Prelude…
Midday Friday, Bryan called me to say that he had an extra ticket in Premiere Seating of the Star/Kings hockey game for Saturday evening. With only 1 ticket available, I would have been forced to pass solely because I had once previously ditched my wife to go to a Stars/Kings game with Scott. A second such outing would surely have left my son fatherless — or at the very least ensured him a life as a single child with a squeaky voiced father. Fortune was in my favor though, as Bryan got a second free ticket. A few phone calls to find a sitter for JJ & we were going to a hockey game!
Saturday….
The one thing that sucked….
The Stars lost the game 1-0. Now in the grander scheme of things, this is not a big deal. They are still going to make the playoffs in a prime seating, but there is really few things for a sports fan better than walking through an opposing team’s arena after a game is over wearing the visiting team’s logo when that team has won. (In some cities this can and does end with knife wounds and chalk outlines, but LA is not one of those cities.)
Why it ruled….
Brandi arrived early to watch JJ. This was somewhat of a relief as her timeliness is historically questionable.
The seats were in the front row of the VIP section along the side of the visiting team’s bench which is truly the best seat in the house for a hockey game. This meant that we had no one in front of us & that we got waiter service for food & drinks on top of not having to sit amongst the plebian hordes.
There was a great fight. Throughout the game the ref’s were interfering early to stop fights, but I think they finally realized that a bench clearing brawl might breakout if they don’t let one go.
The topper to the evening though was this. After the game, we were crossing the street to our car when I noticed 2 guys dressed to the nines looking strangely inappropriate and slightly uncomfortable in the crowd of t-shirt & jersey wearing hockey fans. As I was thinking to myself that one of them looked quite a lot like Sergei Zubov, the guy next to me commented to his buddy “That’s Modano & Zubov.” (Modano & Zubov did not play due to injuries.) Modano was being rather stand-off-ish and clearly didn’t want to deal with autographs & what not. I also think it didn’t help the matter that I was sporting his sweater. Not wanting to annoy him, I resisted the urge to ask for an autograph or a photo & just made a brief comment to the two of them as we passed them. “We missed seeing you guys out on the ice tonight.” Mo was polite & thanked me & said hi to Theresa who was also wearing a Stars sweater.
So there you go. Thank you, Bryan, for the tickets. Thank you, Brandi, for watching JJ. The evening was awesome & it couldn’t have happened without both of you!
