Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Went to see the Stars play the Anaheim Ducks at American Airlines Center Tuesday night. That was a lot of fun, actually. The Ducks have a guy on the team who's about 6" taller than most of the other players, and he's got a big bushy moustache. I kept thinking Will Ferrell was on the ice, but he seemed like sort of a badass, so I quickly forgot the goofy factor. As they were all out on the ice warming up, I asked my friend if I'd be safe in assuming there's about a million bucks' worth of dentistry on the ice at this very moment. We giggled.

So, um, Hockey. They play on an ice floor with sticks and a round biscuit they whack all over the place. They get in fights and slam into each other with great force, but the fun is sort of dampened by the fact that they are prepared for all that violence by generous layers of padding. They do a lot of spinny-twirly things in their skates, which is kind of cool. The audience grunts and groans in perfect unison. I joined the chorus by the end. It's hilarious when you find yourself participating in group reactions. The whole arena is really cool because of the ice, and this feels wonderful. Yes, finally! Decent air-conditioning.

The first 15,000 attendees each got a t-shirt and a spinny-towel thingie. I helio-cloptered my towel at the appropriate moments, but I kind of suck at it. The whole thing was pretty hilarious.

SPeaking of hockey - when I started working in apartment management and I kept seeing an old pickup in the parking lot with a bumper sticker that read "my other car is a zamboni." I thought "yeah, right." I imagined some wiener sports fanatic wannabe Zamboni-driver drove that truck around town. Turned out the truck belonged to Charlena Reyna who worked in ice management for the Stars at the AAC and really DID drive the Zamboni. Actually, she was one of 3 females in all the NHL who did that work. I think she left Dallas to be ice manager for another arena. She's about 4'11" and is a super-cool chick. That's what I get for thinking I know anything about anything.

Anyway, I liked the game, and while I'm not going to turn into a hockey fanatic, I'd like to go see more games sometime.

OH, the Ducks quickly scored 4 goals in the beginning, and the crowd seemed to lose heart completely. Then with about 15 minutes to go in the 3rd period, the Stars scored a goal, and then the crowd was on their feet, wild and jubiliant, standing and cheering most of the rest of the game. The energy was great at that point. The Stars scored another goal within about a minute, but then they seemed to be making a lot of careless errors again, and they never recovered. The whole thing ended with a sort of "Meh".

Check back here in about 7 or 8 years or so, and maybe I'll have another report on a sporting event. Unless you're counting bowling or roller-derby.
Happy Wednesday.
TTFN.

7 comments:

g bro said...

What about competitive shooting? ;-)

The way you started out, I thought you were headed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKSo7QO7ceo

I forget how to edit the links in html. Would you fix it and delete this?

HollyB said...

"Million $$ worth of Dentistry" spewing Coke zero all over my screen!
As I said last night and am quick to tell perfect strangers..I HATE, loathe, cannot abide televised sports. LIVE sporting events of any stripe are a whole 'nother animal! I get so caught up in the roar of the players, the smell of the crowd, the clouds of testosterone [from the fans alone] wafting through the air, a heady experience any way you come at it.
Hockey is the best, being so male intense in the stands, closely followed by Basketball.

Anytime Phoenix is in town, I'll gladly go with you to watch guys "Hit Somebody".

Buck said...

Interesting, Phlegmmy, from the non-fan POV. I'm rooting for the Stars in this series, as was hoping Dallas would put the Ducks into that 0-3 hole that's nearly impossible to climb out of. But: not to be. I still think the series belongs to the Stars, IF they have the will.

g bro said...

Andy Griffith on Football

Barbara Bruederlin said...

Well look at you, you're half Canadian now! Hockey games, playoff games in particular, can be lots of fun and it is easy to get swept up in the momentum. Glad you enjoyed yourself!

Christina RN LMT said...

I'm not into watching sports at all, BUT we do have a minor league hockey team here (the Wranglers), and we live just down the street from their arena, AND Silver is intent on going to college at the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks, where hockey is KING, so...we really need to start going to the games. She's going to be in marching band, which also means HOCKEY band, where she'll be playing in the stands at all the games, so she needs to be at least a little familiar with the game, no?
Anyway, thanks for your impressions, it gives me hope that I won't be totally bored out of my mind if we go to a game!

Suldog said...

Heh - that was pretty cool. Thanks for directing me here, and for stopping by at my place.