It's a Hockey Night in Pittsburgh

From the moment we walk in, it’s electric-bright and piercing loud. It’s the antonym of the weather outside where quiet, wet, dripping accentuates the darkness.

All sound and movement stop as a virtual candle’s flame licks across an oversized, digital screen while the captivated crowd doesn’t dare make a sound. We are silent for Israel. We are silent for slaughtered children and now childless mothers. Whether you’re a true-blue patriot or often embarrassed for certain American behavior – or both – you know in this moment that you’re goddamn lucky that the universe somehow put you here in the U.S. instead of across the world. The weight of what isn’t occurring in this part of the globe is heavy and palpable, and we’re fortunate enough to know that for a lot of us, it’s mostly just a feeling and not a lived experience.

A young woman glitters in black, draped in a gold chains and dark glasses and a silky, saxophone voice that reverberates through the building. Her heart and lungs belt out both “Oh, Canada” and “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and I can’t help but wonder how a person so young and so small can embody so many feelings to match these moments singing two ageless songs.

The mood transitions like a reverse sunset from somber to proud to excitement and relief as chess pieces in ice skates slice across a frozen dance floor. Oversized sticks crack while boos, booze, and cheers augment the atmosphere as thousands of us react as though we’re the ones experiencing collective blows to our own guts.

It smells of cold, and frost, and old money cologne while men behind me laugh in wealth and privilege despite pauperized pizzas plummeting from the skies in parachutes.

The slush is scraped from the dance floor so that ballerinas outfitted in bulky, protective clothing, can perform the Waltz on a fresh stage.

Before the curtain closes, we arise from our seats in unison to celebrate the accomplishment of the players and acknowledge ourselves as though we, too, put as much effort into the evening.

It’s a performance. It’s a show. It’s a multi-sensory experience.

It’s a game.

It’s a hockey night in Pittsburgh.