at home, so your party attendance could plummet.
Even if you don't watch a single minute of a game, it's a great thing for Philly when our teams win. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go generate an excuse for skivving off a long-ago-committed to attend cocktail party this evening, cancel a dinner reservation for afterward, buy some beer, order some hoagies, and make sure our orange and black clothing is washed and dried. Go Flyers!
