Last night was our first regular season night of volunteer work for the AE-sponsored Student Rush, and it was a lot of fun. We did a trial run during the preseason, and after asking the student fans in line what they wanted, we returned for this game with everything they asked for.

We played trivia with the fans, giving them an opportunity to win autographed pucks and hats, while also giving out Student Rush hoodies and some AE t-shirts. We brought a DJ to give the fans music, Meadows MC’d the event, and we even had Atwood drive Kunitz, Fleury, Godard, Bourque, Talbot, and Dupuis to deliver 50 Pizza Hut pizzas to the fans in line. The fans went nuts when the players showed up, but they were surprisingly cool with the guys. The media was actually more in the players’ mix than the fans.

I was on photo duty for most of the night, so I had to run around snapping shots of the fans and competed with the media for decent shots of the players delivering pizza. I did have a chance to bother Max Talbot before he headed back into the arena for a photo. Shh…

It’s a shame that the game sucked, as the Pens played the most lackluster game I’ve ever seen them play, but the experience of interacting with the fans and hooking people up with free stuff was awesome. We’ll be doing this for all 5 Student Rush games this year as AE is sponsoring the event. Who knows what our group will cook up for the remaining games, but we definitely made standing in line a little more fun…especially for the people who were there since 8 AM.

Last night was out of control. After watching the Pens lose every Stanley Cup Final game at the Double Wide Grill in Southside, our hockey fan idiocy forced us to search for a way to break the bad juju that we had decided forced those losses. Naturally, we blamed the poor results on the Double Wide, so we were forced to watch game 7 somewhere else. Having witnessed the Pens come-from-behind 7-6 OT victory against the Wings earlier in the season at Harris Grill, we decided that was our best bet. Besides, who wouldn’t want to watch the Pens beat the Wings over a delicious serving of mac & cheese?

We gathered up the finest crew and headed over early to snag seats at the bar. The game was simply unreal. The Pens victory made any hint of regret at the money we spent going to games dissipate in the mist of beer-soaked celebrations. Harris Grill is far from your ideal “sports bar”, but it didn’t matter…the place was jumping. We immediately headed to Southside to partake in the victory celebrations going on in the streets.

Naturally, I missed the Steelers celebration after the Super Bowl, but I wasn’t going to miss this…I actually wanted the Pens to win. The scene was ridiculous, with the police in full riot gear forcing people off of Carson St. and into the alleys. We saw a guy get run over by a Ford Explorer after he fell while trying to jump into the back seat of said vehicle while holding a beer…he got up walking quite awkward, but claimed he was okay. Ha ha…sure you are, dude. It was just nuts down there. We didn’t see any car flipping or couch burning, so the cops seemed bored, but it was a lot of fun to be in the midst of such a wild celebration…especially on a Friday when you don’t have to go to work the next day!

I’m still in disbelief over the win. To get there again, and actually pull it off…in Detroit…in game 7…unreal. It’s the first time where I felt united with my fellow Pittsburghers. It’s just a shame that football season is going to come along and make me dislike this town again. Ha ha.

Until then…I’m going to celebrate this victory, and I look forward to watching the DVD that’ll inevitably come out!

I’ve already been raving about how amazing the Stanley Cup Final has been, but it just keeps getting better. With a tight 2-1 victory last night in game 6, the Pens have forced a Stanley Cup-deciding game 7, and I can’t wait…

Game 6 was everything I could’ve asked for in a game. It was physical, fast, and close. Fleury’s save with just over a minute left in the game pretty much sums up how insane and exciting hockey can be. From my seat, you could only watch the crowd reaction from behind the far goal for any idea of what happened. The Pens are up 2-1, and the momentum is in the balance…possibly the series…

Save.

Holy crap.

The Pens are going to win game 6!

It was absolutely beautiful to watch all of the Wings fans who had come to Pittsburgh fully expecting to watch the Wings lift the Cup again – and pay upwards of $1000/ticket to sit in A – go home in complete disappointment.

Speaking of seats…I was fortunate enough to land the best seat of my season. After having lady luck shine down on me during the drawing for AE box tickets for game 4, she brought out the spotlight for game 6. With Megan in NYC for work, I only had to pick up one ticket, but the ticket prices had skyrocketed as the end of the series drew closer. I kept Ticket Exchange open all day, but the cheapest single seats were holding steady at over $400 for crappy seats.

Just as I was about to settle for a $421 ticket in E, I refreshed the page to find a single ticket…going for face value…in A15…row E…five rows from the glass…Pens shoot twice side! For $385 I was able to watch the Pens force game 7 at the same level where I fell in love with the game! It also gave me an opportunity to test out the new lens from a closer point-of-view. While football season seems like a distant memory, I have to say that right now there isn’t a better game to watch than hockey…especially if your team is the Penguins.

