This will most likely be another long winded post. Recently, I have shared a few stories of my very own childhood. I have let members into a deeper understanding of who I am, at the core or what I dealt with growing up in the 70s and 80s. I haven't given up very much information but I was impressed by the sincere Private Messages from members who gave me genuine, positive support. This is America! We all grow up in some sort of dysfunctional family setting. I like what Lefty said about people and the past... "You have a past. I have a past. My past is no worse than yours, but you guys think you have the right to pass judgment!"
You wouldn't think, after this first paragraph, that this report or thread is going to be about Hockey... would you? One thing I love is Hockey. My mom didn't! That's why she moved to Egypt, where there's not a hockey rink within 1500 miles. Let us give you some more background. I grew up about 30 miles outside of Pittsburgh. My family didn't have any money, so the few times we went to a sporting event it was a baseball game. We would sit all the way up in the nose bleed section. This isn't so terrible when you are 8 years old. I was more involved in the crowd chanting "Let's go Bucs" more than anything. This is when the Penguins weren't very good and the Steelers had Bubby Brister who I actually ran into at Sears and my father got us his autograph after we shook his hand. I was far too young to understand any of it. It wasn't long before that, that I would walk home from elementary school and at the end of the street would be an officer who stopped traffic. This guy would give out free Football cards every Friday to us kiddies. Of course like most kids back then I was too busy playing outside or being amazed at the local arcades that were popping up here and there. I grew up in a small town and during a time when parents would let the kids run free and wild all day long. Free to explore and get into all sorts of trouble with the other little kiddies. Most likely this is the last era to be able to do those sorts of things since nowadays we are invaded with video games and internet and hip hop artists? Hip Hop Artists?? Artist? Music? Seems to me they are just ripping off past songs and putting a jungle beat to them but ok... music it is!?
I was a Pirate Fan but from 6 to13 I really didn't have much interest in watching baseball, football or hockey on Television. Basketball wasn't even a thought in my mind at that time. I am not even sure I was aware of it just yet. My father was excited when we got Mario Lemieux but for some time the Penguins still couldn't break through just yet and honestly my father was more so interested in cracking open another Old Milwaukee... which anyone that knows anything knows that it tastes as great as its name! I think the game was secondary when you compare the two events. Truth be told, I was too busy playing sports and other games outside. Who really had time for television!? So my fathers passion was Beer and Fishing during those days. I went fishing so much that I would get to the point of complaining about it. What a brat! Just didn't understand how special that was even though I remember him specifically saying something about other children would kill to have a father who takes them fishing all the time. A father who would let me play hooky to go fishing or even come to school and drag me out in the middle with some BS excuse to go catch another Rainbow Trout or Bass in the rivers and lakes of good old Pennsylvania.
If you have stayed with this post this long, don't worry, we will get into Hockey eventually. For some strange reason, back then, football cards were pretty big. I had a bunch of them since I had a paper route to earn money. Don't worry I blew that opportunity up eventually and RS and others will enjoy to hear that I was involved in some thievery to bring the hammer down on myself. I have told that story before somewhat but we can leave that for another day. So I had this odd thing in my head that I was a Detroit Lions Fan. Where the F did that come from? My father would say something along the lines about rooting for the Steelers or you should be a Pittsburgh Fan. I had this football card of Eric Hipple and perhaps I liked the Blue Lion on the Silver Helmet. Perhaps I was on a team that was called the Lions so I was following suit. I dunno. I never really followed the crowd. I seem to always go against the grain as I am sure most of you realize on this forum. Don't worry around the time of 9th grade I became a Pittsburgh Fan of all three sports. It didn't hurt when the Penguins got players like Lemieux, Jagr, Barrasso, Bourque, Coffee, Francis and others to propel them to back to back Stanley Cup Champions. Even the Bucs had the 3 Aaarghs with Bonds, Bonnila and Van Slyke so it wasn't hard to root. Everyone loves a winner. Although Sid Bream, a former Bucco destroyed our hopes as an Atlanta Brave in the 9th inning. After that, what happened? Free Agency? The highest bidder? That broke up Bonds and the rest and it took 20 years to have something to root for with that team. Of course moving to Vegas, traveling the white line gambling and hustling and 20 years of betting against the Bucs destroyed any loyalty or love of the Pirates. Funny how that works. I was a Bucs fan first but later became more of a Penguin/Steeler fan in the later years.
