Nostalgia Diaries, Pt. 26: The 2003 Devils Playoff Run

How much did I follow the exploits of the 2003 Devils: here are a couple of my lasting memories

= Listening to the game on the radio in the car ahead of a piano lesson (it was my sister's piano lesson) trying to hear if the Devils would clinch in Game 6 against Ottawa - learning the name Jason Spezza for the first time

= I was in 6th grade at the time. For our computer class we had to design a website using some website-design software, I did my website about the Devils playoff run, and my teacher thought my write-ups of the Devils run was so good it had to have been plaigarized

Anyway, 2003 was an interesting time. I do believe this is the earliest I've gone in this exercise, back to my truly formative years as a sports fan. I don't know when the curve of fandom started shooting significantly upwards, but 2003 was a true turning point. There were a couple of factors driving that, first being the Raiders ultimately unsuccessful run to the Super Bowl. The Devils were my team, but 2002-03 was the first year I really followed them. I knew they were great. A Stanley Cup I guess was therefore somewhat an expectation. Ti turn3ed into a reality - but man did I not realize how spoiled I was.

Today I watch these young fans get upset at the Dodgers or Red Sox or some other great team that has had peerless success. I now realize I was something like those fans, but with the Devils. I have no real memory of their shock win in 1995, other than the fact I now call it a win of mine. I have limited, but real, memory of their 2000 Stanley Cup win, distinctly remember me being in my parents bedroom, at the foot of the bed, deep into 2nd overtime when that brilliant pass from Elias to Arnott happened.

But I remember all of 2003, from their quietly great regular season with 108 points. I remember of course their offseason trades for Jeff Freisen and Jamie Langenbrunner, two guys whose names and games I had to learn. I knew everyone on that team. Every kid has "that tean" the one where they know all the players, know them all deeply. The 2003 Devils were that for me. The Devils were my team, my state's team, the one thing New Jersey could be proud of.

That run through the playoffs was magical in a way. They flexed their muscles big time in the first two rounds, beating Boston and Tampa 4-1 each time (that Tampa team would end up winning the Stanley Cup the next year). Both series I couldn't really watch because at the time the first couple playoff rounds were broadcast on local TV only (these were the halcyon pre-NBC days). Instead I followed on radio. On real radio, like a chump.

There is some nostalgic bliss remembering these radio days. One day I'm sure I'll do a Nostalgia Diaries on the magic that was WFAN. The Devils in the playoffs were part of that magic, to some degree you could just sense what was going on. I remember listening late into the night in their clincher against Tampa Bay, a 3OT win with the winning goal scored by Grant Marshall - one of the "new" guys.

That Devils team was like most Devils teams from 2001-02 on, a defensive mastery couipled with some timely offense by players whose offensive skill largely outpaced their production in the Devils system. This wasn't always the case - in 99-00 they led the Eastern Conference in goals, and in 00-01 they led the NHL in goals, but by 02-03 they were middling offensively, by far the best defensively, and it added up to a great 110 point season. In the conference finals, they would have to face a team that won more points, scored way more goals, and seemed to represent everything they weren't: the Ottawa Senators.

I don't know why 18 years later those Senators still resonate with me, but its amazing how open, how skilled, how fast that team played in a pre-lockout world. The names of Hossa, Alfredsson, Havlat, Bonk, White, Redden, Chara - they rang out. Of course, in this series, the names of Elias, Gomez, Langenbrunner, Friesen and of course Stevens, Niedermayer and Rafalski rang out equally well.

That series went seven, with the first six games alternating between dramatic (two OT wins for Ottawa, a 1-0 win for the Devils), and blowouts (5-2, 4-1 for New Jersey, 3-1 for Ottawa). Game 7 was played in front of a ridiculously raucous crowd in the Corel Center - the adage of Ottawa having shit fans not holding true that time.

This was pre-lockout, with clutching and grabbing and all the like. There are many reasons to prefer post-lockout hockey to the mess it was before, but that Game 7 showed just how good that version of the sport could be when played well. The Devils led 2-1 going into the 3rd period when maybe one of the best single periods of hockey was played.

Sure, that's an overstatement, but for me it wasn't. For me, it was pure bliss, with my team prevailing. It was open, it was messy. The Devils normally staunch defense made a series of pressured mistakes that Brodeur cleaned up - two memorable ones with Brodeur stoning Hossa (at the time a truly dynamic talent) on a breakaway, capped with the call of "It's only Game 7, why shouldn't we have goaltending like this!" from Gary Thorne. Then late in the period, the Devils gave the puck away stupidly five feet in front of the net, it once again found the stick of Hossa, where Brodeur made a sprawling save, with the line this time being "And a save by Brodeur!!!"

