My blog n'at

I probably could have worded that better but I won’t. That’s exactly how I feel right now.

I will not being going to the Winter Classic with the ticket I was offered through the Pens by the NHL. If you know me I would go to the ends of the world for my Penguins (I’ve been a ticket holder for 10 years and sat through the no playoff debacle, I can say they’re MY Pens) but here is why I gots to do what I gots to do… n’at.

When the email came out I was getting a ticket because of my season ticket holder status it was like Christmas morning. the details were sketchy but I was happy. Early August came and the invoice showed up. $140 for 1 ticket! Heck it’s the Winter Classic in Pittsburgh I cant miss this! Then I continued to read. I’m in the 500 level at the top. That’s right, the far back corner at the top. Lovely eh? Whatever, I was still happy because I was going. Then the shocker. Money was due August 25th (that would be today). That’s in between pay periods for me. UGH!

I called the Pens to see if there was anything they could do with the due date since I would get paid in a couple days. I thought maybe some Ticketmaster giftcards I had or add it to my ticket package would work. A very snippy ticket rep (she was probably tired of these calls) told me this was an NHL event, not a Penguins one and that if I didn’t pay by the 25th I would lose my seat.

Lushie and I sat down to see if we could make it work. I had sold some school books online so there was extra income but I thought about it and finally stopped. Why am I going through all of this trouble trying to figure out how to get money together for a game? Its not that I don’t want to go bad enough, it comes down to responsibility. I just finished moving, we still have a lot we need for the house plus a kid on the way in January. I could borrow it but since we started saving for the house last year its been a “If I don’t have the cash, I wont do it” mentality. No charging. Yeah I’m missing out on some things but so what, I need to do whats best for the house. (Holy shit, when did I become an adult). Now the NHL thinks they can give me 2-3 weeks to come up with $140 without any prior indication of what we may be paying besides rumors on the internet?  Screw that.

The NHL doesn’t care. They know the seat will get sold and that’s what counts. I’m tired of how half assed the league keeps doing things. It sucks when you get 2-3 weeks notice that you have to make a payment on playoff tickets for the Pens but we know what to expect to spend at least.

So thank you NHL and the decision makers for this. Thank you for having an unrealistic approach for ticket holders of the teams involved.

I’ll find someway to get into the game but it’ll be on my own terms. I’ll still buy the hat and the shirt because I support hockey and am a cheerleader for Pittsburgh. Besides, sitting on my couch with Teaspoon is a great way to watch hockey.

I just hope Lushie doesn’t go into labor…

Sunday was the day I have waited for since it was announced the Pens would remain in Pittsburgh. Sunday I finally walked into the Penguins new arena, the Consol Energy Center. I had pretty high expectations, I won’t lie. I wanted the absolute best and the Penguins blew me away! As a ticket holder we were only able to walk around as if it were a game day and the Party Suites were open also (anyone have $10-12,000 for a suite? ).

I didn’t take many pics or videos since you can find them all over the web but if you want to check out my flickr stream head over here.

What I Loved
When you enter at the Trib Total Media gate there is an interactive area for the Penguins Greats and a virtual Stanley Cup. using a touchscreen you can browse through videos and stats of players plus zoom in on the Pens sections of the cup. Pens Gear is the new Pens Station and quite frankly if I had credit cards with me I would have maxed all out.

I walked around the lower bowl and suite areas with much pleasure seeing that there is not one obstructed view. in fact you are always walking down to your seat to arrive and up to leave. After soaking in seats i’ll never sit in I made my way up to nosebleed which is where I sit. Along the way I noticed many more concession stands and each had quality arena food, not those generic things they threw on bread and overcharged for at the Mellon Arena.

Kids Zone looked fun from the brief moment I was in there. You can pose on life-like bodies of Sid and Fleury and also take shots at Sid’s washing machine. It was packed so I left fast.

A nice tribute that you probably wont see in many other cities was high school/youth hockey jersey wall. Granted I was partial to this one I did think it was a nice tribute to the schools who provide kids with a chance to play hockey. Just around the corner from there also is a wall made from the bricks of the old Duquesne Gardens and still standing Mellon Arena.

