Game# 65- Philadelphia Flyers

Philadelphia Flyers vs. New Jersey Devils March 15, 2013 Well Fargo Center As a gift to myself after a long work week in Gaithersburg and Baltimore, I drove up to Philly for a whirlwind tour of the city and to get in 3 games, all within 24 hours. I know, crazy but this was one of those perfect storm type of weekends with hockey, soccer and basketball. I have never been to the city of brotherly love and was excited to check it out. I know the sports culture is crazy there, but also the food and history was a draw as well. I will touch on the second two issues in my soccer/basketball reviews since they all happened on the same very long day. The Wells Fargo Center is in a triplex of sports stadiums. Basically the Phillies, Eagles, Sixers and Flyers all share several large parking lots and all the arenas are within a quarter mile of each other. In some ways this is an ingenious plan. Parking was a snap because there is so much room, but I can’t imagine what would happen if two games are going on at one time. It would be an absolute zoo. But tonight, the orange and black reigned supreme. The Flyers are a hockey team that I neither like nor dislike. Because they are in a division we Kings fans seldom see I am indifferent, so tonight I am cheering for the home team. Besides I like a bunch of players on the team. Wayne Simmons, Brayden Schen, Simon Gagne where all former Kings and then their stars Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell make up a pretty good team that are unfortunately playing poorly this year. But the good thing about a bad team is that when you are in a hockey centric city, there is always electricity in the building. As soon as the puck dropped the Philly fans were way into the game. The Flyers back in the day were known as the Broad Street Bullies and to be honest nothing has really changed. Compared to west coast teams, I think the Eastern division players really try to lay each other out on the ice. They finish their checks harder, they make it a point to go after certain players, and rarely is there a stop in play where players aren’t jabbering at each other. The game was back an forth all night, not a lot of goals but that was mainly because of solid goaltending by Illya Bryzgalov and Johan Hedberg. Maxime Talbot got a goal for the Flyers in the first but that was nullified David Clarkson for the Devils in the second period. From there the game got real tight and defense was king. The game went into OT and then finally shoot outs. I could sense the crowd getting really anxious and to be honest, I didn’t want to see a Philly Flyers crowd after a shoot out loss so I was really pulling for the boys in orange. Matt Reed and Claude Giroux both scored for the Flyers and a final save by Bryzgalov sent the arena into a frenzy. Great game, good times, Flyers win 2-1 in OT. Quick note: Even though the Flyers and 76ers share this arena, it is far more of a hockey town. There were some great memorabilia showcases around the rink with pucks from the Stanley Cup championship games, ledgers from the first year in the league, a pair of Ron Hextals goalie pads, all stuff I was completely eating up. The Sixers only had a single case… Other than that, Flyers fans have no filter. Political correctness…Ha! I can’t even type the things I heard people saying in the crowd. Definitely an experience.

Game #64- Golden State Warriors

Golden State Warriors vs. Toronto Raptors March 4, 2013 Oracle Arena What a crazy weekend. Keli and I drove up to San Francisco because I competed in the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon on Sunday. For lack of better words, that was a gnarly race. Usually it takes place in June but because of America’s Cup the organizers had to move the date up several months. I have never been in a more difficult swim in my life. 50 degree water, 3-4 foot swells, 15 mph winds, oh yeah…we also had a 1.5 mile swim from Alcatraz to the Golden Gate Bridge. So after the race we decided to stick around for an extra day to hit up a Golden State basketball game. After this, I only have the Oakland A’s and I will be done with California teams. We went to the game with long time college friend Greg Kopotic and his wife Kristen. The Oracle arena is on fabled grounds, also home to the Oakland Raiders and Oakland A’s. From what I hear this will be a thing of the past in a couple of years as the team is set to move into the city of San Francisco. As for the game it was a back an forth match that was really exciting. In fact I think it was the highest scoring game I have ever been to live. The Warriors were lead by former Knicks center David Lee with 29 points followed closely by sophomore star Stephan Curry with 26 as the home team narrowly outplayed the Raptors to a 125 to 118 win. I didn’t see a lot of outstanding dunks, ally oops, or trick passes, but man both teams made it rain. GS finished with a 57.3% field goal percentage! That’s ridiculous. Unfortunately the stadium didn’t have a lot of character outside of the seating area. I looked all around but once again no fan experience areas, no player memorabilia sections, nothing cool and exciting. I wish the teams would put a little more into the places they play.

