By Moe

• Moe's Tavern Shopper
  
• *PLAYOFF EDITION*
  
• A very special Shopper
  
• Brought to you by ABC
  
• Home of the After-school Special*
  

Tescher is in Bulgaria, Ellen is AWOL, Monica is in Wisconsin, Sarah is hungover, Natasha may (or may not) make it back from Japan, and Casey, well, Marty just broke up with her, so she won't be showing.

Meanwhile, Woodsy is also AWOL (hmmmm) and Eric isn't at Marty's house because he is in Vegas.

We're playing the Red team. It's the quarterfinals.

OVERCOMING ADVERSITY
As it turns out, the Reds were short too. No Cute Kelly. Another blow.

THE HEART OF A CHAMPION
Which was your favorite - when the nincompoop ref didn't allow Marty's goal, or when he did allow the Red's goal? Or was it that cheap-ass two- minute penalty on the Dizzster? Or maybe the way he ignored the tall guy's face-high follow-through, every time?

My favorite moment may have been Dizzy's goal. He just wheeled and fired. It was low and spinning, just inside the glove side post. ("I bet you weren't thinking!" I said to him. "No, I wasn't!" he replied.)

Or it may been Cate standing guard on the far post after Sean went down and the tall guy went around the back of the net.

Or it may have been Natasha scrapping with the big girl against the wall for the umpteenth time.

It might have been Sean coming up with big save after big save, but we're used to that.

It might have been my backhand. It felt good.

Or it might have been Marty yelling something unintelligible. I think it was, "Get back! Get back!" Or it may have been, "Time out! Time out!" Marty, if you're gonna scream, do it in English.

NO
My favorite moment was Sean grouping us together after the Zivan penalty and sternly commanding: "Focus!" He used his fingers to gesture a narrow path. It was damn funny. No one probably saw it, but underneath my game face, as I walked up to take the face-off, I was chuckling. Chuckling. That word looks really weird right now.

KEYSTONE LIGHT PLAYER OF THE GAME
I suggested the whole team share in the award. That was heart and soul and character and immensely enjoyable. But Sean says that the award is meant for the defensive player of the game, and he re-awarded it to Cate and Natasha, our valiant soldiers, palace guards, if you will, who keep our net safe from intruders.

PERSONAL NOTE
I know I scored what turned out to be the winning goal, but I was more proud of the return of my passing game and even more so of a couple of key defensive plays that might have saved some goals. Just wondering if anyone noticed.

PERSONAL NOTE II
Sean woke up at 3. He told me in the car he plays better hungover because he's more relaxed. I drove him to his next game.

PERSONAL NOTE III
Marty overcame a turbulent morning to notch the hat. He was distracted, yet overcame difficult events in his personal life. And he actually made it to our fantasy baseball supplemental draft that night, and then took two pitchers I wanted. Plus, he still smelled.

PERSONAL NOTE IV Cate informed me this morning that she was getting a backrub at work. Fill in your own joke here.

NEXT WEEK Semi-finals against the Green team. We are the only team that has beaten them. We know how. Game time to be determined. Best guess: 1:30, with the championship at 3:30 against one of the Grays.

This team is now a lean, mean fighting machine. Kind of like Gene. Er, no, he was a dancing machine. God, that was a great show.

Moe out.