Can't count them. Don't know. But there's been seemingly a million times over the years I've sat in a chair shoulder-to-shoulder with other members of the media while someone faces us and talks.
Press conferences.
Seen my fill. Seen more than that, actually.
Sometimes after a game, sometimes before a game, sometimes to announce an initiative no one really cares about but you feel obligated to go to anyway and sometimes, like on Thursday afternoon with the Pittsburgh Penguins, it is to reveal substantial news.
The organization did that as they familiarized new President of Hockey Operations Kyle Dubas to the media and the media to Kyle Dubas on a scorching first day of June when they wished a lot more they were playing for a Stanley Cup.
And I got to thinking about all the press conferences I have been to.
Know what? This isn't an overstatement, take a deep breath here and give me your ear --- I don't think I've seen someone "win" the press conference in this town the way Dubas did.
Ever. Not one time.
He crushed it. He hammered it. He totally nailed it.
There were no "uhhh" or "ummm" moments. There wasn't a time he didn't have the precise trajectory of where he was going to go.
If you didn't know any better, you'd think it was scripted and he was given the questions in advance.
Know what else he did, which might seem small to some but rang loudly; Dubas used the first name of seemingly each reporter when he answered their question. Sometimes he repeated it more than once. He did it to make them feel welcomed; he did it to make himself feel welcomed here.
And there wasn't one time when Ron Hextall was introduced I felt this way. There wasn't one time in all his tenure really that Hextall seemed to connect with people how Kyle Dubas did in just one half-hour inside the arena on Thursday.
It was a pitch-perfect performance.
Now, we all know it won't mean a damn thing if the Pittsburgh Penguins don't win ton of hockey games and maybe even another Cup with the Big 3 still employed.
There was one thing Dubas said that did raise an eyebrow inside the Lexus Club, however.
"Sully can coach forever," he said. "I mean, he's a great coach so there's no real expiration date on Mike."
Whoa there. Back up buckaroo. Let's not go giving a lifetime contract to a guy who has proven to be not so great in the playoffs over the past half-decade.
But I have an explanation for all that. Those words were the right thing to say, the necessary thing to say in front of the big bosses (John Henry included) right now.
Dubas isn't going to haul off within minutes of getting the job and say the incumbent head coach --- who has been here a long time and won a couple of Cups --- is on rocky ground. And he's not going to make his opening introduction to the city anything but a lovefest.
That said, though, don't think for one minute it won't be in him in the short or long term to make a change if he sees fit.
Dubas is new blood.
Dubas is analytics.
Dubas is about --- at 37 years old --- not needing to be part of that club of old boys who are married and connected to all things antiquated in the National Hockey League.
I think, if he sees fit, he will make a coaching change either in short or long order.
Who knows what happened from this moment on? Who knows what he will do about the tenuous goaltending situation? Who knows what Dubas will do about a GM?
Who knows what he will do about a zillion other things?
I know this, though: I left the arena on Thursday and said "that guy has it."
He connected, he hit a home run, he said the perfect things in these imperfect times for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
