Recurring Nightmare

I keep having this nightmare in which I've traveled by plane to see the Wild play in a city that really doesn't even deserve to have an NHL team.  Instead of overpowering and dominating the undeserving city's team, the Wild embarrass themselves by losing 5-1 and making their goalie face 33 shots on goal.  That's when I wake up in a cold sweat and realize that it really did happen.  This is no nightmare.  

I timed a trip to Atlanta this month as means of combining two of the things I love most: my family and the Wild.  Good thing my family never fails me.  The Wild - well that's a whole different bedtime story and one that's been inducing nightmares for too many seasons.  

The Good -

• The concessions are 1000% better than what Xcel offers.  There really is no comparison here, kinda embarrassing for the X. 
• You can fit at least 2 Hockey Lodges inside the Team Gear store in Philips Arena.  
• The bathrooms had hot water!  Okay, I'll admit we were lower level but still - actual hot water was a treat indeed.  
• FREE GAME PROGRAMS!  The real kind - that smell good and with player interviews and articles.  They weren't the cheap-ass fold out "collectible" posters that Mr. Leipold is passing off on the fans this season. 
• The Thrasher Fans - classy bunch.  They kept thanking us Wild fans in the stands for making their team look so good. 
• The Traveling & Transplanted Wild Fans - always fun to see familiar jerseys in a crowd...not there was actually a crowd at the game... 

The Bad -

• It was an echo chamber with maybe 2,500 fans in the stands for the November 11th game, despite FSN announcing a crown of 3,500.  The arena seats 18,545 for hockey and last season's total was just under 558,000 seats sold.  It should be noted that the Atlanta Falcons (NFL) were playing next door and there were a bazillion fans attending that game.  
• Bimbos On Blades - yep, the Thrashers got em.  The outfits were tiny but the bust sizes weren't.  I'd venture to say there wasn't anything smaller than a 38 C among them.  That's probably why none of them could skate with any skill or speed, even if they were being chased down by a Zamboni on the loose.  I would have paid extra to see that, actually.  
• How the Wild played against a team they should have gotten an easy 2 points from.  At this point on the calendar it doesn't make a lot of sense to rehash the game.  It's been written about and discussed, at length, on any number of hockey message boards, sports radio stations and on hockey blogs around the internet.  

Would a Wild win, or a Wild effort - at all, have made the family night out better?  Sure, but all in all it was a great experience, being in another team's arena and talking with their fans.  

A sample of some of the pictures I took:

Backstrom seeing action early and often - too often

Backstrom stopping a puck

Backstrom not stopping a puck

Fire-breathing Thrasher...I guess? 



Our Bench - looking rather dejected



Clutterbuck In Action

Clutterbuck Making Friends


And finally - The only Wild goal of the game - way to go Antti!



I'll write some notes from Wednesday night's tilt with the Ducks - some good hockey and some good humor from our seat mates to share.  It was great to be back in our arena and sharing a hockey brain with Vicki.

Now I'm off to the kitchen to start working on the dinner part of Dinner And A Movie night with a friend.  Before all you gal pals get your undies twisted (or shifted, as Vicki alluded to last night) - it's not who you think it is so calm yourselves.  Tonight's menu: nachos grande (with chorizo and a little something from El Loro's - salsa blanco).  I can hear Heather and Dee cursing me.  Oh, and a pitcher or two of tangerine margaritas.  Playing on the big screen - IronMan and IronMan 2

Here's the greatest video ever done combining a movie trailer and the band's music used in the movie.  Of course, I'm a little biased since I'm an AC/DC fan.  It's got a little something for all of us to enjoy - even if Scarlett Johansson can't act.