Wednesday November 22, 2006 Flyers vs. Senators

There were more people in the stands last night than there have been in a while. The building actually got quite loud at times. The team played well enough to win, but what you had was two bottom feeders in the East going at it…..it wasn’t pretty.And it wasn’t pretty from the stands either…I found my usual array of misfits and morons. I’d like to tell you about them.I have to admit that the first thing I do when I arrive at the arena, after I hit the bathroom of course, is look around to see who is dressed inappropriately for a hockey game. This is a great source of hilarity for me. What I found always involves more women than men. It’s hard for a man to screw it up. But, let me tell you that the amount of high heels, tank tops, sparkly sweaters and tight pants were mind boggling. The weather was awful: cold and pouring rain. There was a woman in her late 40’s walking around in painted on jeans, a furry parka, and knee-high leather boots with stiletto heels. My feet hurt just looking at them. I’m usually in my slippers, flip flops, or sneakers. Hairspray, heavy make-up and nasty perfume seemed to be the call of the day for most. Standing in line for my beer I almost passed out from the strength of some lady’s drug store cologne. Then we venture down to our seats. I was planning on enjoying this particular game as a fan, not as a writer, but the fodder was too irresistible. We were sitting right beside the Ottawa bench. I watched the game next to Martin Gerber. There is so much fun stuff going on in that area during and before the game. But, there was this kid and mother that were parked in the seats in front of us. Now we were second row, so the odds of having the most annoying person in the arena in front of you should dwindle right? WRONG!!He was a non-stop chatter box. And he kept talking to us. I’m a social person and I love to talk, but I need mental stimulation during a conversation. This kid was hurting my brain. When we realized that the seats they were in weren’t theirs, they were just there to watch warm-up, I breathed a sigh of relief. That lasted all of 5 minutes. The family from hell decided to visit, and stay throughout the game. Lucky us!The youngest boy was adorable, about my own son’s age of 5 or so, but the older one and his dad almost got the backside of my boot. You could tell that they hadn’t ever been that close to the action before, and I can truly understand the excitement. But, come on; act like you’ve done it before. This father kept urging his boys to tap on the glass every time a Senator came close and make gestures. I will say that it did pay off because Brian McGrattan noticed and gave the little guy a stick. That was super nice of him. He even said that when he came off the ice he would sign another stick and give it to the other boy. He was a man of his word, after they won the game in overtime, he came over and signed his game stick and handed it to the boy. He truly is what most hockey players are, the nicest group of athletes you’ll ever find in pro sports. I got lucky and got a game puck from the Sens bench from the jolly old security guard. He was the one guard that seemed to have his head on straight. The woman manning our section came down before the game to check out tickets. That was fine. Then after the first period she wanted to check them again as we reentered from the concourse. My ticket was in my jacket at my seat and I told her that she was more than welcome to follow me all the way down to the second row to see it again, since she already checked about half and hour ago….not too bright…I’m sure I left some things out and they will come to me later I’m sure. But, that’s the gist of what I ran into last evening.