Marty was ruthless in that game, as was Ray Emery for nearly all of the third period, repeatedly stoning Scott Gomez - after the third stop Thorne's line was "And Gomez pleading to the skate, the stick, the post, the ice and the puck...." Gary Thorne was on one in that game, as he should for a hyper tense Game 7 between the conference's two best teams. It ultimately ended with Wade Redden making an awful defensive play, Grant Marshall threading a pass between his legs, and Jeff Friesen putting one past Lalime.

After the game, Pat Burns gave one of the most honest press conferences, telling Bryan Engblom when asked if he was nervous, "Yeah, why wouldn't we be, that's a tremendous hockey club. We were surprised to be up 3-1." That Devils series of Ottawa might have been the single most memorable playoff series of my life.

The next series also went seven against the Cinderella Mighty Ducks, riding JS Giguere's brilliance to that point. Yet in reality it wasn't anywhere as interesting. The Devils four wins were all by three goals (3x 3-0, and a 6-3 wild one). Brodeur set a new record for shutouts in the postseason with 7, and tied a Final record with three shutouts. Somehow this wasn't good enough for him to win the Conn Smythe, losing to Gigeure, the only modern person to win on a losing team.

I didn't really care (not true, I truly cared and felt wronged on behalf of Marty at the time), but seeing my team win was the real prize. I celebrated the third cup but for the first time. I was cognizant enough as a sports fan, and this was proof that being one was worth it.

Looking back, the 2003 Devils was my first evidence that one of "my" teams could infact win. I was a fairly sizable Devils fan back in 2001 when they blew a 3-2 Final lead to Colorado. I was of course a Raiders fan when they got blown out in the Super Bowl six months earlier. This was before I really had a tennis player to follow. I was a young, budding sports nut waiting for some payoff, and this Devils team was it, and it was glorious because it was my team, with players I loved.

In the end, my memories of this run returns to the win over Ottawa, the true Final in my mind. After the game, after the handshakes, Scott Stevens went over to the table that held the Prince of Wales Trophy. Gary Thorne at that moment said calmly "[Ducks' captain] Paul Kariya would not touch the trophy, it is likely Stevens...:" He then stopped mid sentence as Stevens went over and touched it. At that point he switched tacks to "He's not going to pick it up, I guarantee it" a microsecond before Stevens did pick it up. Right then Bill Clement jumped in "Scott Steven's isn't afraid of the superstition, he's touched it enough times, and the Stanley Cup." I honestly think my life as a sports fan in the truest sense of the word peaked at that very moment. My team was on top, proud to be so and ready for more. As a sports fan, that was nirvana, that was heaven, and all it took was a team named the Devils to get me there.

My 18 Favorite US & Canadian Cities

**Updating this after a few years, as I can add a few onto the list and also re-evaluate a few decisions.**

Not eligible becuase I live too close / can't speak to as a tourist attraction: New York City (obviously would be really high), The entire rest of the Northeast Corridor (Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Washington), Jacksonville, Houston

Not eligible because my time there was limited to work: Raleigh, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale



18.) Atlanta (2017)

I went to Atlanta once, on a bachelor party of a family friend. It was a great time, and sure it may be hard to separate the city from the bachelor party-ness of it all (a good one is about as good a long weekend as possible), but the city itself seemed like a better, not as hot, Dallas. Really nice restaurants featuring southern cooking. We ventured out to a couple nice suburbs for meals as well. Of course, there are a few aspects of the city that make it a particularly apt Bachelor Party spot - some that are basically cultural mileposts. Won't say more. The only thing keeping it from being higher is the lack of historical importance and natural beauty; most of the cities on the list have one or the other.


17.) Orlando (1998, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2016)

Removing Disney and Universal, Orlando wouldn't be anywhere close to this. I have visited Orlando a couple times without really touching either park system and found it decent, with good shopping and decent restuarants/bars. But we can't just ignore that those two monster park systems, in Disney's case, a literal city. Those parks to have some magic to them, changing enough each half decade to not get fully old (haven't really visited any since 2009). Disney is quite a bit magical, and despite the cost, the crowds, it is one of the world's best destinations.


16.) 

15.) Vancouver (2018, 2020)

Vancouver is beautiful, that much is obvious. With the mountains to the north a constant presence above a great modern North American city. If anything, I'll hae to give more reasons for not ranking Vancouver higher than this. The city is quite big, with potential traffic issues. There are a few nice neighborhoods, but they are hard to reach from the outsides of the city. The nice nature is a little too far. Anyway, if you have time, and a car, the city is great. The food, especially the various asian-inspired bistros, are great. The nature is wonderful, particularly if you have time to drive up the Coast.


