WRITTEN BY SENSCHIRP READER- Glenn
So I couldn't watch the game, which was a drag. And the TVs in the casino where I work were only showing the Spurs-Grizzlies game.
My wife Kayla was watching at home, and I'd check in on my breaks. I could see the ESPN ticker every now and then, but only when it was time to move the cards into the shuffler. Everytime I caught a view of the score, it was 1-0 Pittsburgh. As the time went on, I stopped looking becasue I didn't want to see that it was a final.
Suddenly my phone exploded in a flurry of texts, so I knew something had happened.
When I go on break, my inbox is full of garbled cheering texts from Kayla, sent in a state of excitement where spelling or even words weren't important. "AAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEOMFG ALFIE!" and the like. I call and check in, and she fills me on what happened in the third. In OT, Kayla says she'll text me if Ottawa scores, won't if they don't.
Time drags on, and I figure it means Ottawa lost. I still held out hope that the game was going deep into OT, but mostly I figured it was done and they lost. Then suddenly, the shuffler machine at the card table popped open, and vomited the cards onto the table. That has never happened before. The game stopped while the pit boss counted the cards. Never in my time there has a game just stopped like that.
As that was happening, I caught a glimpse of a tv way on the far side of the casino that was showing the Sens game. In a place filled with crap hanging from the ceiling, I miraculously had an unobstructed view of this one screen. For 5 minutes, with the blackjack game stopped (something that never, ever happens), I was able to watch the game.
It was far away, but I could follow the action. Just as my pit boss said "alright..hand shuffle" to get the game going again, Ottawa scored.
I shouted a "Yes!" at the table and fist pumped.
Everyone thought I just really like shuffling cards.
