Patrick O'Sullivan p. 1| 2 |3

 

Now in other celebrity encounters, you met Jennifer Love Hewitt.

That was a great night. Mike Mole got Brittany Spears tickets for his birthday, and we had said in the summer that if either of us got tickets, we would take each other to the concert. I never really expected a veteran guy like him to take me to the concert...but he was a nice enough guy to.

Well, you'd think that he would of taken a date.

Yeah, I guess so. But maybe he didn't have one at the time. But anyway, we were third row, and I could actually smell her and it was one of the greatest nights of my life. We looked to the right and saw Jennifer Love Hewitt three people over with this tall man, but he was not attractive, and she was kissing him so that did not make me happy. This guy was just some plumber.

But there were all these people around so they took her away. And as she was walking past us I touched her and told her she was hot.

Did she say anything to you?

She smiled and walked away, probably thinking I was retarded.

Who would win in a fight: Before 4 or LFO?

I don't know who Before 4 is, but I have a couple LFO CD's. So I'm going to go with LFO.

Are you serious? You like LFO?

Dead serious. Actually I like N*SYNC and the BackStreet Boys too. Strictly their music of course.

Yes, strictly. Anyway, are you going to take credit for bringing the word assclown into the OHL vocabulary?

I'm definitely taking the credit, and anyone who uses it should give props Patrick O'Sullivan. I didn't invent it, but I am quite proud about bringing it to the OHL. There are lots of words around the league that are strictly hockey words I'm sure. I say them around my friends who don't play hockey and they look at me like I'm mentally challenged.

Like the word plumber.

Yeah that word definitely got a lot of play on our team. The definition of a "plumber" is like a bad hockey player, or you could even use it to call someone a loser, or something like that. But that was actually brought in by Dan Sisca and Greg Jacina. But the prime meaning of the word "plumber" is an unskilled hockey player, or a like grinder or someone who has no skill. We had quite a few of them on our team, so that was a word we used a lot.

The birth certificate forging. What's the deal with that?

Ok. It was a select 15 festival, that's what it's called in the States. Basically, they cut up the country into 5 or 7 regions, and they have a trial camp for kids from that region. And you get to play in the festival and there are lots of scouts there and its like a big deal, it's how the year is kicked off kinda.
So I wanted to play in this but I was only 13.

But I had grown up playing against guys who were two years older than me, so they were 15. I was an '85, so technically by the rules I was not allowed to play. But I decided - my family and I - that we would change the last digit on my birth certificate so that it would look like I was born in 1983.

The interesting part is that the birth certificate was never actually viewed by anyone. They basically took forgranted that I was of age, but I went back home to the South East Region, which is North Carolina and south of that. Because obviously if I had tried to play in Michigan, they wouldn't let me play because they knew who I was and my age.

Finally when we did end up playing the Michigan team, there was a big ruckus made about it, it was just a big deal over nothing. It's not like I was an older kid playing in a younger tournament. So I don't see what the big problem was with it. Maybe they were jealous or something I never really could figure it out.

At the time, I was just a kid and I really didn't understand it, or understand why people would care so much. But it didn't bother me, I got to play in the tournament, and nothing bad resulted in it.

Will the IceDogs ever make the playoffs?

I'd like to think so. A lot harder stuff has been pulled off other than the IceDogs making the playoffs. I think it's just time. Everybody's tired of the horseshit, and everybody just wants to bear down and win. Y'know basically look like a normal franchise in Major junior hockey.

Do you read RinkRat?

I'm not an avid reader, but I do read it the odd time. I participate in some of the chat's and the fans know me as "Showtime" which is what some of the guys on our team affectionately call me...because of my flashy personality, and kind of the smartass, show-off approach that I take to life. But I read it, and I think it's pretty cool.

Some chat fans made some signs for you in Plymouth?

Yeah, there was one that had something to do with my nickname. And there was actually a birth certificate sign that I took offense too, but that's ok, the fans have the right to express anything they want.

One sign said "NO TIME FOR SHOWTIME".

That was a classic. All the guys on the team liked it and thought that was quite funny. I got it pretty good from them, but I'm actually glad they made the sign, it felt good to know that people actually think about me.