14.) Austin (2002, 2016)

May seem low, but that more speaks to the strengths of the cities above it, which include truly unique factors, great restaurant & beer cultures, and/or historical relevance. Austin has some of these things, if not all, but not at the high degree of some of the others. The best aspects probably are the barbecue and live music, but there's other cities that do each, if not both in one case, at a reasonably good level as well, without the added heat and sprawl. Either way, Austin is a fantastic city, but is starting to get slightly too popular and slightly overcrowded to add to the fact that American does indeed have a lot of great cities.


13.) Edmonton

12.) San Francisco (1999, 2008, 2014, 2017)

San Francisco actually somewhat proves my point about Calgary maybe needing another go. Had I not spent a long weekend there in November, it would likely be higher, but there is a couple glaring issues I found this time around, mainly the almost unimaginable homeless problem driven mostly by opiods and drugs. There are streets deep inside SF's main area that are basically unwalkable. It disfigures what is a great city outside of that, with incredible food, a world-class art and drinks culture, good museums, great sightlines and parks, and so much more. The only other negative to me might be the price, which is somewhat unescapable. Either way, San Francisco has a few black marks on it that hurt it from being a truly brilliant city..


11.) Houston (many times)

It's hard to really judge Houston as a tourist destination because it hasn't been one too often for me, going there mostly for work our to visit my cousin and his family - both of those two drawing me more to The Woodlands, a posh Houston suburb that beacuse of Houston traffic is far away. That said, I've spend a decent time downtown and while Houston is as sprawling as we think, there's many cool neighborhoods, many great night spots, and it might be one of the best food cities in North America. Truly they have great food of many cuisines, having some of the best Mexican food of any American city, and extending that to Vietnamese, Nepalese and so many others. There's not too much to "see" but tehre's a lot to eat and do, which makes up for it.


10.) Portland (2017)

I went to Portland three weeks before I went to San Francisco in 2017, and found it quite a bit better. They are similar in some ways, but Portland is cheaper, with the same asian influences. Also in Portland's favor is a truly astounding craft beer culture, and great food all around, from Pok Pok's wings, to incredible biscuit sandwhiches. You also get some beautiful, remote, scenery in teh 1-2 hour perimiter of the city, from the Mt. Hood region to the East and the Tillamook Forest to the West. It's a truly beautiful city with a great sense of what it is; one of the few cities in America that define everything that a unique American city should have.


9.) Chicago (1998, 2001, 2005, 2015)



I need to go to Chicago again, because while I did go for three days in 2015, that wasn't a long enough trip to formulate a changed opinion. My memories of Chicago are more from childhood, where I remember it being somewhat a perfect American city. They have arguably the best collection of museums of any American city. They have a beach. They have incredible sports to witness, including a cathedral that is Wrigley Field. I'm sure they have food and great bars and all the rest as well. The largest four cities in the country for as long as I can remember have been NYC, LA, Chicago and Houston (just city, not metro area), and Chicago seems the least like a true sprawling Metropolis.

8.) San Diego (1999, 2017)



We all get the jokes about San Diego, the perfect weather, the laissaz faire attitude that made a whole community do a shrug emoji when they lost their football team. The perfect nature of the city. All of it. It is all true, because we are all just jealous that a city with a perfect year-round climate was made and we don't all live there. I went in March, it was 70 each day and sunny. The city has history, with old churches and military history like the aircraft carrier musuem. It has great food - including multiple great restaurants lining the Gaslamp district. There is a great beer culture highlighted by two of the most successful craft breweries in the US in Ballast Point and Stone. And of course there are some great hiking trails and parks and sports. The city is a perfect place to live, but it isn't too bad to visit either.


7.) Phoenix (2020)

The only negative I have to say of Phoenix is that there are limited things to do. There are nice hikes and walks in nature, but its blisteringly hot. The Grand Canyon is a bit too far for me to include it and be fair to other places that I would leave out a site 3 hours away. That said, parts of Phoenix are phenomenal. Secretly, I think its one of the best food cities in America, with just superb Mexican food without the frills of SoCal (or even Texas). There is just great Mexican food everywhere. There's a surprisingly strong beer culture, including some great bottle shop/beer bars. There are some sites, including one of the better 'single focus' museums I've been to in the Heard Museum on Native American history. It's a fast growing city but still eminently drivable. There's a real lot to like, just go between October and April.


6.) Salt Lake City (2018)

Of course, Salt Lake City encompasses the cottonwood canyons, and the Great Salt Lake in this ranking. I don't know if there is a US metro area that mixes urbanity and nature quite like Salt Lake (other than maybe the city at #2). The food in Salt Lake was great, with a burgeoning foodie scene. The alcohol options are more varied than you would think. The city is amazingly walkable and easy to transit around. Finally, those views, those hikes, that natural beauty. Salt Lake City's bevy of close by hiking options, all within an hours ride from downtown, are astounding. All double as great ski slopes in the winter as well, for those that like that aspect of the world. My first trip to Salt Lake City took me by surprise, and truly I can't wait to go back.