View from the seat – I was worried that I would have an obstructed view but that wasn’t the case at all in fact I LOVE the view and I’m close to the exit for fast runs to the bathroom and nacho stand.

Food – the first thing you must do when hunting food is get yourself a Kielbasa Grinder from the Smokehouse on the 200 level. I met up with my bud AJ there and he clued me into the culinary masterpiece that is the grinder. We also tried the pulled pork and Erie’ own Smith’s Hot Dogs.

Jumbotron – words can’t describe the levels of badass this shot past. the picture is unreal. UNREAL!

What I Hated
The ONLY letdown I had of the entire experience was the beer situation. The arena was boasting how it was built around local ties from food to design but yet the beer selection is your standard macros. PNC Park, home to the team which has lost for 18 years has Erie, Penn and Dogfish Head products in great supply but Consol the most adventurous you’ll get is Corona. *yack*. I’m writing an article about the travesty this is for Examiner but since this is my blog I can say it, its fucking embarrassing. There is a section called The Brewhouse, this is where I expected to find the goldmine. Yeah that didn’t happen.  There are 5 stations to get a draft and they’re all macros.  I can understand that since they are your main draw but when I looked in the coolers of bottles I saw… well take a look. The name BREWhouse should tell people you can get craft beer then. Its a step above what is available everywhere. Complete FAIL. I have an email out to Consol and Aramark to find out how this can get fixed.

What’s Next?
I’m hitting 1, possibly 2 pre-season games before the home opener October 7th vs the Flyers and then my big event will be the RMU Hockey Showcase. I plan on spending the whole day stuffing my face with grinders, watching college hockey and enjoying our new arena.

Flyers made it into the Stanley Cup Playoffs on the last day of the season with a shootout goal and now they’re playing for the Cup. How in the freaking world did this happen? Teams 1-3 were knocked off right away and then the Pens fell to Montreal in 7. This has been one screwed up playoffs and if the NHL commercials about “History will be made” weren’t so god awful they would be praised for accuracy. Actually it should be “This is some fucked-up repugnant shit.”

I’m seriously torn but here’s what my decision came down to.

If your reaction is “you’re not a TRUE Pens fan” I must retort with “neither are you bandwagon!”. I’m not saying I’m cheering for the Flyers, I’m saying I pick them to win. I remained a ticket holder in the Mellon Arena during the dismal early 2000′s. Where were you when 8000 would show up to the games and before the Crosby era. You can’t question my fandom because you cant get past made up hatred for a a team you didn’t know existed 2 years ago.

Do I still hate the Flyers? You bet your sweet ass I do but they’re representing the East right now. OUR conference. They deserve OUR support. As much as it hurts me to say it, they made it to the show this year and the Pens didn’t.

I wish I could say I was stunned but I’m not. I’m disappointed and realistic. The Pens team that came out against Montreal in game 7 was not a Stanley Cup caliber team. 2 Years in a row they played to the cup finals and beating most of the odds it was only a matter of time before they came up short.

Last night? Christ hey didn’t even show up! Down 4-0 in a game 7 shows that the towel was thrown in early. We knew at the 10 minute mark of the 3rd period it was over. You just had that feeling that no matter what happened next it wouldn’t be enough. People started to pose for pictures in the stands with each other. F-balcony was taking pics like it was the last day of highschool and by the time the final buzzer sounded we all stood and gave the Pens and the Igloo one final round of applause. Showing their gratitude to the fans the players rose their sticks to the sky and saluted the fans. The fans who sold out the place 165 consecutive times (including that night).

No one ripped signs down or started stealing anything that wasn’t tied down. You saw a tip of the hat or a pat on the back and fans graciously walking out. I admit I was a bit choked up. I walked around one last time, stopped at the Cathedral Prep jersey hanging on the wall, looked out at center ice and exited Gate 3 slapping the door on my way out.  This is the only home myself and all Pens fans have known and next year we move across the street. I was there for Three Rivers Stadium, the place I called home every summer from 84 until the mid 90′s,  on its last day and finally the  implosion

Last night was an emotional sendoff but a fitting one. Teaspoon will have questions for me on what it was like going to games there and I’ll be ready to tell them. How many professional places can you still piss into a trough anyways! Now I have my first summer free of sports and I’ll have to fill that void with moving. Yeah there is Pirates baseball but seriously… its the Pirates.

