Today is my 19th birthday (Or I should say yesterday was my 19th birthday). Yes, I went drinking and all that jazz, but I’m here today to also give a warm happy 33rd birthday to my favourite hockey player, Paul Kariya.
Yes, Paul Kariya. I mean, when a guy shares your birthday, birthplace, nation and ethnicity that’s got to stand for something, right? Kariya, born October 16th in Vancouver, British Columbia, is of Japanese descent and a damn fine hockey player at that. So happy birthday Paul Kariya!
I’ve actually got a great story involving Paul Kariya and I. You see, my family vacationed to Anaheim in the summer of 2003, which was the offseason following the Anaheim Ducks’ improbably run to the Stanley Cup Finals against the eventual winner New Jersey Devils. My brother and I were strolling past Splash Mountain which, at the time, carried an incredibly long line so we thought twice of waiting in line. Needless to say as we were getting ready to head to the Madderhorn I saw a familiar face heading in the other direction towards that train ride… Thunder something. Anyway, it was Paul Kariya himself. I told my brother, but he didn’t believe me. Needless to say, we had to follow him a little bit just to prove it was him.
Eventually, we found ourselves standing next to Kariya and his girlfriend waiting in line at that train ride. I was only fifteen at the time so I didn’t have the words to say anything to the guy, and my brother was embarrassed that I wanted to. Kariya was spotted by the staff and was given a cut to the front of the line where he would ride that train which would eventually be filled later by more and more asses.
But come on… Kariya and I, sharing all that history and then we meet?! It’s gotta be fate!
Anyway, that’s enough of my stalking tale of Kariya. Here’s a great hockey and Paul Kariya clip that I’ll leave you with:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsBM6xXu7TI