5.) Toronto (2008, 2016, 2017)



I almost put The Six in the groups of cities that I can't rank as I did a project in a suburb for four months, close enough to go into the city many times, but I liked it too much to keep it out. Toronto is great, easily the best (NY excluded) mega-tropolis I've been to in the US. The positives in Toronto are endless, from the CN Tower, to the Island, to the bevy of incredible food options, and neighborhoods from Downtown, to the Distellery District, to Yorkville, to so many others. The food is great. The beer is great. The bars are great. The city is large but never has the traffic or urban sprawl problems that other huge USA cities have to deal with. Toronto also has a great comedy and music since (Drake aside), and has as much culture of its US counterparts. It's a lot larger than people realize, and still has all the cultural charms of the secondary cities, A rare combination.

4.) Denver (2015, 2019, 2020, 2021)



This is somewhat re-written after my trip in 2021, but Denver as a whole is still an incredible city but has grown a bit too big since my first trip in 2015. The food scene is still great, the natural beauty arond it in every direction is still great. The city remains really drivable and workable, and has some great night spots (the best club I've been to in the US - though granted with covid-impacted crowd control restrictions which helped). There's really no down side to Denver. The only reason it's dropped in my mind since my first visit (after which I had it at #2) is because another city leaped over it (a city that share's a lot of similarity to Denver) and because the craft beer which was such a large part of my initial ranking is something that many other cities have caught up to.

3.) Calgary (2005)

This is re-written as the first time I did this list I was only going off my trip in 2005. I went back in 2019, to experience the city itself and the surrounding area again. At the time I was worried if I overrated Calgary (I had it like 10th), having gone back, I seriously underrated it. Calgary is incredible drivable, despite being a metro of 2mm people. It has excellent food including great use of Calgary beef. The night spots were all excellent, from great and relatively low priced cocktail bars to one of the better clubs I've been to in North America (sadly, Habitat Living Social seems to have closed...). The weather is incredible (summer only, obviously), and Banff is every bit as magical as it's made out to be with Carribean-blue water mixed with incredible scenery. It truly is North America's underrated little jewel that I just wish was easier to get to.

2.) Nashville (2016, 2017)



Live music has many homes within the US, but I would argue none touches Nashville, from mainstream spots like the Grand Ole Opry or Bluebird Cafe, to the many great spots that litter Broadway on both sides, to even the others that espouse Rock and Blues. Nashville owns all cities I've been to when looking at music. Of course, that isn't where Nashville's positives ends. There are great restaurants, from BBQ to hot chicken, to a truly special burger place in Pharmacy Burger. The cities' increasingly built up outskirts push the number of restaurants and bars even further higher, The city, nestled nicely in the Appalachian plateau's even rarely gets too hot. What a great slice of Americana.



1.) Montreal (many, many, many times)



Yes, I've been to Montreal a lot, mostly during its annual Jazz Festival it hosts in the Place des Artes area - a tremendously run festival visited by millions. But even outside the festival, Montreal is an amazing city. It has sites, from Mont Royal to the various churches and buildings, to the Old Town,. It has incredible food, from French Canadian staples to world known Smoked Meat. It has a great bar culture, with some great breweries. It has live music even when you remove the Jazz Festival. It has great parks and open streets and little crowding, and crepes, and everything else. Having such a seemingly foreign city, where French reigns supreme, so close to home is fantastic, and i'm blessed to be able to visit it somewhat-annually.

Closing Thoughts on Colorado

My last day of the vacation started seeing a few final sights amidst the slowly becoming less hazy Colorado Springs and ended with a redeye that is too short to be legally called so (in my mind, a listed 3:45 that invariably will take far less time). As mentioned, this trip mirrors my Arizona one earlier in the year, down to the fact that it ends with a redeye that gives me a true full day. This is a new life-hack (or I guess, trip-hack) of mine that I've used to good impact: it helps you very much overcome the 'last day of the vacation' blues because you can actually do things rather than spend a nominal day off in airports and planes.

Anyway, there were a few things we left on the list to do in Colorado Springs. First was the Pioneer Museum, which is in the old courthouse (fit with a reconstructed courtroom) and featured a handful of exhibits telling the history of Colorado Springs and this area in great detail. It was just hte right amount of information without being overburdening - the two main exhibits showcasing the 150 years of Colorado Springs (it was founded in 1871) and then a random waltz around Colorado Springs history in what they called 'A to Z' which had 26 mini exhibits about something of Colorado Springs history.