Right before everyone left the video above was played and the voice of Mike Lange said for one final time “Ladies and Gentlemen, Elvis has just left the building.”

end scene

Last Thursday night was emotional. The Mellon Arena is the only place I have ever watched a professional hockey game and last night I saw my last regular season game there before we move over to the Consol Energy Center in the fall. I admit, I held back tears seeing some of the former greats come back for one last time on the ice, even for Craig Patrick. I’ve hung out with Eddie Johnson a few times (we had lunch once which stories were told that are more than epic) so seeing the light on him was moving and Gary Roberts was an absolute plus but seeing Super Mario was euphoric. He’s made appearances before but last night, at that moment, you knew that all 17,132 of us were in the presence of greatness.

I went to the game with my nephew/godson Ben and we made sure to get there early, granted we’re both going to playoff games but this night was special and nothing was going to stop us from enjoying every moment of the night.

Hats off to the team for the videos they played as often as possible. Classic commercials that 90% of the fans probably don’t remember from the mid-late 80′s, cheesy KDKA “LETS GO PENS” spots and montages of players form the 90′s/00′s, like the man I came to see… Martin Straka.

That was the only downside to the night for me was the production. I know some players first of all couldn’t be there but I really would have loved it if Straka, Jagr, Moran and a few others were there. The opening ceremony was just the into of the 50 former Pens, which don’t get me wrong was fantastic, but if you’ve been to any Penguins event in the last couple years you know they go balls to the wall and this was *meh*.

Bob gave me the best reasoning of anyone online who didn’t get their panties in a wad over my thoughts. The banner raising will go down as the coolest thing I have ever seen at the arena. I just figured that this should have deserved the same amount of attention especially when you have a full year to plan for it.  It was announced that there would be a special ceremony at the end of the game along with the “Oh my god this is so fucking long” Shirts off our Backs tradition.

Quick thing about that if I may. 1) I REALLY appreciate that the Pens do this. I think its a badass that they take the time to give back in this unique way 2) All of you who threw the jersey you were wearing over the glass for players to sign, you’re not getting those back. You’re all fools. There’s a time and place to get autographs. When you see 20 jerseys being thrown at Crosby did you honestly think he would hand deliver it back? 3) its waaaaayyyyy tooooo looonnnggggg

The only reason why I endured the pain of watching the Shirts gig is so I could see what they had for a grand finale and all I got was a 7 minute video recap of the arena and a somewhat decent light show. Again something felt like it was missing. The WOW factor and after reading what Bob said above I have to agree. I’ve been spoiled by what they’ve already done for me.

I’ll never forget this night and the time to hang out with my nephew. Someday I’ll talk about it to my son and how powerful the night was. The Pens have put most of the videos on their website so you can get caught up there.

Thank you Mellon Arena for a great ride. I’ll be by a couple more times for the playoffs but that night you shined.

Oh yeah, Jimmy Mann wasn’t there either. I think he heard I was looking for him

Here is a memory from my first ever professional hockey game which was during the 87-88 season. I grew up in Erie so see hockey above the Erie Golden Blades level wasn’t much of an option. I was 12 and my brother was living in Pittsburgh working for the Pirates. He figured out with my parents that I would be able to come visit for the weekend and see a professional hockey game. I don’t recall the team they played and think I still have the ticket somewhere in my mom’s attic but the highlight was 2 fold. First it was the first time I ever saw troughs for bathrooms and also it was the night I met Jimmy Mann.

