Saturday, October 22, 2005
Crowd Magic
Look. Mrs. Sacamano and I are not rich people. If we save our pennies and don't eat meat, we can scrape together enough money to attend one game per month. We circle the date on our calendar, dress up, go for dinner--in short, we make an evening of it. Last night was our evening.
Now, you have to understand that Mrs. Sacamano--while she likes the Oilers (especially Raffi Torres for some reason)--doesn't have an unhealthy obsession for the team like the rest of us. For example, one thing that drives her absolutely bananas is when we go to the game, and then return home and I pull up the tv highlights of the same game. She finds it . . . infuriating. Another thing that drives her nuts is the term "special teams." She just thinks it's ridiculous.
In any case, what this boils down to is that when the Oilers lose I tend to get disproportionately grumpier than she does, which makes for a less than enjoyable evening out for her.
So, when the Oilers got down early, I decided that I wasn't going to invest in them emotionally for the rest of the game - just to preserve my own marital relations.
Instead of watching the game and seething about my lost money, I started watching referee Mick McGeough. He's actually pretty entertaining.
Of course, a blowout like that one always brings out the best in a crowd. Here are some of the highlights:
Mrs. Sacamano blows a gasket and heads directly to bed.
Welcome to the New NHL
Now, you have to understand that Mrs. Sacamano--while she likes the Oilers (especially Raffi Torres for some reason)--doesn't have an unhealthy obsession for the team like the rest of us. For example, one thing that drives her absolutely bananas is when we go to the game, and then return home and I pull up the tv highlights of the same game. She finds it . . . infuriating. Another thing that drives her nuts is the term "special teams." She just thinks it's ridiculous.
In any case, what this boils down to is that when the Oilers lose I tend to get disproportionately grumpier than she does, which makes for a less than enjoyable evening out for her.
So, when the Oilers got down early, I decided that I wasn't going to invest in them emotionally for the rest of the game - just to preserve my own marital relations.
Instead of watching the game and seething about my lost money, I started watching referee Mick McGeough. He's actually pretty entertaining.
Of course, a blowout like that one always brings out the best in a crowd. Here are some of the highlights:
- booing the Oilers off the ice after the first two periods - and boing them coming back on the ice and going off the ice in the third. Seriously, has this ever happened before?
- The spitting-mad woman in front of me who would stand up every time and just rip these fans: "You don't boo your own team - you just don't boo your own team! What is the matter with you people?"
- The guy who called out 5 minutes into the second period: "Can you please just draw the 50/50?" Speaking of the 50/50 - the've doubled in price to $2 a pop! Thanks Jeremy.
- The guy who asked: "Hey, why did Brad May get 5 mins for fighting? He didn't even throw a punch."
- The old-timer beside me who was doing some scoreboard watching and said: "That young fella from Spud Island is doing a pretty good job in Columbus."
That sentence made me laugh for at least three reasons - four if you include his delivery. - Before Edmonton scored their only goal, the largest cheer came when the arena announcer said: "1 minute left in the second period."
- The second loudest cheer came when Colorado scored their 7th goal. Seriously, the crowd was not only booing Edmonton, they actually started to cheer for Colorado at that point.
- The two guys in front of me debating whether it was legal to put in both Jussi and Ty at the same time. Their first conclusion: it's legal as long as you pull one of your skaters. Their second conclusion: Mac-T is an idiot for not doing it. Their third conclusion: it wouldn't help anyway.
- Giving Ty a warm reception when he replaced Jussi. Seriously, I was pretty impressed with this. As bad as he has been, and as angry as the crowd was, it was pretty classy of them to not boo him right off the bat. Of course, it didn't last long.
- Finally, the guy who yelled out: "Hey Bettman, I thought you wanted the fans to go home happy, where's my shootout?
Mrs. Sacamano blows a gasket and heads directly to bed.
Welcome to the New NHL
# posted by sacamano @ 9:05 am 