The museum is free (donations requested) and is just really nice for a random town. My favorite exhibit probably was one around how in the late 1800s and early 1900s Colorado Springs made a large push to attract people with TB as the clean air and good weather could 'cure' people. Apparently this was a real cottage industry, as Colorado Springs was able to attract thousands of 'Cure Chasers' and also doctors who were looking to find a firm cure.

The final stop in 'The Springs' was Old Colorado City, a kitschy stretch of 6x2 blocks about 15 minutes outside the city proper. There are a few tourist traps, but there's also a bunch of great niche shops selling random wares, art, hanidcrafts, etc., along with some interesting looking old-school restaurants and saloons. The place was a nice little sendoff for Colorado Springs, which again despite it having a population of 700k still seems so quiant as a mountain outpost.

We drove back to Denver and went first to a brewery for a lunch. I didn't write too much about the breweries when I wrote first about Denver but that's a bit unfair. They're all still good. The one we went to today was first Counter Culture which had fine beer but is more known as a restaurant. Their burger was great. The other we went to today was Great Divide which remains excellent. They've opened a second location which is a little corner cutout of their main factory in RiNo which had a great vibe. A few other quick shoutouts for Mockery Brewing (a block away from the RiNo Great Divide location), Old Friends and Raices Brewing. That last one in particular brews 'Mexican' style beers and had a beautiful location at the South edge of Denver. I was probably too harsh earlier in saying that Denver has lost some of its lustre as a beer city - it remains excellent in that respect, it's just a lot of other markets have caught up.

The last bit of actual tourism on the trip was going to the Denver Botanic Gardens, which are this little slice of magic in the heart of the city. It's a place that you can just get lost in, with incredible well manicured gardens and pools and areas all over. There's nominally a structure and order to it - with areas that say showcase African flowers adn Asian flowers and lilies and what-not but the real way to experience the place is just get lost in it. I was there for about 90 minutes, I'm sure my Mom would be there for twice as long.

The last meal was at Cattivella, which is an upmarket Italian spot more on the East side of town (helpful as it was in the direction of the airport). It's not the most inspired pick, but the food turned out fabulous (another trip-hack: plan a nice meal for your last meal!). It was an old school Italian menu at a pretty fancy spot, as I got lamb ragu (really great) as a starter and a braise wild boar shoulder for a main. It was a hearty, not super healthy, but definitely tasty last meal for the trip.

After that it was off to the airport, adn the end to another great trip. I like this trip schedule of going Thursday Night to Tuesday Night - helps also to then have a short week when I return. There's a certain luxury also in having options to go out on nights that aren't super crowded like Thursday (switching that out for Monday). It's a great trip hack, my last of the trip for us all!

Colorado Springs, Visited

It's odd the similarities between this trip and my one to Phoenix/Arizona in April. Both featured arriving on a Thursday night and leaving on a Tuesday Night red-eye. Both involved staying in the main hub through the first few days, then making the drive to a more remote station on Sunday before heading back on Tuesday morning. Even outside those logistical similarities there are more visual and perceptive ones as well. Both of the 'second' locations are way high up (granted, so is Denver), with Flagstaff checking in at nearly 7,000 ft above sea level, and Colorado Springs being 6,000 feet above. Both of the secondary towns are sleepier, more about the sites and have a interesting local culture that we mixed with late in the evenings.

Colorado Springs is a far bigger town than Flagstaff - the only really notable thing about Flagstaff was it was the northern Arizona gateway to the Grand Canyon. Colorado Springs has some industry, including one really interesting one that due to Covid was useless - the home of the US Olympic Committee and training grounds. Pre pandemic there used to be a tour but for now those aren't given as they use the pandemic to also do some new construction. 

But there are a lot of similarities in the energy in both places. Both cities quickly go from downtown (Colorado Springs's downtown being a bit more expansive) to rural trees and green very quickly. Both places we were going out on Sunday and Monday nights, where the only other people at its watering holes were locals and a few transient tourists. Colorado Springs didn't have the nice beer bar that Flagstaff did, but in its place had a couiple excellent cocktail spots, one being Japanese themed (including with Japanese food, though we didn't partake) and one more of a speakeasy style.

The food in Colorado Springs is good, similar to Flagstaff with a few more notable restaurants and a lot of solid options below. We had trouble finding places with space on Sunday Night, finally settling on The Wobbly Olive, which was a perfectly fine restaurant with a very wide ranging menu - the food was good, the location was sleepy, with it being in a strip mall on one end of town. 

The lunch's were better. The first lunch was our entry into the town - at a spot called Four by Brother Luck, the chef being Brother Luck who was on Top Chef in a fairly recent season. I think I've eaten at only a couple restaurants run or opened by Top Chef contestants that I've seen, and this one was good - but good enough we coudln't get dinner reservations. The lunch menu is pared back but even then the couple items I got hinted at a place that wouild be great for dinner. The rabbit confit green chili was fanstastic (and is a dish I definitely want to try to recreate) and the grilled striped bass over couscous was great. That was a good start in Colorado Springs.