My brother and I got to our seats and right away I tried to follow the action. We were sitting up in the D level and that was higher than anything available at the Erie Civic Center. I’m the only member of my family who’s really been into hockey so I knew that asking typical kid questions about the sport weren’t going to be answered. That’s when they guy next to myself started chatting me up. He was explaining everything to me about icing, penalties, the slot, why the goalie comes out and other misc. things. At the end of the 1st intermission my bro left and came back with a few snacks. When he sat back down the guy said to us “Do you know who I am?”. We were both oblivious. My bro was a basketball and baseball guy and heck I was only 12. He said “I play for the Pens. I’m Jimmy Mann.” I thought “yeah right, buddy” but then again in 87/88 I only knew Mario because I read about him in Kids Sports Illustrated. From what I recall he was on the DL or some jazz like that but he showed me his picture in either the program or heck he probably kept articles about himself in his pocket since he did only get 9 games in a Pens uniform.

As bad luck would have it I excused myself and ended up falling ill to arena food for the 2nd period. I returned to my seat in the 3rd and found out that Jimmy had left. My bro told me that Jimmy sends his wishes that I’d feel better and would send me an autographed stick. While I waited for this stick that summer Jimmy managed to hit up my bro on multiple occasions for free tickets to the Pirates games.

Months turned into years and a heartbroken 12yr old realized he was never going to get the stick. Thankfully it didn’t turn into a grudge that all pro athletes were jagoffs until I met jerk pack Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla. I did keep a soft spot for hockey though.

Over the years the story turned into a joke between my brother and I. “You have a better chance to get that Jimmy Mann stick than to <insert ANYTHING>.” Currently it’s “You have a better chance to get that Jimmy Mann stick than the Pirates do reaching .500!” In fact anytime we crack jokes a “f’n jimmy mann” gets thrown in there.

I have a son now and I tell him stories of going to the arena and early hockey days. Granted he’s 13 months old but its never too early to start them, right? I’m sure when he gets a little older and he starts understanding the sport more that the Jimmy Mann story will come up.

Right now as I’m shopping for our first house I would like nothing more than to mount that stick with pride in my future residence along side a picture of me with Jimmy but for now it’ll end like this…

Here we are, 22 years later, and I’m still waiting for that stick.

July
Began the month with recording at the BeerDependence Day celebration at Bocktown. Attended the Penguins Stanley Cup DVD Release Party. Started a contracting job at EDMC that would become the longest month of my life and that’s all I’m going to say. Enjoyed my first ever bowl of Pho. Rocked the Beer on the Bay festival in Erie which the videos are epic and may never be released. End the month being interviewed by KDKA for the Craft Beer Summit.

August
Won a 2009 Mustang! Bees invade our bathroom (landlord still has yet to remove the dead bodies). I got a full-time job in social media/web dev that has turned out to be freaking cool plus I’m on a rockstar team. Threatened Lushie with divorce after she gets rid of the Back to the Future marathon channels.

September
Attended “Best of the Burgh” at the Warhol with sickpuppy, PittGirl, Woy and Rachel. Go big time and hosted Beer School at the Cabaret downtown to a sold out crowd. Teaspoon hits 17lbs.

October
Hosted 2 sessions at Podcamp Pittsburgh 4. Should I Drink That passed 500,000 download mark. Pens start defending the Stanley Cup. Revised Google Maps errors. Celebrate 4 years of marriage with Lushie. Lay the smackdown on poor fact checking by the Post gazette about Erie. Teaspoon goes pumpkin farming.

November
I blogged the whole month. Seriously. Bought a X-box. Teaspoon’s first Thanksgiving. Wonders of fatherhood and a kid who grows like a weed. Craft Beer Dinner with Lew Bryson, Education on the Pittsburgh Potty. Making your own Bacon. BEER AT GIANT EAGLE! Yinz Bowl 2.o

December
Still living it for 5 more hours. Remembering dad on his anniversary. Hosted a Christmas beer sampling at Bocktown. Saw KISS in concert. Teaspoon’s first Christmas. Finished the school year with a 3.65GPA. SNOW!

So what do I have to look forward to in 2010?  Come back tomorrow and find out!

I have to admit that this has been the most life changing year of my life. Some good, some bad and some mind blowing kickass. Here’s a quick recap as I reflect before tonight’s festivities start. I’m splitting this up into 2 sections because lets be honest, no one will scroll through 12 months.

