So there is 2011 in a nutshell. 2012 the world is supposed to end of the world so I’m debating if I should plan to do things or kick back and take it easy. Who am I kidding, I’ll be running between work and kids activities while bitching my basement still isn’t clean.
Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby returns to the NHL tonight for the first time in almost a year since suffering a concussion this past January.
Tonight the magic returns and I’ll enjoy every minute of it.
Shortly after the announcement tickets went from around $100 to $400 online. suckers…
Once the puck drops tonight at 10pm nothing else matters.
Steelers season is over.
Did the NBA ever really exist?
Baseball is… come on its been 19 years since I’ve cared about games in October. Next year, right Pirates?
Tonight the Penguins season starts in Vancouver and with it 8 months of non stop hockey coverage in my house. Trash talking has already with my cousin Heather whom happens to live in Vancouver and is a season ticket holder. I’ve got my jersey and caffeine ready to stay up for the lat night west coast session all in anticipation for the home opener next Tuesday, which for me, is better than Christmas morning.
Strap in Penguins fans, this is already shaping up to be the most interesting season ever and when you mix in some college hockey with the Colonials I’ll be impossible to be around until mid 2012.
How do you get your husband to get his hair cut? First thing in the morning say he looks like Justin Bieber!
It was getting bad and now its not so bad
On any given workday it takes about an hour to get downtown. Traffic is jammed on all parkways and its mass hysteria. This morning I found the secret, leave at 6:30am. By 7am the city was barely awake and I was able to snap this pic.
Today the Penguins invited select season ticket holders to stop down and take part in a fan forum. It was our chance to let the Pens, CEC staff and Aramark know what we thought of the new digs so far.
Scheduled for only an hour we ended yup going 30 extra minutes and were just warming up. Nothing major for complaints but little things to help out. I gave my opinion of a few issues I noticed but of course I had to mention the lack of quality beer in the arena to the Aramark rep. How do you spend money bragging about all of these local ties when your beer is all Bud, Miller, Coors.
This was addressed with Penn and Rivertowne having their beers available but you can only get them in a couple stands and the ones with it can’t stock enough even when the game starts. I got some names and emails to pass along to some local brewers whom have been unable to get someone to call them back. Seriously, PNC Park has a hella better selection of beer and at $1.50 less a glass.
Weather hit 54F today so in all it was a great day! The Pens were absolutely amazing hosts and took a serious interest in us today. You won’t find that coming from other organizations in this town.
July
We did that moving thing which pretty much consumed our entire month and turned in our keys to the skid row of Cranberry. The sky was more blue that day and birds chirp was sweeter. SIDT was featured as a “What’s Hot” on iTunes. I think the summer heat made people delusional
September
Its official, baby 2 is on the way. We had known for a few months but finally made it public. Steel City Big Pour 4 was a huge event for SIDT. Our second booth allowed us to play more with the live podcast plan. Well recorded live but it was still cool to have beer runners and brewers coming up asking to talk to us. All of this was made possible from our live debut at the Big Tap In back in April which we’ll be doing again in 2011. I did my first solo session at Podcamp Pittsburgh. It was a blast because for once I wasn’t talking about SIDT but social media in higher ed. I love social media. I love to talk about it and I love help people understand it. I should probably be charging for it but honestly with my schedule its more of a hassle to figure out a rate structure. Though, that was 2010 thinking, we’ll see about 2011. Daddy has some diapers to pay for
December
Lushie and I took an afternoon to ourselves and visited the Vatican Splendors. Most people don’t think of me as the religious type but hey, you learn something new about me. We took our former landlord to court and won our security deposit back. Funny that we had to “win” back our own money rightfully owed to us. It also taught me about how dishonest and shady people can be even when they swear they’re honest. This Christmas holiday I also got the greatest gift of all, my son Owen. With that I published a log of everything I was thinking from conception to birth. Final cap of the year was getting tickets to the Winter Classic Alumni Game and Winter Classic.
2010 was an incredibly busy year. More than we ever anticipated and I’ve never been so overwhelmed in my life. Its because of everything I have learned this past year that in 2011 I’m going to shift gears and focus more on my family, the house and my career. I graduate in June so that will be one burden off my shoulders. School, work, buying a house, moving, trying to get it organized, having a baby, trying to get SIDT to the next level and getting a side writing job off the ground was intense and I realized I need more balance.