Lunch on our second day was one of the more unexpected joys of the trip - the place was called Shuga's a bar/restaurant that had a lovely hipster-ish decor. As it isn't New York, I'm more ok with places leaning into the hipster view - but the food (and to be fair, the patrons) were not. They had a truly great soup that they called 'Brazilian' but was more like a Thai shrimp soup, but it was amazing. They have some great sandwhiches, with me taking a Cuban pulled pork sandwhich which was great and provided enough sustenance to sustain the hikes. And yes, let's get to the hikes....

There's no Grand Canyon equivalent, but there ais some fantastic scenery within an hours drive of Colorado Springs in every direction, and it perfectly combines both some similarities to Sonoma with red rocks abound, and Salt Lake, with proper forested, mountainious hikes. Now, it probably isn't as strong at either (though the hiking is close), and the forest-fire related haze was still very much there impacting visibility. Monday was better than Sunday, as haunting shadows of mountains became a bit clearer. The setting is beautiful, whether its the far background of the city, to when you start driving into the wilderness.

The first day we did the Garden of the Gods, a sprawling area of red rocks reminiscent of Sedona but at a smaller, less toursity scale. The park gets crowded and it was about a 10 minute wait in their all too small parking lot hopiung for someone to leave at the right time. When that eventually happened we're met with great big, slender, beautiful rock formations right at the start, and throughout the entire walk the views mixed between similar rock formations, some with nice little names like 'The Twins' and 'Kissing Camels' etc. There were also parts with clear eyelines aroudn the expanse of The Garden of the Gods park, and the peaks behind it (still somewhat shrouded).

The next day was our main hike, called the Crags Trail, which is on one side of Pikes Peak - the main mountain that calls Colorado Springs it's home. Pikes Peak itself is a 14,000 foot mountain that you can drive up, but that gets really backed up and the somewhat limited lack of visibility we chose not to do that and focus on the Crag trail. The trail was long (5 miles roundtrip), and tough given its starts at about a 10,000 ft elevation adn goes up to about 11,000 at the top. The trail starts out quite foresty but then goes through open fields, with good sightlinbes, to a rocky peak at the top. It's well worth it, and as the haze probably limits what you would see at the top of Pikes Peak, was a great outcome for our main hike.

We did enjoy a bit else of what makes Colorado Springs fun: the beer. We went to three craft breweries, picking the three we did off of location mostly. They were all excellent. Goat Patch was the first, which has a lovely indoor/outdoor setting. Fossil Craft was technically outside of the city but on our way back from Pikes Peak, and was more homey - the type of place where the bartender knew every customer. The final one was my favorite, called Mash Mechanix Brewing, which ahd great beer, a $1 popcorn machine, a really nice layout and a great music playlist of old hard rock and heavy metal. It was a really nice setting before our last meal.

Overall, Colorado Springs was a perfect nice little town. Though I really shouldn't call it a town, it is a city of about 700,000 people in the metro area, putting it just a bit smaller than Denver. It's very drivable but also sprawling. It is very well set up for tourists and the sites were more than worth the trip out here.

Denver, revisited

I'm in the middle of a five-day sojourn into Colorado, where a buddy of mine lives and agreed to accompany me for most of it. The first couple days were in Denver, followed by two in Colorado Springs - the "new" of the trip. But even Denver, a city I did visit with a group fo six friends back in 2015, and came four times for work between 2019 and 2020 (yes, shoehorning one visit in January 2020), is somewhat new this time around. Definitely more research was put into it, planning of the restuarants and the agenda and whatnot. In the end, it remains a fantastic American city, though with a few interesting developments.

Let's start with a few negatives - because to me its nicer to start with the bad and work our way up. And the bad isn't necessarily all that bad. First thing: there is a weird inconsistency in how Covid is treated. In most areas, it's treated as I expected, people will honor mask guidance if the guidance is given but other than that no real masks. Other than not doing clubs or anything like that (which are open), there were very few things that are off-limits. 

However, there were a couple instances of it absolutely getting in the way. First, there are restrictions on accessing Rocky Mountain National Park, which I didn't realize until it was too late - this is actually an adverse impact as more people are traveling to places like Denver because the non-US is still so off limits. Secondly, the Denver Art Museum, which is well reknown as an art museum in America, has dramatically reduced its footprint, basically opening up one half of one of its two buildings. They still show off an impressive collection of impressionist paintings (like a dozen Monet's) but it was a quick visit.\

Second on the slightly negative side, and this isn't so much about Denver but about the rest of the world: One of the most appealing parts of Denver is the craft beer culture in Colorado is amazing. That was certainly true in 2015, and at the time Left Hand, based in Longmont, Colorado, was my favorite craft brewery. It's still up there, and Denver's incredible diverse, wide, plentiful collection of craft breweries is still great, but in the intervening years a lot of cities have built up well in this area. Just recently I took a trip with my family to the Shenandoah Valley, and with some friends to Pittsburgh, and both places had multiple awesome craft brewery spots. I just went to Phoenix in April and will honestly say enjpy3ed the beer tehre better. Denver's not bad, but not unique in this anymore.