You constantly come to new realizations as you grow up, mature, and experience new things. One of those things that I’ve learned is that live NHL hockey is by far the best spectator sport you’ll find. I love football, too, but hockey still gets my ticket money. Especially when your team is good…and even more so when you’re talking about the Stanley Cup Final! It’s also nice when your new camera lens shows up, so you can take better photos from section D!

Mario Lemieux drop the ceremonial first puck on Tuesday:

I was fortunate to go to games 3 & 4 here at Mellon Arena this week, and all I can say is “WOW”. The Pens entered their 2-game home stand down 0-2, and knowing that the only way they were going to have any chance of a repeat loss to the Red Wings in the Finals was to win both games…and that’s exactly what they did. With a boisterous crowd at the Igloo, good bounces, and improved play, the Pens managed to prove that they deserved a second shot at the Red Wings.

Game 3 wasn’t the best game of the series, but they got it done. Mario Lemieux dropped the ceremonial first puck to get the night started, and the excitement was just boiling over after that. After missing the Finals last year because of the prices, I was pumped to go this year. The tickets had dropped a lot before game 3, which enabled us to get tickets at face value – a near impossible task these days in Pittsburgh. The Pens survived a sloppy second period, to come out and play a third period worthy of the 4-2 victory.

Game 4 was even better, with the Pens playing the most inspired hockey of their series. They dominated every facet of the game, and had Mellon Arena louder than I’ve ever heard it. When Jordan Staal scored a shorthanded goal to tie the game, Igloo blew up. It was absolutely deafening. The entire second period consisted of people standing for large amounts of time, cheering wildly, and pushing the Pens on. They went into the second intermission with a 4-2 lead, and dominated the third period to guarantee that the Red Wings’ deficit would stay 2 goals. Fleury was also a monster in goal. Oh, and my tickets were in the AE box, so I got to enjoy some awesome food and hang out with great fans from work.

I just hope the Pens can figure out a way to win this series.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

I’m really glad kickball was cancelled last night because of the weather…not that it would’ve mattered. I wasn’t going to miss last night’s game for anything, and I’m glad I didn’t. The Pens completely dominated the Caps, and held Ovechkin in check – something they had failed to do in the previous two games.

The game started horribly, as a weird bounce and Fleury’s inability to hold onto his stick gifted Ovechkin an open net, which he promptly finished off. Fortunately, the rest of the game was all Pens. Ovechkin’s predictability showed up in game 3, and he was completely ineffective. Scuderi shut him down for nearly the entire game, and now that the Pens know how to do it, they better continue to close his space down quickly and make sure they keep their body between him and the goal. A desperate Ovechkin is clearly a predictable one. His poor passing makes him one-dimensional in the offensive zone, and the Pens showed that last night. Cut off his shot, and he’s locked down. Easier said than done, but the Pens managed just fine…at least for one game. His post-game whine fest showed his frustration and should placate the Pens fans who are tired of Crosby being singled out as the league’s signature cry baby.

A desperate Pens team, on the other hand, is an exciting sight to see. Playing on every cylinder, they got help from their superstars and their role players. Talbot’s surprise move to Malkin’s line may have been one of the sparks that could ultimately change the fate of this series. Malkin played like a man possessed with his new linemates, and finally got the goal that should inspire more from the Hart finalist.

We’ll know more after Friday’s result, but the Pens can only play so well for so long before the results start going their way. The Pens have dominated in long stretches for all 3 games, but bad bounces and stupid penalties have killed them. Oh, and their horribly unproductive power play hasn’t helped.

Last night, they limited the bad penalties, which allowed them to play through the bad bounces and win by keeping their team on the ice. It gave players, like Kris Letang, the time to work out the kinks. Letang’s slow reaction and poor puck handling betrayed him over and over all game, but he kept working and finally pulled it together for the game winner in OT. It’s that desire and relentless drive that can pick the Pens up and help them pull off what has become an “upset” in the minds of the media.

Taking away the Caps strong power play, and disrupting Ovechkin’s rush into the offensive zone (in which he only looks to shoot) will nearly guarantee a Pens victory Friday and a repeat of last night’s dominating performance. Discipline will have to carry them more than skill from here on out in this series.

Let’s go Pens!

…the words spoken by Mike Lange after Gonchar’s game-winning goal.

The crazy thing about this game was not only the comeback from three goals down, but the fact that it was exactly a year ago that I was sitting in Mellon Arena watching the Pens…get this…come back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Rangers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals!

I could watch a game like this over and over…

Let’s Go Pens!!!

I was fortunate enough to go to game two of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals last night. I felt even more fortunate to be sitting in section D8. It was a blast. The crowd in that section is absolutely rowdy, but in a fun way that forces you to cheer…and cheer loudly…a lot. It was awesome. I’m sort of bummed that I’m not on the season ticket waiting list for section D because I would love to sit with those hardcore fans every game.

