Tomas who?

Good morning blog readers! As most of you know, I got to meet Tomas Fleischmann last night! For those of you who do not know, Tomas plays Center for the Washington Capitals, and has been my favorite player for over a year now. I bought his jersey last year right before the playoffs, which prompted some teasing from people (who shall remain nameless), as well as a lot of "Who's Fleischmann?" from various other people. Yes, as sad as it is, this time last year Fleischmann was not a household name. He was a rather obscure player, often fading into the shadows of the great Alex Ovechkin, as well as Mike Green, Brooks Laich, Nick Backstrom, and all of the other players whose jerseys were commonly seen throughout Verizon Center.

But, despite everything I had decided that he was my favorite player, and I was going to stick with him whether he was ever to become a big name or not. It's not that he wasn't good, he just wasn't very well known. Mostly anytime you would see his name on message boards it was on a not-so-nice post. Though I did find a female only message board devoted to him... I posted on that quite a bit last season, but even that only had a few members.

Anyway, long story short, he missed the start of this season due to a potentially life threatening health scare (blood clot), and when he finally joined the rest of his team on the ice, there was a fire inside of him that could not be diminished. He is already up to 17 goals and something like 19 assists, averaging around a point per game, and he has officially been switched to center. Yes folks, Fleischmann has arrived, and the world has taken notice.

Suddenly, I'm getting articles emailed to me focusing on the wonder that is Tomas Fleischmann. All of a sudden people are interested, and he is often interviewed and written about in various sports publications. Who is this amazing player, and why did we not know he existed?

Well he does exist, and for the past couple of months I've watched as more and more Fleischmann jerseys have popped up in Verizon Center. I used to be one of (maybe) two or three people (who I'd seen) with his jersey, and last weekend at the game I saw at least 8 or 9.

As if the Jerseys weren't enough proof, last night Fleischmann was at ESPN zone in DC to do a little meet and greet type thing, and the place was PACKED. Most of the people there with his jersey on were women, but there were a couple of men donning the number 14 as well. It was so packed that people had to share tables. We shared with these 4 people who obviously had come straight from work, but they were really cool, and they were Fleischmann enthusiasts, so they were good in my book!

At the start of the night Tomas did a question and answer portion, and his personality really came out. I have always liked him, but to be honest I wouldn't have ever considered him to be Mr. Personality or anything. I was wrong about that! he was actually really personable and REALLY funny! I mean, his English is limited, but his answers were really witty! He also spoke very enthusiastically about his upcoming Olympic experience.

He is also A LOT cuter in person... Very tall, and a little skinnier than I would have thought. Just thought I'd throw that out there :)

Anyway, after the Q&A there was a bit of Tomas Trivia and if you answered a questions correctly you got a prize! One of the questions was "What team has Tomas scored the most goals against in his career?" and lo and behold, my wonderful boyfriend raised his hand, answered the question correctly (Tampa Bay... How he knew that I have no idea) and won me an autographed caps shirt! Needless to say I am eternally grateful.

After that it was time to go meet Tomas! I didn't really say much to him, and I made Bryan go up there with me, but it was pleasant. We got our picture taken with him, and he signed my jersey. It was evident that he is still not totally used to his new found popularity, because he seemed more nervous than most of the fans!

All in all it was pretty much a perfect evening, with one of the best players on the Washington Capitals!