For some people it’s Opening Day (of baseball, in case you’re wondering). Or even “Pitchers and Catchers,” the day the aforementioned position players first report to Spring Training (yes, prior to all the other players). Maybe Super Bowl Sunday. Or non-sports related milestones like the first day of Spring, Christmas eve, or 420 Day (yo dude, that’s totally today!). That day that’s always mentally highlighted on your annual calendar. That’s especially special.
For me it’s another event occurring today, but actually tonight: the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The beginning of a two-month hockey odyssey. Lord Stanley’s Cup is the most difficult prize to win, as well as the most beautiful and historic trophy, in all of professional sports. It’s true (even if I may be biased).
I have been a diehard New York Rangers fan my entire life. Which means I have died hard quite frequently. The Rangers have won the Cup exactly once in 84 years. The last one, now 30 years ago, was in 1994. Fortunately, I was present at that culminating game and for some of the post-championship hoopla.
Hope springs eternal, and all that stuff. And it all starts again tonight! (well, technically tomorrow for the Rangers but don’t mess with my flow). To win it all – four rounds of best-of-7 series – it takes a total of 16 victorious games. So to honor the momentous point in time occurring again tonight, let’s have a Tonight playlist,“Hey Tonight!” with the (precisely) 16 top songs that have “Tonight” in the title.
We’ll take you from Creedence to Kool & The Gang, The Cars to K.C. & The Sunshine Band, with stops for The Raspberries, MC5, Whitney Houston, and more. And, not coincidentally, for the final song: Boston’s ‘Let Me Take You Home Tonight’ (also the closing track on their nonpareil 1986 debut album). Unlikely as it may be given nearly a century of results, if the hockey gods see fit that’s the one I’d hope to be singing to the Stanley Cup again sometime in mid-June.
“Tonight” is in all the titles; the title chase all begins tonight.
Let’s go Rangers.
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