A Great Day For Hockey
Dear Mario,
Hi, there! Thanks for always taking the time to stop by and read my silly little site. That's really very spectacular of you. Anyway, about that Winter Classic Alumni Game this morning...AMAZING! Seriously, it was great seeing you back on the ice again. But, hey, could you do me a little favor? Please go choke a bitch over that disaster that happened at the gate before the game. I know you were a little busy while it was all going on, but somebody had the bright idea to try to fit over 10,000 people through two doors.
It, uh, didn't work.
We were in line at Heinz Field a good half hour before the game was set to start and still missed half of the first period. LAME. LAME. LAME.
The tickets weren't crazy-expensive, but still. I kind of paid for us to be *inside* Heinz field when you first stepped back on the ice. I kind of wanted to see you score a goal. We missed both events. :-(
So, Mario, buddy, go rip some heads off for me, mmkay?
Thanks,
The Lady Whose Kid Was Nearly Crushed By The Angry Mob
More pics over here.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Reader Comments (12)
OMG, shots. OMG. Love.
I'm sorry they were stupid at the gate. But those pictures. Win.
OMG...that is SCARY! Glad you two are OK! Other than that...COOL!!!
Oh you hockey fans.
You're like runners to me, I admire it, but I sure don't get it.
Great, great shots. My little guy did the Try Hockey for Free day the day before. He had a great time, they let them keep their jerseys. The Pengujins are a class act.
I don't understand the whole one gate opened a half hour before. Steelers made similar mistakes the first season of Heinz Field (not opening the games soon enough before the game). You would have thought someone from the Steelers or the stadium would have told the NHL/Pens that it was a stupid idea.
One of the security "pat down" guys even just stopped patting people down to get people in quicker, which unfortunately only made a bigger rush at the ticket scanner until they added a few more. It seems simple that 2 ticket scanners can't scan 10,000 tickets in 30 minutes.
@Pittsburgh Tom--There wasn't even the theater of "security" when we went through. The just scanned our tickets and didn't even glance at my bag. It's really fortunate nothing horrible happened because they had to drop the usual security measures.
Looks like you were seated right near my husband and me! We were lucky and got through the lines relatively quickly, right before all the craziness started (our friends who got there five minutes after us had an experience a lot more like yours).
But it was still awesome just to see Mario on ice. I was disappointed that they just ended with a tie, but I guess that back when most of these guys played, ties could happen. :)
I got to see Mario play in-person one time. My husband is a HUGE hockey fan and when the Penguins were in their season of not-so-great hockey I had a coupon, courtesy of the entertainment book, for BOGO for decent seats. I got him the tickets for Christmas...and Lemieux announced he was coming out of retirement! The suspense was on! Would it be the game that I had the tickets for in my hot little hand? Close. It was the game after. And I - who at the time knew very, very little about hockey leaned over to my husband at one point and said, "It's like watching a grown-up play with a bunch of 4th graders!!" He was that good. And that was well after his "prime". {SIGH} Glad you got to see a bit of that magic! LET'S GO PENS!
Yikes! I know how you must have felt, because when we went to a Steelers game one time, the same thing happened. A bunch of hyped up drunken fans in a crowd? Never a good idea.
Sorry you missed his goal, but I bet it was still a great time.
the last pic is so precious!
It was good seeing you in passing!
We also had issues getting in. Though, we got in with about 10 minutes left in the first period (or half?).
The security people literally were standing there waving people through. I'm not sure who was in charge of the gates for the game (NHL? Pens? Steelers?) but it was a nightmare!
That said, the game itself was fantastic. I relived my childhood seeing so many of the older guys!
...and, of course, Mario.
So! Jealous! Except, um, almost losing your kid. That kinda sucks. But the hockey! In a football stadium! It's like adding chocolate and caramel together. Mmm...