Game#26B-Carolina Hurricanes

I know, I know...I went to a Carolina Hurricanes game already but that hardly counted. When you only see the final few rounds of a OT shootout it shouldn't go toward my goal, but I was not sure if I was going to get back to Raleigh. Well I had my opportunity to make up for the "non-game" by hitting up a Canes vs. Detroit Redwings game. I usually don't have a lot at stake as a Kings fan when I see these games but I hate the Wings. There is nothing better than seeing them lose, well except when the Ducks drop one. Now to the game. First off, I had no clue there are that many Detroit fans in NC. I would say it was about 70% for the away team, but because everyone was wearing red it was hard to tell who was chearing for who until the "Let's go Wings!" chant started. But the Canes had there revenge, Cam Ward was a wall, Jeff Skinner and Derek Joslin scored in the second period and Erik Cole added a goal in the third for the Hurricanes, who beat the Red Wings for the first time since 2006. It felt good to actually cheer on the home team as they took home a 3-0 W. Nothing really exciting tonight, I guess I was a bit annoyed by the people I met at the game. There were about 10 Duke lab rats around me that were not paying attention at all to what was happening on the ice. How to people spend that much money to just talk about work???

Game #40-Charlotte Bobcats

Charlotte Bobcats vs Atlanta Hawks
April 3, 2011
Time Warner Cable Arena

I had to head out to Durham NC for a work trip, so no better way to start the week then with a trip to Charlotte for a basketball game. The city of Charlotte was not too exciting, but I have a feeling it was because I am in the Bible belt and I was going to a Sunday game. Prior to hitting up the arena I did a bit of site seeing checking out the huge plantation houses in the surrounding neighborhoods, and I even ventured to the NASCAR hall of fame for a couple of hours. While there I even bought a fan appreciation brick which states "My NASCAR is a Cervelo P3, Chris Costales". Most people won't get that inside joke but my triathlon bike is a Cervelo P3. This is now my 4th brick which includes Petco Park in San Diego, Staples Center in LA, and the University of MN arberitum. Now unto the game. The Bobcats are fighting for a final spot in the playoffs and were playing the Washington Wizards. This should be an evenly matched game by two struggling teams, but that was hardly the case. Andray Blatche had 25 points and 17 rebounds, Jordan Crawford added 23 points, and rookie John Wall had 18 points to run over the Cats in a lopsided 97-91 defeat of the home team. The Cats were without leading scorer Stephen Jackson and therefore tried to rely on crappy center Kwame Brown and overrated Boris Diaw, which blew up in there face. Unfortunately there are no funny stories at this game, in fact even though both teams nearly hit 100 points it was one of the most boring games I have been to. The fans were barely present, cheerleaders were un-inspirational, and again the players just didn't seem to have any heart. Maybe people were gearing up for a case of the Mondays. The one good thing is that the Time Warner Cable Arena is beautiful. Not a bad seat in the house and is extremely clean. I bet this place was rocking for the NCAA March Madness sweet sixteen games.