The fact that the Pens game ended up being an exciting, overtime, victory made the night that much sweeter. The Pens got the right bounces at the right times and the Flyers’ lack of discipline helped give the game away…again. This series isn’t going to be a sweep, but I’m optimistic that the Pens can get it done.

Let’s go Pens!!!

The NHL is awesome…and it only gets better when the playoffs come around – especially when you happen to live in a city with a competitive hockey team like the Penguins. The fact that I happened to move here at the perfect time to watch this organization get itself back in order after a few down years helps me get past the whole Steelers thing. Ha ha.

Last night was game one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the Pens, and they started the same way they finished against the Flyers last year in the Eastern Conference Final…with a convincing win. The two things coming in that seemed to play in the favor of the Pens winning a series with the Flyers was A) home ice, and B) discipline. Last night was a perfect exhibit of how both factors played a part. The Flyers spent a lot of time in the box, and while the Pens only managed to score one time on the power play, the penalties kept the Flyers from establishing any offensive rhythm. I expect to see that a lot in this series. Morons like Scotty Hartnell are going to basically give the series to the Pens with his antics…and I welcome his further idiocy, or as he calls it, “brain cramps”.

As far as home ice goes…Mellon becomes a whole different beast during the playoffs. This is the third straight season that the Pens have made it, and the third straight year that I was able to go to at least one game. Each year, as the hype builds up, the crowds have gotten louder and more intense. Last night, the Igloo was rockin’, and I expect an even more insane crowd this Friday. The Pens were skating really hard and clearly played at another level last night. Blame it on the crowd, blame it on the circumstances, but the Flyers just don’t win in Pittsburgh like they do at home. Blowing their chance to lock up home ice on Sunday may have changed their postseason drastically.

I can’t wait until I go again Friday to game 2. I’m hoping for another white out like last year. LET’S GO PENS!!!

This past weekend was a lot of fun. I never get out of town aside from the random trip to nearby cities like Baltimore, Columbus, or Cleveland, and with all of my friends scattered across the country I never see them. Fortunately, I was able to engineer a little trip to help with both things (with a little planning research from Megan).

College Station
For a whopping $7 more per ticket, we were able to fly direct into the smallest airport I’ve ever seen…in College Station! Davis picked us up and we proceeded to check out what College Station had to offer. We eased into the A&M nightlife by going to a place we actually have in Pittsburgh: The Fox & Hound. After Davis and Kathleen crushed us in some shuffleboard, we hit up a place called Los Cucos Mexican Café for some dinner. While the meal was typical of most “authentic” Mexican joints, the fried chicken fajita stuffed avocado makes it a place that I’ll probably beg Davis to take me next time I’m in the area…even if the place smelled like lime-based cleanser.

We enjoyed the surprisingly lame bar scene for a Thursday (wtf?), but still had a good time. The drinks are really cheap and the girl/guy ratio was actually impressive, and a far cry from Pittsburgh. I can see why Davis wanted to go back to school in a warm climate. One irony that I noticed was how a lot of the girls I saw weren’t overly tan. Why is it that girls in Pittsburgh – a place known for its lack of sunshine – think it’s okay to be ridiculously tan, while girls in a place like Texas just go natural?

Unfortunately, we only had one day in College Station, so Davis took us to Rudy’s Bar-B-Q the next day for lunch and we toured A&M’s campus. It’s a pretty nice campus, but doesn’t win any awards in the architecture category. In a place where everything is already brown and weather-beaten, A&M’s conservative beige buildings just made me shake my head. We did get to see the Aggie Bonfire Memorial, which was really nice…and one of the few areas where the grass was green.

Davis explains the backstory to Megan…

After the tour, we headed back to the airport to pick up our sweet rental car: a Kia Rondooooooooooo. I really hope I never have to drive a car like that again. While it got us to Dallas, it definitely made us look like some dorky family traveling from Florida (the plates on the rental).

Dallas
We arrived around 6:30 in Dallas, where I immediately felt inferior in all aspects of life. First, we get to Chris and Garrett’s house…which was most definitely nicer than any home I’ll ever own…and more impeccably decorated at that. We then proceeded to go to some upscale steakhouse called Nick & Sam’s. While the food was good, I clearly, and predictably, did not come dressed for the occasion. Fortunately, we were still allowed in, but I was definitely the only person in that restaurant sporting an AE hoodie – a necessary article since the weather during our stay was in the 40’s. Thank god Chris paid, because my broke ass couldn’t have even purchased the appetizers. Ha ha.

That was as far as our pretentious journey took us, as the rest of the weekend remained low-key, but fun. We spent a lot of time eating (surprise, right?). I really liked Cyclone Anaya’s. They have really good chili queso…like good enough to crave. The ribs are also really good. I’d recommend both and will be back there the next time I go to Dallas.

