Weekends like the one I just experienced remind me just how cool my job really is. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I got to watch, talk to and write about athletes I've rooted for, followed closely and grown up with in my life.

Friday night I covered a pro hockey scrimmage at Champions Skating Center in Cromwell, CT. The scrimmage is the exclamation point to a five-day camp for roughly 30 professional and collegiate hockey players. Pete Asadourian is the guy who runs the camp, which is connected to Future Fitness Sport Specific Training. Basically the week consisted of intense strength, agility and weight training from Asadourian, and on-ice instruction from Yale University hockey Keith Allain and South Windsor (CT) high school hockey coach Neil Rodman.

This year was the camp's fourth year. The scrimmage itself was great. Very entertaining. And, being a hockey fan, it was beautiful to finally see some hockey. I'm getting tired of baseball. Here's the link to my story for the New Britain Herald from that night: http://www.newbritainherald.com/articles/2009/08/29/sports/doc4a9890a823bab513753029.txt

I have to give a shout out here to Asadourian, who's a great guy. As I was finishing up my article at the rink, he invited me out to the little after-party they had at a restaurant/bar right across the street. Of course I obliged because, really, how often do I get to share a drink with some NHL guys? Not often. So once I wrapped up my story I headed over.

Everyone from the camp was there initially, though most left pretty quickly. As the crowd dwindled though, I began chatting with Eric Boguniecki. If you didn't read my story (or aren't really a hockey fan), you probably don't know the guy. But I immediately knew him when I first covered the camp last summer (I didn't get to cover the scrimmage or enjoy an after-party then though). He's just a great guy. We talked about everything from the camp to the Yankees to his kids (he has three, the oldest being six years old).

At one point I even told him that I grew up playing the NHL video games and that he was a pretty good player for the Blues. Not missing a beat, he answered, "Well, I was pretty good in real life too." And he really was, particularly in 2002-2003, when he finished with 49 points (22 goals) for St. Louis.

He also told me about his decision to pursue hockey professionally instead of baseball. He even admitted to wondering sometimes what would have happened should he gone down the baseball route, which I was interested to hear. He lives on the Cape now and said he might look into playing for, as he referred to it, "a glorified beer league." I guess it's a baseball league for mid-30s and up.

Boguniecki was the guy I spent most of the night talking to, though Asadourian and I shared some stories. I also talked to Rodman for quite some time too. Ron Hainsey was there with his wife and (I believe) his mother. He seemed like a good guy from the brief time we spoke at the rink.

So, obviously, Friday night was a blast. I really tried to take in as much as I could from everyone. Though I made sure they all knew it was off the record. One thing that has changed in my industry drastically over the past, maybe 10 years or so, is the personal relationships writers and athletes cultivate. More specifically, that virtually never happens anymore. Unfortunately because too many writers are out there to try to dig up dirt and break a story. But I'm a feature writer. That's my passion. I actually kind of hate breaking news. I understand there's a need for it, but it's not my cup of tea.

Now, I'm not saying I'm now best friends with Boguniecki, Hainsey or anyone else there. But I hope that some time, should our paths cross again in the future, they might remember me and/or that night. And if that happens, I'll have accomplished all I could have hoped to.

This also brings me to the second part of my weekend. I spent the better part of Saturday and Sunday at New Britain (CT) High School taking in the 17th annual Osgood Shootout. More or less it's a single-elimination style basketball tournament. Three divisions - open, high school and over-40.

Well, the headliner of the tournament was Waterbury native and current Minnesota Timberwolves starter Ryan Gomes. Anyone who reads this blog even somewhat regularly probably knows that I was lucky enough to meet Gomes a few months back (here's the post just in case: http://fanzak.com/fzrants/The_perks_of_being_a_sportswriter).

But I had the chance to talk to Ryan again Saturday. To my surprise (and delight), he remembered me. So we caught up a little bit. I asked him about the tournament, the offseason and his summer. Just the little things. I wasn't trying to dig up any dirt. I didn't prod him about Kurt Rambis (or Bill Laimbeer). Rather, I asked him who he's been training with since so many teammates having been jettisoned this offseason (he spent two weeks in Las Vegas and worked out with Paul Pierce, Rudy Gay, Kyle Lowry, if you were wondering).

On Sunday I sat down with Durelle Brown and Jared Jordan. Quick, who are these guys? Well, if you're a college basketball fan, particularly in recent years, you probably know Jordan. He was the lightning quick Marist point guard who led the nation in assists two years in a row. I told Jared I grew up in Hyde Park, NY, just minutes from Marist. He got a kick out of that.

Brown had a standout career at Manhattan College, from which he graduated in 2001. From that point, he's played professionally overseas. A quick sidenote: I actually bumped into Brown at the hockey camp Friday night. We chatted there a bit too. Turns out he has been a loyal Asadourian client for quite some time.

Brown is set to be inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in early October. His fiancee is also pregnant with their first child, so he's got a lot on his plate. But he's a genuinely good guy. Usually I can get a decent read on people after talking to them a few times, and Brown gives off good vibes. A fun, loyal kind of guy.

The Osgood featured a host of other top players, including (in no particular order): Former NBA players Sly Williams and Theron Mayes, former UConn star Earl Kelly, former Georgia Southern star Julian Allen, former New Britain high school standouts Shon Jones (younger brother of Tebucky Jones) and Roosevelt Lee and former University of Rhode Island standout Tyson Wheeler.

As I sit here and type this well past 2 a.m., I know I should be tired. But I'm just so pleased with how this weekend played out that sleep seems unimportant. How was everyone else's weekend? Feel free to post away below.