January
Reflected on the first beer I EVER drank and yes, I kept the bottle. Prepare for the end of my 10+ year employment at ForeSystems/Marconi/Ericsson. Bitched about the weather and yinzers inability to drive in snow plus dumb ass snow removal by my neighbors. Both of those still hold true today. Got ready for an unbelievable run to the Super Bowl

February
Steelers won the Super Bowl and became the first ever 6 time champ thus giving every knock off t-shirt maker starry eyes at the potential of “6 pack” shirts. Punxy Phil said 6 more weeks of winter. I was officially laid off, was interviewed for a Post Gazette story on unemployment moments after i was laid off (that never was published), Pens started to turn it around and the biggest shock of them all… Teaspoon arrived 2 months early making me the happiest and most terrified dad. Came in at 4.1lb, dropped to 3.2lb and would leave at 5 in March.

March
It was the month of Teaspoon. Lushie and I spent every minute we could at the Mercy NICU while he got healthy in an incubator. 28 days later he came home. Also witnessed the stupidity of some Hill District parents who think its a hotel in there and the joke that is unemployment system in PA.

April
Went to my first ever Rugby match and got addicted to watching Claire and the girls kick ass. Missed my first opening day of Pirates baseball since 1984 (watched it on TV with Teaspoon and started a new tradition with my boy). Bought a Wii. Enjoyed the greatest comeback in Pens Playoff hockey that I have witnessed as the Pens turned the series around with 1 fight and the Max Talbot shhhhhhh! Saw Beer Wars the Movie with hundreds of other craft beer fans around the world and baked an incredible beer ham for Easter.

May
Should I Drink That turned 3. Pens defeated Washington and Carolina to earn a second trip to the Stanley Cup Finals for a 2nd year. Bought a Blackberry. Joined Sadie’s Soldiers and took some Great Strides. KDKA reads my “tweet of the day” which I WISH they would bring back. The great personalized jersey debate. Meatshield welcomed his first child (i swear it was the year for kids to be born) and we had a cookout with some family. Bowling league ended and we were the undisputed champs.

June
Teaspoon’s first trip to the ER. Coming out of golf retirement after 3.5 year for a day with Yinz Teamer’s Woy, Lokay and Shireman at Cranberry Highlands. The Clarks release Restless Days after 5 years. Pens win the Stanley Cup in 7 games vs Detroit. Pittsburgh floods… again. Unemployed Utensil makes his first appearance as a way to help me get through not working. My first Father’s day and Pirates waste of talent Ian Snell cant take negative people.

up next… July through December.

click here for the full gallery

Unfortunately Teaspoon will never see a Pens game at the Mellon Arena, since this the last season before moving to the Consol Energy Arena across the street, so I was psyched to get him down there for season ticket holder family picture night.

Teaspoon was in awe. First it was the lights and banners, then it was the ice when I gave him his first skate and finally going in between the pipes like daddy used to. The real test came when he sat down for a chat with Iceburgh. In his mind he was probably thinking “whoa a big toy”!

The night was incredible and some of these pictures will be used for our first family Christmas card. I’m glad that the Pens have given us this chance to hang out at the arena on a non-game day. I know he won’t remember any of this and someday when he’s looking back in the archives of this site he can see the proof that he was there.

I’m looking forward to the day when I can share more hockey with my boy.

This is in reply to a piece that Jessica Isner wrote titled “Top 10 Reasons Boston Will Dethrone Pittsburgh as Best Sports City in 2010“. Lets address each of her claims as to why Boston will win.

10. Pittsburgh has no MLS team and no NBA team.
Didn’t realize people actually followed MLS and NBA teams still. That’s SO 90′s. We’ve been too busy to notice down here, you know, winning hockey and football titles. Honestly, if not for ESPN would anyone even know the NBA was around? My bet is that if you throw a bunch of “pro” teams at a city eventually one of them will win.

