Do you often think about the off season? What all of your favorite athletes might be up to when they’re not being televised regularly (not counting reality television shows)? Me too. I’ve been giving it some extra thought, because it’s an easy time to miss some very interesting things in the world of sports right now. There is regular season action, playoff excitement, and some celebrity athletes who’ve already got some time on their hands. The week was dominated by Sean Avery blowing up the internet with his endorsement of the right to gay marriage in New York. Or let’s wish it was. So I paid attention to some other things as well.

1. Some Joy. You’ve noticed the picture of the amazing back tattoo? Good. Let me tell you that the brand new tattoo on exhibit is on the back of Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko. He is an at times perplexing basketball player, but one whom I love to watch play. His tattoo depicts his very own World of Warcraft character riding a dragon. I am lead to believe that Mr. Kirilenko plays quite a substantial amount of this game when he is not playing basketball. He was also admonished once for lacking focus, due to spending too much of his locker room time reading Russian spy novels. Andrei was left to wonder about the difference between spy novels and over-sized headphones blasting loud music. I hope the ink didn’t hurt too much. I also love Kirilenko’s hair.

2. Intensity. Having just been discharged from active playoff duty by the Boston Bruins, some five (with the possibility of even an additional three) players for the Philadelphia Flyers will be needing offseason surgery. These Flyers can be counted among those who gave us more hockey than their bodies could even allow. As a counterpoint, over in baseball, Dodgers pitcher Hong-Chih Kuo has taken a spot on the disabled list due to an anxiety disorder known to affect golfers. Let’s just call it a different level of intensity that we see in the hockey playoffs versus what we see in the long, and at times restful, baseball season.

3. While many successful narratives follow this path, sports usually don’t. I have noticed that the long, soberly punctuated, very evenly paced, descriptively narrated sentences used to recap Toronto FC games seem to appropriately match the continuous flow and pace one of the games (with no stoppage of the clock until either halftime or the end of the game itself). But I catch myself, while trying to read one of these recaps for the real story of the game, thinking along the lines of Brian Wilson, pitcher for the San Fransisco Giants, who told a reporter that he was too lost in his answer to remember the question. I just think the genius of it all is that the TFC is being marketed directly to David Foster Wallace fans.

4. Intensity, tenderness optional. The Boston Celtics were eliminated, a little unceremoniously, from the playoffs this week by the hated Miami Heat. I know the Heat brought their own brand of intensity to their post game celebrations, but that was nothing compared to Celtic point guard going out there to play with only one arm. But people sure had a lot to say about the interaction right after the game between former teammates Lebron James and Delonte West. (The interest stemming from ambiguous details that have surfaced about a relationship between Lebron’s Mom and Delonte. Did the post game embrace become a family moment? It is unknown.)

5. Togetherness. The UFC got together in Las Vegas and threw an old-fashioned fighter summit. Much like any other meeting of professional minds, I imagine. Dana White, UFC president, addressed his group of martial artists, submission-hold masters and others, with the announcement that he’ll now be paying his fighters to be active participants on Twitter. The plan could cost the UFC about $240,000 a year, so Dana is really banking on the fighters having a lot of interesting things on their minds to share with the world. And also, it turns out the sanctity of marriage is doing just fine. Mixed martial arts fighter Bryan ‘The Gentleman’ Baker proposed to his girlfriend in the ring right after punching out his opponent. (Nickname provided by the author.) She said yes, everyone. It’s her cage as well as his.