Finally on the negative side, and this is unfair as it isn't Denver's fault, due to wildfires in California and Canada apparently, there is a haze in the sky that makes the incredible mountain views, whether a far back vista from the city center, to an awesome imposing facet of drives out of the city, a complete nonentity. It isn't smog, the air is still clear, the short ot medium term views are still fantastic, but instead of seeing snow-capped peaks way in the background below Colorado's notable true blue sky, its odd, haunting silhouettes.

Anyway, after feeling like I've slammed Denver way more than I shouild, let's get to the good side: Denver remains maybe the most perfectly constructed city in America. It's very drivable, has multiple distinct neighborhoods, be it everything about RiNo, or LoDi, or the CBD, or Colfax. There is a wide range of food including a bevy of incredibly authentic Mexican spots which help for added sustenance. Denver's remained a bit 'in the wild' despite becoming something of a tech hub over the intervening six years - still no fuss, no stress. Just a great place.

The sites in the city are fine - I went to the Natural History museum for the first time and found their Paleontology exhibit to be the best I've seen outside of New York and Salt Lake (no lie). The main cultural center area has some lovely architecture. The street art in RiNo is great. But the real beauty lies in what is 30-90 minutes away, the amazing hikes and ability to just get lost in nature so easily. Even despite not having proper access to Rocky Mountain National Park, we went to two 'secondary' State Parks - and both were great, especially Golden Gate Canyon State Park, which if not for the haze and my surprising bout of carsick-ness, would have been nearly as good as Rocky Mountain National Park.

The food in Denver as mentioned remains great, even if we couldn't snab a table at the 'trendiest' spots. Our two dinners were at Rioja, a lively meditteranean restaurant right in Larimer Square (another lovely oasis amidst Denver's more urban areas - and something I somehow completely missed last time), and Safta, an Israeli restaurant which was excellent. Safta is one of the restaurants in The Source Market Hall, a really well made, still growing, food & arts space adjoining a hotel - these are the things that may one day tip Denver too far into the upmarket direction, but for now remain just lovely.

As for the drinks, while I gave some indifference towards Denver's craft beer creds, I should say their overall nightlife is still good. They have some great cocktail spots - Middleman was a particular favorite. My friend took me to P S Lounge which is across the street from Middleman, on Colfax Ave (one of Denver's many different 'districts') which he promised me was a must go. And it was - a true old school bar that is so good, and so genuine at what it does - presenting a 1980s type bar experience - that millenials flood the place. Everyone gets a shot on the house when they enter - all women who enter get a fake rose. The jukebox pounds out 1970s - 1990s rock - Van Halen's "Women in Love" was playing when we got there which to me was astounding - a great track, but a B-list Van Halen track is not what I thought I was going to get.

The one place I want to give a shout-out to was The Black Box, a house/EDM club that just recently re-opened with limited sized shows where you ahve to show proof of vaccination to go. We went - I pushed for it partially because it would FINALLY give me an opportunity to actually use that vaccine card. The crowd was maybe 40 people in a setting that would traditionally hold about 200. It was great, and a nice little throwback to earlier days. The place it reminded me a lot of was Habitat Living Sound, a similar EDM club in Calgary (which I have learned has closed) that I frequented on my trip there in 2019. That actually made me go a step further and think to say this: Denver is America's Calgary - and that is a high compliment.

Actually, coming back to Denver got me thinking about this series of 'Mountain Time' cities that I've visited over the years - starting with teh trip to Denver in 2015. There was Salt Lake City in 2018, Calgary in 2019 and Phoenix earlier this year. There all similar in some ways, good ways. Phoenix is different as while there is natural beauty abound in the desert, its a desert. The other three are all quite similar.

I  don't know which is best - Calgary probably has the best scenery, though admittedly the main sites in Banff are further away than either what we have in Denver or Salt Lake. They're all very drivable, which isn't a huge surprise in the case of Salt Lake, but considering both Denver and Calgary are cities of over one million people it is a notable achievement. The food is great in each, though I do think Denver has a bit more variety with the Mexican influence. Anyway, that discussion is for another day when I update my US & Canada cities ranking, which did have Denver at #2 (behidn Montreal) It isn't moving up for sure - that said Denver has done a lot to justify my love of it at the time, but there are a few cracks showing.

