Post by Tattac on Mar 2, 2005 9:09:52 GMT -5
I was encouraged to post this story here. I hope, some of you will find it interesting. 
I was coming back to Moscow from Budapest when...
The first weird thing I noticed in the Budapest airport was a great number of people wearing CCM jackets. Even one CCM jacket in Budapest is too much. I saw about 5 of them. A couple of them were with large CSKA logos, others with little NHL logos. While I was sipping my cappuccino in a cafe thinking about this anomaly, I noticed Viktor Tikhonov. How old is he? About 70? Well, he looked good for his age but he walked like a really old man. It was obvious he wasn't happy and he wasn't even sure of what was going on in his life (at least he looked like he was lost).
Though the CSKA is my favorite Russian team, I have to say that I haven't followed them and Russian hockey in general for a long time. So it is simply a habbit for me to root for them and name them my favorite team. The players I recognize in the RSL are NHLers and Habs prospects. That is why the only familiar faces on the team turned out to be Nikolishin, Zherdev, and CSKA coaching stuff - Viktor Tikhonov, Bykov (head coach), and another coach whose name escapes me right now.
My friend who doesn't follow any sport recognized Tikhonov's name and told me to ask him for his autograph. I don't care about autographs so I simply made a picture of him. You can bet I was called a paparazzi. For a second I thought he noticed me taking picture of him. He looked around alarmed. But I was sitting far away in a cafe. On the other hand, my camera is not something that will go unnoticed in our age of the smaller the better digital toys.
Anyway, we found ourselves sitting next to one of the players. Later I checked the CSKA website to find his name, it was Andrey Mukhachev. I asked what the hell they were doing in Budapest. He reveled that they were coming back from Slovakia, not Budapest. The closest airport was the Budapest airport so they just made the way back home easier. My trip to Hungary was at the time when the Swedish Hockey Games were played, so I asked what they were doing in Slovakia. He answered, "We were playing hockey." I replied, "Thank you. I see that it is a hockey team. Was there a tourney there?" Yes, there was a tourney - three teams, two games for each team. They won both games. Later I found out that it was a kind of a training camp for them. One of the Slovakian teams was the team of Richard Zednik. Other things discussed during the flight were not as entertaining.
I can't be 100% sure but I think nobody drunk any alcohol during the flight. They had lots of plastic bags from Duty Free shops. Older players looked wealthy. Younger players looked like kids. Zherdev looked like he was coming back from some Caribbean resort. Tikhonov didn't talk to anyone. He was very quite and almost unnoticed. Bykov (did he play in the NHL by the way?) didn't look like a coach but rather like a captain of the team. The other coach was joking with everybody especially with younger guys. Back in Moscow we were standing in the same line for the passport control. Some guys were talking about their indebtedness for their cell phone accounts. One of them said, "I owe them $500!! Wow! Don't forget that I had $200 added to the account while I was away!" Apparently it was a joke. Everybody was laughing at him and he looked happy. I think it was Zherdev but I am not sure. Bykov had some papers in his hands and looked like he was drawing a scheme or something. He looked very serious. Then he asked one of the team staffers, "What is a...bla bla?" It turned out it was a crossword. Tikhinov looked like he was lost again. Then we waited for our bags. Don't forget that in the RSL players should carry their equipment themselves. Some of the older players left without the bags. Younger guys (rookies?) carried almost all of the bags. Several players carried their stuff themselves. I guess it was because they had more expensive equipment. Zherdev was one of them. For a couple of minutes Zherdev and Tikhonov found themselves next to each other near the luggage rolley (?), they both looked like they didn't know each other, didn't care about each other and were not too eager to know anything about each other.
That's all I remember now
I was coming back to Moscow from Budapest when...
The first weird thing I noticed in the Budapest airport was a great number of people wearing CCM jackets. Even one CCM jacket in Budapest is too much. I saw about 5 of them. A couple of them were with large CSKA logos, others with little NHL logos. While I was sipping my cappuccino in a cafe thinking about this anomaly, I noticed Viktor Tikhonov. How old is he? About 70? Well, he looked good for his age but he walked like a really old man. It was obvious he wasn't happy and he wasn't even sure of what was going on in his life (at least he looked like he was lost).
Though the CSKA is my favorite Russian team, I have to say that I haven't followed them and Russian hockey in general for a long time. So it is simply a habbit for me to root for them and name them my favorite team. The players I recognize in the RSL are NHLers and Habs prospects. That is why the only familiar faces on the team turned out to be Nikolishin, Zherdev, and CSKA coaching stuff - Viktor Tikhonov, Bykov (head coach), and another coach whose name escapes me right now.
My friend who doesn't follow any sport recognized Tikhonov's name and told me to ask him for his autograph. I don't care about autographs so I simply made a picture of him. You can bet I was called a paparazzi. For a second I thought he noticed me taking picture of him. He looked around alarmed. But I was sitting far away in a cafe. On the other hand, my camera is not something that will go unnoticed in our age of the smaller the better digital toys.
Anyway, we found ourselves sitting next to one of the players. Later I checked the CSKA website to find his name, it was Andrey Mukhachev. I asked what the hell they were doing in Budapest. He reveled that they were coming back from Slovakia, not Budapest. The closest airport was the Budapest airport so they just made the way back home easier. My trip to Hungary was at the time when the Swedish Hockey Games were played, so I asked what they were doing in Slovakia. He answered, "We were playing hockey." I replied, "Thank you. I see that it is a hockey team. Was there a tourney there?" Yes, there was a tourney - three teams, two games for each team. They won both games. Later I found out that it was a kind of a training camp for them. One of the Slovakian teams was the team of Richard Zednik. Other things discussed during the flight were not as entertaining.
I can't be 100% sure but I think nobody drunk any alcohol during the flight. They had lots of plastic bags from Duty Free shops. Older players looked wealthy. Younger players looked like kids. Zherdev looked like he was coming back from some Caribbean resort. Tikhonov didn't talk to anyone. He was very quite and almost unnoticed. Bykov (did he play in the NHL by the way?) didn't look like a coach but rather like a captain of the team. The other coach was joking with everybody especially with younger guys. Back in Moscow we were standing in the same line for the passport control. Some guys were talking about their indebtedness for their cell phone accounts. One of them said, "I owe them $500!! Wow! Don't forget that I had $200 added to the account while I was away!" Apparently it was a joke. Everybody was laughing at him and he looked happy. I think it was Zherdev but I am not sure. Bykov had some papers in his hands and looked like he was drawing a scheme or something. He looked very serious. Then he asked one of the team staffers, "What is a...bla bla?" It turned out it was a crossword. Tikhinov looked like he was lost again. Then we waited for our bags. Don't forget that in the RSL players should carry their equipment themselves. Some of the older players left without the bags. Younger guys (rookies?) carried almost all of the bags. Several players carried their stuff themselves. I guess it was because they had more expensive equipment. Zherdev was one of them. For a couple of minutes Zherdev and Tikhonov found themselves next to each other near the luggage rolley (?), they both looked like they didn't know each other, didn't care about each other and were not too eager to know anything about each other.
That's all I remember now
