Oops - Almost Forgot . . .

So, I was sitting here admiring my handywork, when I realized that you'll probably end up wondering where I came up with such a dorky name for the site. Well, first, allow me to clarify that, despite rumors to the contrary, I have no grudge against Gilbert Arenas, nor do I have a problem with that silly-looking little man behind the curtain in Oz.

The name comes from a hockey player I used to cover by during my days as a sportswriter. After the games, we reporters would go in and talk to the coach – who went by his initials: R.P. – and get his quotes about the game. Then we would into the locker room and talk to the players.

Well, this player – a goalie named Phil – pretty much hated R.P. I surmised this, when while out drinking after a game one night, he told me, “I fucking hate R.P.” I never quite found out exactly why this was, though my best – and most likely guess – was that because Phil was a highly regarded prospect at the time and felt that his time with this minor-league team was just a small speed bump on his way to the NHL. Unfortunately, his play was a slightly larger speed bump - and R.P. was quick to notice this - as was everyone else without impaired vision who watched him.

Anyhow, after one particularly bad game by Phil, he was pulled by R.P. for a younger prospect – who ironically, went on to have a very successful NHL career. After the game and our post game talk with R.P., we went into the locker room to talk with Phil, who immediately asked - with as much disdain as he could muster, “Well, what did the Wizard have to say?” Of course, since Phil was from Quebec and had a fairly heavy French-Canadian accent, we all got a chuckle out of this, (though we're pretty sure he thought we were laughing because we thought he was so funny and not - as was actually the case - because he pronounced it "Wee-zard"). Subsequently, Phil would refer to R.P. as “The Wizard” to us from then until his departure from the team at the end of the season. And we would all go on to laugh at his expense for years to follow.

So, that's it - not a particularly interesting story to anyone who wasn’t there, I suppose – but it amuses me and that’s all I care about.