The players are in The Bubble and in a few days they finally get to play a team in a different uniform (the Lightning take on the Panthers in a warm-up exhibition on Wednesday). Throughout the last week one of the questions asked most often of the players and coaches was, “What personal items will you take into the hotel to help deal with quarantine?”
Books, gaming consoles, laptops/tablets, and pictures of family members were the top answers. The first few week will be the toughest, as will any time a team sweeps a series and ends up with multiple days off in a row. While the league seems to be doing their best to provide some distractions the players are still going to have a ton of free time and there are only so many episodes of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives that you can watch.
To kick off the Monday Morning Question we posed the same question to the staff of Raw Charge. Feel free to chime in down in the comments section with what you would bring into The Bubble.
JustinG. – Without a doubt the first item would be a laptop. As nice as it would be to disconnect from the world for two months, I would need to stay in communication with the family and typing emails on a phone is just a royal pain in the ass. (So is editing articles for this site, but that’s a story for another time).
Second item? A ball to bounce against the wall. It seems to be something people did in the movies whenever they were super bored or confined in a small space.
Sure, it might annoy my neighbors, and might dent up the walls, but if it kills a few hours then it’s worth it, right?
Alex (Is this thing still on?) – Assuming my smartphone doesn’t count (it better not) [ed. note – it doesn’t], I would bring my actual PC, because I feel like relying on a smaller Chromebook or a laptop for that long would drive me crazy. Also, my Chromebook can’t play the Sims 4, and I’ve been spending a lot of time in quarantine wrecking virtual lives playing the game as a time waster. Those families aren’t going to drown themselves need me! The second thing I would bring is a case of my favorite Finger Lakes wine, Barn Raising Red from Americana Vineyards. There’s just something comforting about having immediate access to it that I think I would need.
Tracey – I would definitely bring the laptop for…entertainment purposes (need my Hulu and Netflix other than sports to keep me sane!). And a few books to read (I assume I can bring more than one book, right?)
Hardev – Considering how many games there are going to be every day, plus training, food, and rest, I don’t know how much free time any of these players are going to have. That said, I have a short attention span so I’ll need a lot of different things to keep me entertained during lulls in the day. If I’m picking just two, I’ll take the first ones I’ve listed below, but I’d also like to bring everything else. Obviously I’m bringing my phone and laptop, I consider both one item.
I feel like it’d be really fun to bring my baseball glove and have some games of catch with a teammate in the rink (until someone tells us to stop) or somewhere outside in the bubble. I’d love to bring my sketchbook so I can draw. I’m not a super artistic person, but I like sketching what I see. Plus I can draw out tactics I see during games. I’d absolutely bring a Nintendo Switch that I can play while walking from the hotel to the rink.
So, if you were planning on staying in a confined area for the next two months what two items would you make sure you had on you?
