Soundboard

From ESPN, written by ???. 

Ween is Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo. They have released eight CDs and their ninth will be out next April. Last week, I took my Ween collection of CDs, jumped in the car, and drove to Philly to sit with Mickey for the Flyers game against the Canucks. As we were about to enter the row to our seats, I notice this attractive woman is looking at me like she knows who I am.

"She must be an NHL2Night fan," I say proudly and confidently in my slowly bloating head. "Now, that's the kind of fan base I was hoping for."

As I make my way towards the woman, who would turn out to be Mrs. Eric Weinrich, she says: "Are you Trevor Linden's brother?"

Sa-wing batta!!!!

Melchiondo, Ween's guitarist, is as big a hockey fan you will find. His family has had season tickets dating back to the Flyers' glory years in the Spectrum. Like most Flyers fans in their early 30's, Melchiondo's biggest recollection is Bobby Clarke's toothless Stanley Cup grin.

"My mom is Canadian and I was playing hockey when I was four or five," said Melchiondo. "I switched to goaltender when I was six and spent every summer at a hockey camp in Winnipeg or northern Minnesota. I played for the Little Flyers. Mike Richter was a year or two older than me, so every other year I would sit the bench. I played against Jeremy Roenick who played for the Little Capitals. It was a real big deal. That's what I was going to do with my life. But, then I got cut from the Flyers. There was no way I was going to back to the local rink. I had a decision to make and decided to burn out!"

And thus, Ween was born in 1984 when Melchiondo met Aaron Freeman in the eighth grade. Seventeen years and eight CDs later, they are still together. If you watch the FOX sitcom "Grounded for Life," the theme song and music throughout the show is courtesy of Ween. The Philadelphia duo also wrote a song for the "SpongeBob SquarePants" CD.

Melchiondo's CD and record collection is massive. Over 10,000 strong, including novelty records the Flyers produced in the 70's like Dave Schultz's "Penalty Box." His favorite all time Flyers are Bill Barber and Rod Brind'Amour.

"As many games as I've watched, they both laid it out every single shift on every single night," says Melchiondo. "You see that in Recchi now, too."

Melchiondo, who splits his season tickets with family members, attends about 10-12 regular-season Flyers games a year and all the playoff games. He is an overall sports nut and puts much of his sports rage on Ween's website.

"I have this reoccurring nightmare. An actual dream that I actually have from time to time," Melchiondo said during the second intermission. "I have a dream where there is an emergency I have to play goal for the Flyers."

How good are you? I ask.

"I suck."