Puck Blog
Some hockey thoughts on a crisp Southern California day...
-This has been my first year as an L.A. Kings Season Ticket holder. It's been fun - especially, since it gives me license to whine more when the team doesn't do well. Before, if I called up the team's offices and left crazed phone messages saying, "Make a trade or fire one of the coaches!" - they'd have called the police on me. Now as a season ticket holder, they HAVE to listen to me and my crazy rants. Season ticket holders have power. "I want one of the player's wives warming my seat for me between periods... or I'M CANCELING MY SEASON TICKETS!"
-So far, I've seen some great things in my section up in the cheap seats this year.
My favorite on-ice moment was against the Colorado Avalanche. It was hat night - everyone who came in was given a free Kings hat, sponsored by McDonald's. The Kings won the game on a late goal by Pavol Demitra - his third goal of the night. HAT TRICK... on HAT NIGHT! Hundreds - maybe even thousands - of the free hats came raining down onto the ice. The Staples Center staff used shovels and wheelbarrows to collect all the hats off the ice - delayed the game for ten minutes.
Several favorite off-ice moments. One has to be during one of the Detroit Red Wings games. There was a tubby Red Wings fan sitting in front of us, 50-ish guy, balding on top, mullet in back, and big beer belly. When the Red Wings scored, he stood up, bellowed "BOO-YAH!", then pretended to shoot a shotgun into the air. When he did it again after the second Red Wings goal, we started laughing. He must have heard us laughing, because he stopped doing it for the rest of the game.
Against the Washington Capitals, there was the guy who stood up to talk to his friend. Hockey etiquette says you don't stand up while the game is going on, because you're blocking people's views. Sure enough, when the guy stood up, he was blocking someone's view. That person yelled, "Sit down! Down in front!" Unfortunately, the stander didn't hear - and the usher wasn't doing his job. So the guy whose view was being blocked crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it at him. The stander didn't like that, so he grabbed the paper, glared at the whole section, and threw it back at us. Now it was ON. EVERYONE in Section 315 started taunting that guy - calling him tough guy, yelling at him to sit down, yelling at him to shut up, asking him if he wanted to get beat up by the whole section. At this point, the usher finally stepped in and decided to save the guy.
Also during that Capitals game, there was a guy in a Washington Capitals jersey who was hilarious. When the Caps would score, he'd celebrate, then immediately look around and plead with us not to beat him up.
During the Minnesota Wild game, there was a drunk guy trying to talk smack with the Minnesota goaltender, Manny Fernandez. Several problems with this. One, drunk guy is up in the cheap seats - so there's no WAY that the goaltender is actually hearing what he's saying. Two, drunk guy has no idea who he's trying to talk smack at. He's so far up, he can't read the name on the back of the jersey. So he's yelling, "Hey #35! You @#$#! Hey #35! You @#$#!" A few minutes later, someone tells him that his name is Fernandez. So now drunk guy is shouting, "Hey Fernandez! You @#$#! Fernandez! You #@$#!" Pause. Then indignant that Fernandez hasn't responded, drunk guy shouts, "Hey! I'm TALKING to you!"
-The 2006 U.S. Olympic Hockey team got announced today - which is my excuse to point you to some pictures I took from when I went to Salt Lake City to watch Olympic hockey in 2002.
My 2002 Hockey Trip
-Earlier this year in my NHL pre-season predictions, I said that I wasn't sold yet on Larry Robinson as a head coach. Then today, Larry Robinson retired due to "coaching-related stress." The proverbial broken clock is right twice a day - the Eugene-the-hockey-writer is right about twice a year.
-This has been my first year as an L.A. Kings Season Ticket holder. It's been fun - especially, since it gives me license to whine more when the team doesn't do well. Before, if I called up the team's offices and left crazed phone messages saying, "Make a trade or fire one of the coaches!" - they'd have called the police on me. Now as a season ticket holder, they HAVE to listen to me and my crazy rants. Season ticket holders have power. "I want one of the player's wives warming my seat for me between periods... or I'M CANCELING MY SEASON TICKETS!"
-So far, I've seen some great things in my section up in the cheap seats this year.
My favorite on-ice moment was against the Colorado Avalanche. It was hat night - everyone who came in was given a free Kings hat, sponsored by McDonald's. The Kings won the game on a late goal by Pavol Demitra - his third goal of the night. HAT TRICK... on HAT NIGHT! Hundreds - maybe even thousands - of the free hats came raining down onto the ice. The Staples Center staff used shovels and wheelbarrows to collect all the hats off the ice - delayed the game for ten minutes.
Several favorite off-ice moments. One has to be during one of the Detroit Red Wings games. There was a tubby Red Wings fan sitting in front of us, 50-ish guy, balding on top, mullet in back, and big beer belly. When the Red Wings scored, he stood up, bellowed "BOO-YAH!", then pretended to shoot a shotgun into the air. When he did it again after the second Red Wings goal, we started laughing. He must have heard us laughing, because he stopped doing it for the rest of the game.
Against the Washington Capitals, there was the guy who stood up to talk to his friend. Hockey etiquette says you don't stand up while the game is going on, because you're blocking people's views. Sure enough, when the guy stood up, he was blocking someone's view. That person yelled, "Sit down! Down in front!" Unfortunately, the stander didn't hear - and the usher wasn't doing his job. So the guy whose view was being blocked crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it at him. The stander didn't like that, so he grabbed the paper, glared at the whole section, and threw it back at us. Now it was ON. EVERYONE in Section 315 started taunting that guy - calling him tough guy, yelling at him to sit down, yelling at him to shut up, asking him if he wanted to get beat up by the whole section. At this point, the usher finally stepped in and decided to save the guy.
Also during that Capitals game, there was a guy in a Washington Capitals jersey who was hilarious. When the Caps would score, he'd celebrate, then immediately look around and plead with us not to beat him up.
During the Minnesota Wild game, there was a drunk guy trying to talk smack with the Minnesota goaltender, Manny Fernandez. Several problems with this. One, drunk guy is up in the cheap seats - so there's no WAY that the goaltender is actually hearing what he's saying. Two, drunk guy has no idea who he's trying to talk smack at. He's so far up, he can't read the name on the back of the jersey. So he's yelling, "Hey #35! You @#$#! Hey #35! You @#$#!" A few minutes later, someone tells him that his name is Fernandez. So now drunk guy is shouting, "Hey Fernandez! You @#$#! Fernandez! You #@$#!" Pause. Then indignant that Fernandez hasn't responded, drunk guy shouts, "Hey! I'm TALKING to you!"
-The 2006 U.S. Olympic Hockey team got announced today - which is my excuse to point you to some pictures I took from when I went to Salt Lake City to watch Olympic hockey in 2002.
-Earlier this year in my NHL pre-season predictions, I said that I wasn't sold yet on Larry Robinson as a head coach. Then today, Larry Robinson retired due to "coaching-related stress." The proverbial broken clock is right twice a day - the Eugene-the-hockey-writer is right about twice a year.
posted by Eugene at 8:42 PM
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