Game 63- Dallas Mavericks

Dallas Mavericks vs. Golden State Warriors February 9, 2013 American Airlines Center Tonight is the second game in two nights. Last night I hit up the Dallas Stars game, this morning I was able to visit the Sixth Floor JFK museum (a must if you are in the Dallas area), and now I am at the Mavs game with an old high school friend Joanna Knecht along with two of her local friends. Normally I would be really excited to see a team who recently won a championship, especially when they have a ton of stars on their team like Dirk Nowitzki, Sean Marion, OJ Mayo, and Vince Carter, but this team has been lackluster at best in 2013. They have one of the worst records in the league and they are playing a really up tempo, young squad from the golden state lead by Stephan Curry. I really thought it would be a GS blow out but the home team really surprised me. They were draining shots from all over the court and went into the half with a 64-36 lead. I honestly think the Warriors were plain and simply tired since this was the 4th game in 5 days but whatever, highscoring games are more exciting. The Mavs were lead by Marion who netted 26 points off of a ridiculous 11 for 16 night eventually winning the game 116 to 91. Not a lot of exciting things went on during the game. That could be because it was a blow out, or that I was being fed gigantic beers to pay for the tickets I bought for the group, but it was clear that I was well on my way to a fuzzy night. Perhaps the best parts of the night were seeing the NBA championship trophy in the lobby (as I stated in the Stars review, there are absolutely no fan fun zones in the arena so the trophy surprised me) as well as the Grambling State marching band at half time. All I know is, I have completed only 3 of 10 teams in this state. I have a lot of time left in Texas over the coming years.

Game #62- Dallas Stars

Dallas Stars vs. Anaheim Ducks February 8, 2013 American Airlines Center First hockey game of this very short season. After months and months of a lockout, the owners and players finally came to an agreement, and none too soon. I planned a trip out to Dallas months ago and would have been really disappointed to only see a basketball game. Less than three weeks ago I thought the entire season might be cancelled for the second time under Gary Bettman reign, but everyone came to their senses and the worlds greatest game is back! I have been to the Dallas area before, Greg Kopotic and I hit up a Texas Rangers game a couple years ago but that was in Arlington. I didn’t realize how big the city of Dallas really was, I just found out that if I stayed closer to the Rangers/Cowboys stadiums I would be 20 miles away from the Stars/Mavs arena. The American Airlines Center is in the heart of downtown and for all purposes is a really nice arena. I was a little disappointed about the fan experience in and around the building though. Again, when a team wins a championship like the Stars in the late 90’s or the Mavs just two years ago, I would like to some representation of those wins. I walked around the inside and outside of the arena and literally didn’t see a single picture, glass display case, mural, nothing depicting a championship team played there. It kind of baffles me that in a new building where the fans flock to games everyday, there is no thought to celebrating the teams people are spending tons of money to go see. More importantly, on to the game. Both the Stars and Ducks have players I really enjoy on the ice. Teemu Selanne is one of my favorites dating back to his rookie year with the Winnepeg Jets (my first hockey poster ever when I was 10), and Jaromir Jagr is perhaps one of the greatest forwards to every lace up skates in the NHL. In fact they are number one and two on the leader board for active goal scorers in the league. Neither had a huge impact on this game, but both have been extremely important to the game as a whole. The Stars built a 2-0 lead with goals from Trevor Daley and superstar (too bad the rest of the NHL doesn’t know this) Jaime Benn. The Ducks dominated the second period with strong performances from their top players that include Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and a goal by Nick Bonino but the best player on the ice was the stars goalie Kari Lehtonen who made some key saves and preserved the 2-1 lead heading into the third. When Loui Eriksson sealed the game with a third Dallas goal the arena jumped to their feet and to be completely honest, I was super stoked because the Ducks are the Kings biggest and closest rival…never a bad time when they lose. A fun part of the night involved the family sitting next to me. The father is a huge hockey buff originally from Toronto, we hit it off early in the night and just talked about the game for hours. Between the second and third period he took his two young daughters down to the ice and they got to ride around on the party zamboni. I got some cool pics and passed them on to him a couple days later.