The Winter Classic is quickly becoming the Super Bowl of the hockey world. I couldn’t make it to Buffalo for the first Classic game and the last couple years I would watch the game but I was never “into” it. This year with Pittsburgh hosting all of that changed. I’ve been to a lot of high profile hockey events in my days and will say that this was the most incredible ever.
I walked over from town on a night filled with a mystifying fog lingering over the rivers. With the lights of the bridges and city glowing it was a scene reminding me of a Crow movie. As I passed PNC Park the tailgating began and what a party these people were having! The amount of hockey love was amazing! Still the vibe didn’t hit me until I reached Heinz Field and walked through Spectator Plaza. Knowing this is a growing event I appreciated what was there but could see how the NHL could have dominated a lot more floor space.
Signature Sandwich Face-off
In a first for the Classic, Aramark pitted the signature sandwiches from the Washington Capitals (The Fury) against the Pittsburgh Penguins (Kielbasa Grinder). Its no secret that I am obsessed with the sandwich but I was severely disappointed with the offering at the Classic. The meat was dry, the cheese was hard and there was barely any sauce. Somehow it won though so kudos for that.
The Game
I went to the game with my nephew Ben. We have started making it a tradition going to important Pens games together and this was another one to chalk up. Our seats were in 147 which if you go there for any other event don’t exist. If you’re watching the Steelers game its the open end section of the south end zone. Seats were incredibly tight (dude next to me was 180lbs and barely fit) but the view was absolutely amazing.
Besides the Caps winning 3-1 the game was hard hitting and amazingly fast given the poor ice conditions. Officiating was mediocre which we’re use to and probably to the disappointment of HBO/NBC you didn’t see much from Crosby or Ovechkin. At the end of the game neither team shook hands, they just left the ice. I have a severe hatred for the Philadelphia Flyers but the joy I see in defeating the Caps grows every game. Pens fans hate Philly because that’s history. Its just what you do. Caps players and their fan base hate anything Pittsburgh and I LOVE it. It makes for a healthy obsession with my team.
In between periods were short sets performed by Hinder, The Clarks and Styx. Styx? yeah I guess they thought it was a Steelers game. The bands sounded great but that happens when everyone does the lip sync.
What I wasn’t crazy about
You take the good, you take the bad and… that song is now in your head. You’re welcome.
Heinz Field needs upgraded. It was great 10 years ago but I’m still pissing in a trough, your concession stands don’t take credit/debit cards and your Nacho Grande is 2 cups of cheese? Your sound system crackles and the video was 3-5 seconds off of the audio. It was worse than watching TV and listening to the radio. Lame.
Alyonka Larionov – who hired this girl? The most basic video segments and she fumbled over all of them. You called the band “The Styx”? Were the cards in Pittsburghese and you couldn’t read them? You’re not that cute. What a joke
Cell coverage – my phone showed 4 bars and 3G coverage but I couldn’t upload anything and twitter was impossible. Its worse than Consol Energy Center. Verizon should spend more money on coverage than on advertising being a top sponsor.
The weekend was absolutely amazing and I will never forget the hockey love that took over the north shore.
I’ve never been a big Christmas person. In fact the holiday would annoy the shit out of me every year because of how fake everyone was about being good and giving meanwhile the uber obsessed ones would drive me insane with their bat shit craziness like most of Steelernation. It wasn’t until I started having a family that this would change and while I’m still a bit “meh” I’m coming around.
This year was different. This year I was stunned!
Before I started break from work I received some monumental news from a co-worker that I can’t say until its “officially official” but will hint that.. no I won’t. You’ll have to wait. Then I won $20 on a $3 scratchoff card Lushie got me as a stocking stuffer and $35 from a football pool that my mom apparently entered me in at the church I belonged to in Erie. I was feeling pretty good by this point and as a small family we had a great Christmas day.