Trece Mexican Kitchen and Tequila Lounge was amazing, too. We kept calling it Mexican food’s answer to Piccolo Forno of Italian food. It was really good. I was a little worried walking in there, though, as every car that was parked outside cost a minimum of $125k. It was pretty ridiculous.

After that, I took on a journey completely new to me…we went to a lesbian bar in the “gayborhood”. It was actually a lot of fun as the bar lacked the meatheads and tramps usually crowding your typical straight bars. We just shot pool and downed a fair amount of beer, but had a great time. We were clearly the only straight people there, but it was a blast. It was a totally fun and different experience to be so entrenched in the “alternative” lifestyle. It really magnified how stupid other people’s intolerance is toward the gay community.

Pens > Stars
Anyway, on Sunday, we got to go to the Pens/Stars game. Of course, that was after a delicious breakfast buffet that included enchiladas and fried cheesecake. Ugh. We drove by the grassy knoll on the way to American Airlines Arena and saw where Kennedy was assassinated. It was kind of eerie to see a place that you’re so familiar with from TV and school. There are two x’s on the ground to represent where the two shots hit Kennedy. Crazy.

Although, maybe not as crazy as the giant Chili’s blimp that floated around the arena before the game…

The game was awesome, though. The arena is really nice, but felt like a shopping mall as you walked around the concourses. The fans were vocal and peaceful, but quickly died off to reveal a rather large contingent of Pens fans after the Penguins took control of the game and skated off with a much-needed 4-1 victory.

Malkin scores the 4th…

Overall, the trip was a lot of fun. While there are a ton of places I’d love to find time to visit, I’m totally up for another trip to Texas. Both places were a lot of fun, and it was great to see some old friends while meeting a bunch of new ones. Until next time, y’all…

On Sunday I went down to Ram’s Head Live in Baltimore to see Mike Ness and to pick up my new wheels for the .:R. We got to the inner harbor around 5 or so, and since it was raining hard, just rolled straight over to Ram’s Head.

The show was good, but there were definitely some hiccups. First, the opening band didn’t show up. Some girl who called herself “Sugar Tits” took the stage and told the crowd that the opening act was laying in a ditch somewhere wasted, and that she was going to play instead. She played mostly – or possibly nothing but – covers, but she wasn’t bad. She started with “Ring of Fire”, and I remember hearing “Crazy Train” at some point as well. Frankly I didn’t care that much because the Pens game happened to be on one of the bar televisions, so I was able to watch that while enjoying the show, which was hiccup number two.

As much as I love live music performances, I love sports, too. Playoff hockey is about as intense as sports can get, and to miss the game was something that I had struggled with the whole ride down. I forgot to DV-R the game which only increased my need to watch it. Fortunately, Ram’s Head is set up in such a way that you can sit at the bar, watch the game, and also have a really good view of the stage. Mike Ness didn’t want anything on the televisions, but a decent tip, and the requests of numerous patrons to put the game on earned us one television devoted to the game. Fans:1, Ness:0!

The crowd was good, but smaller than expected. In Pittsburgh, the same show would’ve sold out twice over, but Ram’s Head only sold about half of the allotted tickets, so it felt like watching any old band on any old night at the local popular bar…only the band was really tight. Mike Ness took forever to come out and only played for about an hour-and-a-half (I think he came out around 9:15, and played until 10:45). The short time on stage is hiccup number 3 for me.

I was pretty excited to hear the majority of the songs that I like off of his solo albums, and the band sounded great. I actually thought that Mike’s voice sounded much better than when I saw Social Distortion last year, too, but the show was just way too short (same complaint I have with Social D shows, as well). His band is solid, and the fans were really cool. We actually met 4 people from Pittsburgh, 2 of which drove down specifically for the show, and 2 which now live in the area (all Pens fans, of course!), so it was fun to catch the show and the game with them.

Would I see Ness again? Absolutely. He puts on a good show, has a great performance, and I like the laid back tunes and atmosphere of his solo shows more than the Social D show I saw, but I don’t know if it was worth driving 4 hours to Baltimore in the rain, sitting in Ram’s head for over 3 hours waiting for him to come on, and with a half-assed opening act paving the way for the rest of the evening.

It’s a good show. Seriously, don’t get me wrong, but without the Pens game, the good fortune of landing new wheels in Alexandria during the trip, and a decent screen printed poster, I might’ve not been as satisfied with the show. It’s just hard to justify such a long trip for an hour-and-a-half, no matter how good the show, you know?

On the other hand, the trip did give me an opportunity to stop by my dad’s house and visit him for a while, and I stopped in Johnstown to meet up with Hoover for some beers and grub at Big Dogz Grill on the way back. I’m not a big fan of all of that traveling, but I was able to make the brief trip worth it.