Czechs and Balances

How do,
I am finally done with a boat load of games to broadcast this past weekend. I am happy to have been there, but man, I was so deprived of sleep over the last 5 days. Today at work, I got sick and I was supposed to go check out a movie tonight but cancelled that and went home to a much more glamorous dining experience: a chicken fingers TV dinner with a brownie that had the texture and depth of a hockey puck. It didn't really fill me up but the can of old barbeque flavored Pringles did hit the spot. I tried to fall asleep but here I sit and am catching up with emails and my friends journals/ blogs/ posts... etc...
The last two games I did last night were for youth hockey in Toledo. The '94 (birthyear) and '95 teams took on teams from the Czech Republic in some international matchups. It was so wonderful to watch the crowd get jacked up about the kids on both sides. The Czech kids came over to play some Detroit area teams and got to meet the Detroit Red Wings hockey team. They were from some town called Stratoniche (sp) which was about a couple hours away from Prague. Anyway, they played the Detroit area teams and came down on the last night they were going to be here to make their only Ohio appearance. After the games, the kids from Toledo and the Czechs all piled up and went to a dinner that the Toledo parents tossed. It was wonderful. I was sleepy and wanted to go home but knew that I had to at least put in an appearance. Well, I get there and head straight for the food. It was great. I had so much fun there and watching the 12 and 13 year-olds from two different countries break down barriers... just being typical kids. It was a riot. It should be duly noted that the kids from the Czech Republic are no different from our kids here when it comes to dealing with the language barrier... Both groups resorted to the same tactic when trying to break down various aspects of communication at it's most common denominator... they taught each other the curse words of each other's languages. Christian as I try to be, I couldn't help but smile and laugh out loud. Hockey players from two different countries and cultures showing that they have no problem in communication and didn't let anything stop them from having a good time together... I wish we adults were more like that...