We celebrated Christmas at my bro’s a little late because my mom was sick. What I opened as my present left me stunned. I will be attending the Winter Classic on Saturday with my nephew/godson Ben. What a lot of people don’t know is that as a Pens ticket holder I was offered tickets in the summer and had to say no because it was too close to Lushie’s due date. I was devastated as a hockey fan but knew this is one of those things I had to do. My freaking kid could be born, I’m not missing it! I was bitter for awhile and refused to even read coverage.
I started to get angry. I told a few people on Facebook/Twitter about it and was actually called “stupid” and “dumbass” for passing up on such an event. The bitterness grew but by taking a step back I realized it wasn’t Pens fans saying it, it was the Steelers fans who jumped on the band wagon. People can be brutal on the interwebz
Back to the ticket. So I sat on the couch stunned. My brother said that the family will make sure that if Lushie goes into labor that a plan was in place to make sure I don’t miss the birth. I was speechless. Not because I had a ticket but because my family pulled together to make sure this happened and I had no idea. Some may think that a game like this is trivial but unless you’re married to me you have no idea how many things I have had to turn down.
And then…
Lushie went into labor at my brother’s. She didnt say anything just in case it was a false alarm but around 6pm she said we needed to find a sitter. By 4pm the following day my 2nd son was born.
This Christmas I’ll be in hockey nirvana. Friday I’m going to the Alumni Game with my good bud John, Saturday I’ll be at the Winter Classic and I have a new healthy son.
Earlier this summer Pens fans were offered the unique chance to be a part of Penguins history as it was announced that for a $66 donation to the Lemieux Foundation your picture would be added to a mosaic of Mario Lemieux that will/now hangs in Consol Energy Center. We jumped on the chance and the pic above is what we submitted. If you’re looking for it on the wall we’re right here
or when you’re at the arena just search for “douglas13“
The night was as amazing as expected besides the 3-2 loss to Philadelphia that I’m sure they’ll never let us live down. The arena has been open for about a month and yes there have been hockey games but this was the first official opening.
There are reviews all over the internet and yeah I could gush about how kickass the Kielbasa Grinder is (which it truly is) but nothing I could say would do the place justice. It really is that fantastic. Here are my pro’s and cons of the new barn.
Pros
MUCH better food selection
Seats are wider and I don’t have to eat my knees when I sit
Scoreboard is the most unreal display ever built. I found myself watching that more than the ice
Getting to my seat is very easy. Its 2-3 escalators and BAM I’m there.
Bathrooms are very clean.
Incredible view of the city that will take your breath away.
TV’s everywhere which is great when you’re stuck in line.
NO bad seats. If you have a ticket you will be amazed
bright lights means WAY better pictures. I was able to get some incredible pics from around the arena and the overall brightness doesn’t bother me one bit. I’m anxious to see it during a day game.
Kids section – I can’t wait until Teaspoon and Teaspoon 2 (still working on a name) are old enough to go
High School hockey – Cathedral Prep is on display. nuff said. ROLL RAMBLERS!
Plenty of team stores to buy a gross amount of swag.
There is so much more I need to see!
Cons
Beer selection is embarrassing. For a place that bragged about how so many local items were used (even the hot dogs are from Erie) they FAILED on the beer. Its still the same lawnmower crap you can get from a redneck. Honestly the Pirates, yes THE PIRATES, have done a better job at PNC Park. I wouldn’t be so bitter but Aramark has not replied to emails about it. The “brewhouse” is a joke.
Better food but too much together and no way to manage lines. There were food stands without customers and then there were food stands 30 people deep. Its a new place, someone should have been navigating people.
Seats may be wider but the jagoff in front of me can now also slam his head into my shins.
Getting out of my seat is a nightmare. Escalators were breaking down and no one was around to tell people how to get out via stairs. Instead employees said, and i quote “Its none of your business whats going on, just wait”.
Bathrooms are a mess to navigate through. No one knows which is in or out plus they seem smaller room wise.
Banners are too high. there is too much in the ceiling that obstructs their view from 200 level
This is more about the games, the 7pm start time SUCKS. Getting home and then down to the arena and having a chance to kick back is near impossible.
Ushers weren’t stopping people from walking up and down while game was in play. Someone is lucky they didn’t get tossed by fans.