I grew up in a time when hockey was about hockey. I am, for the most part in life, a true traditionalist. I like the old ways. I have Cast Iron to cook in. I buy Amish Furniture made of only real wood. I like Cotton. I like Wool. I like my art to actually have oil on the canvass that a person used a brush on. Not some computer generated piece of trash that some worker bee highlighted with paint. So it was a little difficult to experience this new Hockey Franchise in Vegas. I never expected them to be very good let alone fight for the best season record as we speak. I am conflicted about what I witnessed last night since you certainly have a Hockey game in front of you but it is clear that they have built an entertainment spectacle around a Hockey game to keep the younger generation interested. It is clear that most of the people enjoying the game do not understand the rules or how the rules changed over the years. It is clear that they are just out on the bandwagon enjoying an evening out with friends and family. This isn't such a bad thing. Who am I to tell people they can't have fun the way they want to have fun even if they don't fully understand icing, offsides, hooking, slashing, two line passes, last change, dumping the puck, crashing the net and so on and so forth. Who am I to explain to them that we don't need 800 foot LED/LCD screens above the players to see every second or inch of the game or replays. Who am I to tell them that instant replay shouldn't be a part of the game to call back a goal or prove goalie interference? Do they even understand what that is? It really doesn't matter. Everyone loves a winner and this crew of misfits or players who are great players that the other teams had to let go because of salary and expansion reasons certainly do play with a chip on their shoulder. I can't deny, that for me, to see Flower or as you might call him Fluery is a real treat since I am after all, a die hard Penguin fan, riding a high of back to back Stanley Cup Championships for the last two years!
Anyone who knows Hockey and Vegas knows that we had a great decade of The Wranglers over at the Orleans Arena! What a gem! 10 to 20 dollar tickets. The ability to move around and sit wherever you want. Try to do that at a Diamond Backs game. Not so easy anymore since they really crack down on that sort of thing these days. Dollar Beer nights. Who needs to pay for beers when they allowed you to sneak all the drinks in anyways? It is more difficult to get away with that at T-Mobile Arena because you have to go through 3 metal detectors on your way to your seat. I love Big Brother! Long Live Big Brother... Long Live Big Brother!! I betrayed you Julia... Long Live Big Brother!! Not that you can't sneak in a water bottle full of Vodka. You will be happy to hear that a beer costs 13 dollars and I think it is 24 ounces so you sorta get two. Who can't buy a 30 pack for close to that price? Whatever, this is the land of free drinks anyways... sorta. The rink and the seating is set up nice in my opinion. We had good seats IMO so I can't say for sure about the nose bleeds but from my experience I would bet that even up in the last row on top you can see the action plenty good and most of those guys are over there for the atmosphere anyways which they certainly have plenty of.
I figured I would run into someone selling tickets or who had comped tickets trying to sell them but I was unprepared or uneducated of where these guys set up shop. I had to stand in line and get decent seats but pay a 26 dollar fee for the entertainment. So each ticket was 100 plus the fees to bring it to 226 dollars for the two of us. That's fine, I guess. I mean I wanted to go to the Penguin game months ago but for those seats we had the prices were 600+ per ticket. I can splurge but I just don't see the reason when you can hold out for another team that the prices will be more reasonable. Honestly, I figured that one of these Casinos would of given me tickets but it doesn't seem the ones I have connections with have that ability just yet. All in all you can't complain. I fell into this game really. I went to the Palms to pick up all those comforters that my wife wanted. I had the buffet that I still do not enjoy compared to years past over there. I still don't understand how a normal person that doesn't have long arms like myself can reach under the salad bar to get all the cucumbers and chick peas and such? I struggle and I can reach!? Eh, whatever, The Hummus is good so there is that. So it was about 4pm and it was point day and I wanted to kill time before heading over to the game. However, I hate playing VP while the sun is up so instead I wheeled us over to the Spa and we got Pedicures. Ha ha... LOL! This Traditionalist, Conservative, Republican, Trump Supporter, Bush Supporter... ok not much of a supporter but this guys don't bother me. Anyone who knows anything knows they don't really run or do anything. Honestly I live on the outskirts of society looking for my next pal to F over anyway. Lie, Cheat and Steal... The American Way! The Easy Way! The Best Way! Pardon me, so yeah, this straight guy... anti-everything, anti-gay gets pedicures. I admit they do help people who walk hours upon hours in Casinos on a daily basis. The downside is that you might have to have some guy give it to you at times but whatever. Most of the time it is some nice Vietnamese girl. My father is rolling around in his grave lol! Ahhh, whatever... he spent plenty of time with Mamasan and most likely had to of enjoyed the food over there. Heck with all the French influence, Vietnamese Food is one of the best in the world IMO.
