On Saturday night, RMNB had a little outing in Frederick, Maryland, Peter’s and my hometown.  We planned on a night of crackling creative energy and revolutionary ideas for the new season. Turns out we just ate terrible bar food, heard a worse bar band, drank too much Flying Dog, and played some NHL ’11. Go figure. Even though nothing was accomplished, we did manage to get one thing right: we gave Peter a new jersey (ew, New Jersey) as a thank-you for all his hard work last year.

Peter hasn’t had a Caps jersey since a Dale Hunter when he was little, so I thought a new, customized sweater would be the perfect gift. The only question was: Which player would be on his back?

If you assumed it’d be Ovechkin, Semin, or Varly, then you don’t know Pete.  Last year, the guy couldn’t shut up about the one game that defined the Capitals season: The 7-4 shellacking from the Tampa Bay Lightning. After that game, the Caps embarked on their franchise record 14-game winning streak and went on to win the President’s Trophy with an 8-point lead.

The highlight of that game:

So in honor of that I got him a jersey of…

Matt Bradley!!!

But this isn’t an ordinary Brads jersey. One of my dear friends, Suzanne, works close to Kettler and offered to get the jersey signed. I thought, “Wow. That would make it even sweeter!”

When I got the jersey back, sure enough it was signed, but it also had the most epic personalization of all time. OMG.

Can you read what it says?

Let’s take a closer look…

"To Peter I'd fight for you too! Matt Bradley 10"

Peter is now wearing the thing to bed, in the shower, to business meetings, and to traffic court. He spilled some broccoli and cheddar soup on it, but he licked it off quickly and enthusiastically. Too enthusiastically. We’re becoming concerned. The next RMNB outing will probably be an intervention.

Peter doing his best Bradley pose.

Thank you to Matt Bradley, Peter’s favorite Caps player since Chris Simon, for being such a good sport.  Suzanne didn’t have to drop any names or cash in any RMNB favors to get the autograph; he just did it ’cause he’s a nice guy.  When Brads signed the jersey, he did say, “Psh! I would never do that.”  So they’re just empty words after all.  Please don’t let Peter know that though.  He’s planning on starting a bar fight at Front Page next time Matt is there.

Between the jersey and his new voicemail greeting from The Voice of the Capitals, Wes Johnson, Peter’s had a good run of it lately.  Someone please take him down a peg.  He’s unbearable.