9. The Penguins may be better than the Bruins, but…
But nothing. Penguins are 5-1, Bruins are  2-3.  No Stanley Cup since 1971-72? Wow that’s almost as pathetic as Toronto. suck it.

8. The Charles River trumps all three rivers in Pittsburgh.
Here’s the part that kills me, “The Charles has history, collegiate regattas and celebrity fans.”. Darlin, you may want to check out the Three Rivers Regatta and Head of the Ohio. Since you’re up on history I’m assuming you know about Fort Pitt? right? What a joke. Did you even fact check?

7. Pittsburgh doesn’t have cool celebrity fans.
What does this have to do with best Sports City? Oh well I’ll humor it. If you could fill your seats on your own you wouldn’t need celebs. That’s why we have waiting lists to get into our games.

6. Sam Adams > Iron City.
Iron City? Really? I like Sam and all but I think you need to have a few beers from East End Brewing. You’ll find the emerging craft beer scene here quite impressive. Take off the beer goggles.

5. Boston is a college hockey utopia.
Granted you have a GREAT hockey program up there but you should check your facts. True that Pitt doesn’t have a  Div 1 hockey team but Robert Morris does and look at the score sheet of the last time they played.

4. After much debate, it’s true: BC football is better than Pitt football.
Debate with whom? the mailroom guy?

3. Fan devotion
Steeler Nation would destroy you and Penguins fans would trample your weak and hurdle your dead Bruins fans. no contest.

2. Speaking of the Patriots and the Steelers …
Yeah speaking of, I forget, which city does your football team play in again? Ours is actually IN Pittsburgh so I was just curious.

1. This is a baseball country, and — shocker — the Pirates just don’t cut it.
Its whatever country you want it to be when you’re trying to grasp for hope. Pirates have lost for 17 straight years and the only person this seems like news to is you. Seriously, we don’t even notice anymore.

5 hours. That was the wait to get your picture with the Stanley Cup today if you are a ticket holder. I had every intention of waiting in like with Teaspoon but when I arrived and the line was reaching the Marriott I knew it wasn’t going to happen.

The problem was that it was a “suggested” time and not a hard time so anyone scheduled on Saturday could show up. I called on Friday to double check my time and was told ‘Well really you can show up whenever. Its just a suggested time to help move things along.” Know what happens when you give options like that, knuckleheads muck it up. You now how many fans you have coming based on the tickets you sent out, so give them a time to be there and if you can’t make that window, oh well. Yeah it’s harsh but so is waiting 5 freaking hours. CYS would have arrested me if I stood there with 7mo old Teaspoon that long.

This wasn’t the only problem over the last 24 hours for the celebration for me. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m 110% in support of the Pens but some things last night at the game chapped my ass.

1) No forks – Pizza Hut stand in E Balcony North informed me as they handed me a heaping serving of Monster Chicken Nachos that they no longer offer forks. I thought it was a joke at first but the workers informed me that they were no longer provided forks. People, this is a pile of acid reflux hell that gets the chips all soft from the cheese plus its piled high with chicken. YOU NEED A FORK! I thank the ladies for running to find me a fork but whomever runs that stand needs to get their heads out of someone’s ass.

2) No Banner – Probably the sweetest thing I have ever received as a giveaway came last night in the form of a mini-version of the banner that was raised last night. Right away I thought this would be a great addition to Teaspoon’s room. Midway through the 2nd period I realized that my banner was gone. I leaned it against the railing in front of me (in F balcony the railing goes to the floor) along with my program. Some magic being came down and took it. I asked the guys in front of me and they claimed they only had their banner. The woman next to me said she didn’t have it. Well someone does and it isn’t me. If you took it on purpose, you suck and I hope you headbutt a train.

3) Soggy Program – to highlight the night my program was ruined. The lady who sat next to me arrived and threw down soaking wet sweatshirts on top of my program. It wasn’t until I looked for my banner that I realized what she did. All she could say was “well they were wet.”

So in the last 24 hours I had forkless nachos, a soggy program, a banner stolen and unable to see the Stanley Cup.

Never fear the FAIL, I have the WIN coming up next. Pulling the video off my camera now!