While enjoying week three of the NFL season on Sunday, foreign team names started appearing on the television screen in front of me.

Blackhawks vs. Blue Jackets.

Huh? Bewildered, I quickly searched my memory bank for recent expansion in the NFL. “Are the Blue Jackets that new team on the East coast?” I quietly wondered.

Then suddenly I realized -they’re not football teams at all. Why, those teams play hockey!

I sat trying to recall hockey the way an amnesia patient searches for his own name. Faint memories of skates and foghorns began coming back to me. Before long I could even start to name players and teams, and the doctors declared it a full recovery. I was back.

It’s true, folks. Hockey is making its not-so-triumphant return to the ice this fall. Try to remain calm.

In my prime (assuming you can be past your prime at 19), I was a hockey fanatic. I was a freak; soaking up all the stats and information I could get my hands on.

I could name for you the leading goal scorer on the Calgary Flames, and seriously, come on – who really cares about Canada? I knew it all the same. I was just a crazy kid in love with a great sport.

But hockey and I started drifting apart. We just weren’t really interested in the same things – hockey always talking about collective bargaining agreements, while I was interested in girls. I started seeing hockey less and less. I could tell we’d never be the same.

Then one day hockey was over. The players and owners couldn’t come to an agreement, and no games would be played in the NHL.

I called hockey and said I was sorry, that I didn’t mean those things I said. I was just a stupid kid back then. I wanted to try and work it out. But hockey didn’t care.

Months passed by, and I tried to forget about the one that got away. I started taking interest in other sports, but I knew deep down I was lying to myself. Those other sports were just trying to fill the void inside.

Summer came and I was finally ready to move on with my life. I laughed with baseball and told it that I loved it. And we were happy. I dreamt of on-base percentages, when I once dreamt of goals against averages. I saw baseball every day and we became very serious with each other.

Then one-day I heard the news: the agreement had been reached. Hockey was back on for fall of ’05.

I was torn. I didn’t know how I would break the news to football; we had made plans to hang out a lot this fall. But I couldn’t deny my feelings for hockey.

Call me a fool. I just can’t get away from it – the fights, the action, the intensity. The new rules that will produce Wild-West shootouts. I love it all.

So hockey and I reconciled our differences. We’re both ready to put the past behind us and move forward.

Football, I’m really sorry. Maybe we can still see each other when hockey’s out of town. But I can’t forget about my first true love.