So after the Pedicure we went over to the Orleans to pick up some FP. After that detour we went over to Camelot but that parking trick is over and done with. At least the Trop and Hooters haven't started to gate off the free parking yet. We walk into the MGM and I get depressed seeing what Vegas has become. We walk out over the bridge and some more depression. Over through NY NY and yes more depression or at the least just some nostalgic sadness. Now I am trying to find these damn hustlers. Not one in sight and I took some time to check other areas. I was told that if you waited till after the puck dropped you could find some deals. That information on this night didn't appear to ring true. So into the line to use the CC and get my 3% cashback worth of points. Through the metal detectors and up the escalator to Section 13. On the Escalator of course the Knights get the first goal and we miss it but hear the roars. Now we wait for the action to stop so we can get to our middle seats. I prefer the ends but ok. When I went to the PBR the seats were tighter. I was happier to see these seats had more elbow room. Anyone who knows about the Wranglers, knows that the Calgary Flames were an affiliate and that it appears Calgary travels well to Vegas. Plenty of red in the stands. Perhaps 35% of the fans. I wouldn't doubt 40% of the fans were Calgary Fans which I thought was nice. It gave a playoff feel to the game. It wasn't long before the Flames tied it up and of course the Knights got a Power Play goal at the end of Period 1 to take the lead and the slap shot was in perfect viewing range for our seats. Plenty of roaring noise in this arena. Plenty of Go Knights Go Chanting, although I might prefer something like Here we go Vegas Here we go but that's just me. The game was a sea saw back and forth game with a skirmish or two. Of course once it was 5-3 we got a good fight to view, close to our section. They both got a few good shots in but I feel we won the fight. Actually the fight lasted longer than your normal Hockey fight and they just got tired of pounding on each other and of course the Roman Mob loved it as did I. Hail Ceasar... or perhaps Hail the American Entertainment Culture called Sports to keep the little guy complacent so that the Ruling Class doesn't have another Revolution on their hands like Louis XVI! The damn higher ups got smarter after that one!
So all in all a good place to kill a few hours and see some Hockey and be a part of a Party Atmosphere. They have this Castle Like Entrance at the top that has an interesting Band. Think, Revenge of the Nerds at the End talent competition when they did the music scene. Although this band has some glasses that light up bright white with LEDs and other lights and bright colors. The Knights ended up winning 7-3! A ten goal Hockey Game!? Welcome to the new age of Hockey! I was sitting next to a very quiet elderly couple from Calgary and we had a row of Red Jerseys in front of us, I was happy to sit next to the elderly couple as we talked about some real hockey and it isn't every day you get to talk to Real Canadians Eh! You drive, there's a lot of cops around. Ok... thanks Eh! Don't listen to him Officer... My Brothers Drunk! I am not! Cut it out you knob. Ok you all know I watch a lot of movies and hey I like Strange Brew.
The dream for me would be the Vegas Golden Knights vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Stanley Cup this year. I'd have to break off a few grand to go see one of those games. I'd also have to root for the Penguins but it would be hard not to cheer when both teams score. If you were able to read all the way to the bottom Maxpen I did include a couple of pictures of the stairs. I didn't notice any difference in steepness in our seats compared to other arenas or venues but as always when you get up to the upper sections the stairs are always steeper for the most part in my experience. However, our section felt like it would collapse every time someone walked up and down the stairs. Something felt unstable as if that section moves in and out as they change the floor plan for different events. My uncle was waiting for us to fall into the abyss!
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