Thu 27 Oct 2011
This edition of the podcast reunites Omari, Kim, Daniel and Hue after a long hiatus. Listen in as we toss around a hodgepodge of topics and get back into the swing of things.
Sat 15 Oct 2011
The Flyers celebrate their third victory on the ice.
It’s been a long while since I last posted. We had some issues with the site being hacked, but all is well and we are back in the #kakemix mode. Hope you enjoy this story and, as usual, click the links for additional information that will enhance this post. =)
Last night I attended my second hockey game. The Philadelphia Flyers home opener versus the Vancouver Canucks (#whoorwhatisacanuck). I am a Flyers fan simply because I have lived in the Philadelphia area for a majority of my life (28 of 33 years). The first game I attended was last season, but that was with my company in a suite, so I didn’t pay attention to much. I had taken my friend Sara with me then, so when she got partial season tickets, she invited me along.
I’m all about the excitement that happens in a stadium. Opening night is always extra festive. There was free face painting and beads adorned by a packed house (19,000+). I had bought an ill Flyers shirt and earrings so I would not look like a plain idiot in the sea of jerseys and paraphernalia. To the left is a pic of my “Ms. Tyson” face painting. You can see my five strands of beads in the pic. I was in fan mode.
Our seats were in the next to last row from the top of the arena. The only people higher than us were in the suites. I am not comfortable with heights too much, but I liked being able to see the entire game. Sitting in front of us was a guy with his wife and very young daughter (see pic on right). We couldn’t understand the point of bringing a child to a game who wasn’t old enough to comprehend what was going on. She totally didn’t like the noise or her dad trying to get her to cheer. Not only did this guy have a child with him, he also was blowing a mini shofar. O_o we laughed so hard every time he blew it. It wasn’t loud at all and sounded like a cow dying.
Any who. The game itself was great. The Flyers are hot right now. They came into the game with two road wins. In the off season they acquired some great players. I was excited about finally seeing Jaromir Jagr play. I remember when I was in my early teens and he was a hot rookie….20 years ago! And…..wait for it……they got a black guy!!!!! I nearly fell out my seat with shock and excitement when they showed Wayne Simmonds’ pic on the jumbotron. In my opinion, if you are black and a professional hockey player, you must be really great because there are only a handful of black guys that have ever ice skated, let alone made it to the NHL (jokes on jokes on jokes). Here is the game recap for those interested in all the proper terminology and what not…
One thing I noticed last night is that the players were using their hands and skates to catch and hit the puck. As someone who played soccer (and formerly equated hockey as being soccer on ice), using hands has been reserved for other sports. I was in awe of my misconceived notions about hockey. I also marveled at how frequently they changed out their players. In soccer, we only made substitutions as necessary. Some players were on the field the entire game. It was quite confusing to me to see them changing every few minutes. I had to keep looking at jerseys to figure out who was who on the ice.
One last thing about the game is that I loved how crazy Philly fans are. They are ruthless and undignified when it comes to the support they show and also for the hate as well. There was one lone Canucks fan in the section next to us who was berated with name calling and cuss words whenever the Canucks or Flyers scored. I felt bad for him, but it’s almost common knowledge that you never wear the opposing teams jersey to a home game. The fans also booed when rival players were featured in an ad on the jumbotron. Apparently it was an ad for Hockey Against Cancer and that makes Philadelphia fans look bad. But I can honestly say, with the noise level and amount of alcohol being consumed, I truly doubt any of the booing fans realized what the ad was about. I know I didn’t right away. I’m sure if I knew anything about any other team or player, I might have booed along with them.
I think I might end up being a halfway decent Flyers fan from now on. I enjoy cheering for the home team. That has been so hard lately with the Phillies getting knocked out of the playoffs in the first round AND the Eagles losing their fourth straight game. Hopefully I can get educated about the game itself quickly. I hate that I have no tweets to add to this topic, so I need to find some good hockey fans to follow.
Til next time…Go Flyers!!
