Random thoughts with Jeff

I’ve been accused quite a few times of being random, and frankly it happens quite often. I’ll often say something out of the blue, and it has no connection to what I was just talking about with my wife.

That’s why this random thoughts column is long overdue. Notice, none of these topics have anything in common, and while I’ve wanted to write about them, none of them ever materialized into something larger.

So please, enjoy my random ramblings.

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“THE HANGOVER”: I just saw this move the other day. Our resident movie reviewer, Allison Brophy Champion, is always searching for “truth and beauty” in her cinematography and “The Hangover” hits one of the two.

Beauty is not in this flick.

It’s one of the more crass films I’ve seen in a while, and I actually cringed at a couple of scenes. I’ve seen more of Zach Galifianakis than I ever care to see — let’s leave it at that.

However, it holds a lot of truth. I don’t know if any other movie has captured the male relationship so perfectly. It didn’t take much to imagine three buddies and me having escapades in Las Vegas.

Plus, it captured the four main parts of any group of friends perfectly — the normal guy, the whipped guy, Mr. Smooth and the weird guy.

Every group has a weird guy. If you don’t know who it is, it’s probably you. I’m not divulging which one I am, but I know which one I am, so that means I’m not the weird one.

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HEY, OLD MAN: A belated Happy Father’s Day to my dad, Jim. I always pick on my dad, mostly because it’s easy and I love him. But pops deserves his props, and he was just recognized by his local Lion’s Club with the Melvin Jones Fellowship Award. Way to go, dad.

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HOCKEY, ANYONE? I’m surprised there aren’t more hockey fans in our area. During the Stanley Cup playoffs, won by my Pittsburgh Penguins, I was consistently shocked at how few people were out at local establishments watching the games.

Even when the “hometown” Washington Capitals were in the playoffs, crowds weren’t exactly boisterous.

It’s starting to dawn on me that Culpeper is a football town. During football season, fans of Washington, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Dallas and even Seattle can be seen out watching the games. But during hockey season, I might have spotted a few Caps fans and a family or two of Pens fans.

Sure, there was a Calgary Flames fan (really, Calgary?) one night, and I think I saw a Montreal Canadiens jersey, but with how exciting the playoffs were, the crowds were quite thin.

It just goes to prove my theory that all warm-weather hockey teams should be moved to Canada, or at least the northern part of the U.S. The Caps can stay in Washington, mostly because there would be a revolt if Alexander the Great left the nation’s capital. But Atlanta, Carolina, Florida, Tampa — all those should be moved.

If you can’t get excited for playoff hockey, then you don’t have a heartbeat.

Playoff basketball, now that’s another story.