Avalanche

Dodd, Dave and I saw Blues Traveller in the summer of 1996 at Red Rocks. I know what year it was because I just googled (and giggled) "Avalanche Stanley Cup" and saw that the Avs won in 1996. Anyway, Dodd and Dave and I were at Red Rocks, enjoying the show, when a lady came up and grabbed Dodd by the shoulders and said, "You guys, we really need to show John Popper that we totally support the Avalanche and that we are proud that they won the Stanley Cup! So, yell Avalanche as loud as you can!"

Um, OK, why not?

So Dave yelled, "AVALANCHE!" And Dodd yelled "STANLEY CUP!" And I yelled, "FRED!" What? I was looking for my friend Fred. Then all three of us yelled together, "AVALANCHE! STANLEY CUP! FRED!" I loved the way Dodd yelled Stanley Cup because he did the "-LEY CUP" in a really low voice. That went on for the rest of the night. And by "night" I mean several years. In fact, the night Dave and I got engaged at a bar in Chicago, the Blackhawks were playing the Avalanche in some sort of playoff game, and Dodd and Dave kept yelling, "AVALANCHE! STANLEY CUP!" The fact that we knew the owner, and bartender, and had just gotten engaged went a long way that night.

Dave and I were reminiscing this weekend because Luke asked about avalanche mitigation and Jack just yelled, "AVALANCHE." We laughed and said, "You sound like Dodd." And Jack said, "Is Dodd a chipmunk?"

No, but I can imagine how his laugh would have sounded when I told him that story.