The end of the Cubs

It was a great night in the infamous Loki hostel in Cusco, Peru, when my friends and I got the bartender at the hostel bar to turn one of the smaller TVs to the station that was surprisingly showing Game 7 of the 2016 World Series. We were the only American's but overtime got a few others into the game, because we were so into it - a game that started with us fairly sober and well fed, and ended about a half dozen blood bombs and other libations in. It was a fantastic night - ended around 4am when my friends and I were told to shut up and go to bed in our room because we were too loud. What were we doing: arguing about the Cubs.

I remember all of this vividly - needless to say somehow, someway, we weren't totally hungover the next day. And I remember it was me being the loudest when we told to be quiet - all because I was venting hard because the Cubs, the damn Cubs, my old NL Central rival, won the World Series and broke the curse. I was venting because it was the season after my Astros arose from their ashes and they took 2016 as a year to take a step back. I was mad because everyone was lavishing praise on the Cubs, who demonically beat a heroic little engine that could in Cleveland in extra innings in Game 7. I was mad because I was envious. My drunk, upset, self would have never imagined that five seasons later, that entire Cubs team would be gone - not after a dynasty but after only once making it to an NLCS after that. The Cubs dynasty that never was reached high, but in its fizzling we have to examine the impact.

Leaving that 2016 World Series, the Cubs seemed like a perfect team, a lineup with a septet of young, brash, brilliant stars. Some of the best pitchers in baseball. A front office led by the brilliant Theo Epstein. A seemingly limited budget as the biggest team in America's 3rd biggest city, that printed money all over its golden old field. All of it seemed inevitable. None of it came to fruition in the end. A few guys already left before this past week, but seeing Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez and Kris Bryant, three members of the Cubs 2016 infield, traded was just stunning, and even as someone with my slanted opinions of the Cubs' success, sad.

This is not how it was supposed to work, and truly other than just greed by the Ricketts family, there's no reason it should have. The Cubs have all the money, and if they couldn't resign everyone (probably even for the most ambitious ownership groups, retaining all those young stars was going to be tough) you would expect the savings from letting Schwarber and Heyeward and Soler and Russell go would allow them more flexibility to re-sign Bryant or Rizzo or Baez. Instead, they didn't sign the first group (traded a few), and then traded the last group. None of this needs to happen except for pure greed.

It's the greed of owners who sold every part of Wrigley Field, even getting exclusive rights on selling seats on top of buildings across the street. The owners who pocketed umpteen hundreds of millions while the team won a World Series, then donated even more umpteen of millions to various Trump and GOP Super PACs - all to gut their team.

Baseball has a huge money problem. Basically every team but the Dodgers are crying poverty. The league has realized overpaying FAs is not smart, but suddenly teams aren't even willing to pay their own guys before they reach FA - an all in all good investment. Seeing guys like Manny Machado and then Nolan Arenado get dealt either right before big paydays or even right after is depressing - but at least those are Baltimore and Colorado. Honestly those markets and owners can afford it, but the Cubs and AFFORD IT afford it.

I'm also a bit sad because I'm not as happy as seeing the Cubs torn down as I should. I should be contrasting them to my team. Putting aside the cheating for a moment, the Astros tanked more blatantly than any team in MLB history prior to them during the 2011-2013 period. In that time Jim Crane became the owner, and he promised fans that when the Astros got good, he would invest anda pay. And he has. They don't have the highest payroll, and its fair to say they've been stingy in signing FAs (more an organizational philosophy), but they shelled out big for Altuve and Bregman to keep them around. They traded prospects for high-priced pitchers like Verlander, Cole and Greinke, and re-signed two of them (admittedly, to short term deals). It's fair to criticize them letting George Springer go, and they will almost assuredly be letting Carlos Correa go - but they used the Springer money elsewhere, and again locked up Bregman and Altuve.

Those things matter. Yes, the 2017 World Series is a bit tarnished - but most Astros fans don't care about that. They care about how in 2017 they had the best infield in baseball - Bregman, Altuve, Correa, Gurriel. Four years later, those four are all still there and the Astros have the best record at the moment in the AL and may end up with a fifth straight ALCS trip. The Astros kept some of the core together, they invested in the memories of their glory. The Cubs certainly didn't.

And in the end the Cubs may end up better. The Astros have a poor farm system at this point, and may be in a much worse place than the Cubs will be come 2024. But in 2016 and 2017 two young proto-dynasties won the World Series. Again putting aside the cheating stuff, Astros fans can feel a lot better of how that winning core, how that run, was both treated and turned out. And for that I'm both grateful, but also sad the smiling Bryant throwing out a runner to the smiling Anthony Rizzo was just a one-time moment celebrated by me in a blood-bomb infused fever pitch, something that didn't grace the baseball field nearly as much as it should have.