Our time in California is ticking down so we have made a list of things we definitely want to do while we're here.The list ranges from likely (go to the Zimmer Children's Museum) to not-so-likely (go on the Price is Right). At the top of this list was to go to a Kings vs. Oilers game. There are only a few home games versus the Oilers each season so we had to wait until the end of the season to go. Never ones to actually pay full price for anything, we scoured Craigslist ads for people selling off tickets from their season ticket packs. None of the seats were great so we decided to chance it and find a scalper at the game. (On a side note, isn't the word 'scalp' disgusting? Not only is it just yucky sounding it has such horrible connotations. How did the the resale of tickets to sporting events become synonymous with the removal of one's enemy's scalp?)
Well in good ol' Edmonton you can count on several people hanging around under the statue of Wayne Gretzky trying to sell you tickets. I assume it's either legal or the authorities look the other way. In Los Angeles it seems to be a much shadier business. A guy around the corner from the gates asked if we wanted tickets but as David perused the merchendise some cops approached and our 'dealer' told David to put the tickets in his pocket. We then casually walked up the block with the guy several steps ahead of us. After a little negotiation (on David's part of course. I am really horrible at bartering) we landed 2 tickets, 10 rows behind the Oilers' bench. Not bad.
It turns out that actually selling the tickets isn't illegal but you can't do it outside the arena without a permit. Still though, don't you think that the LAPD has better things to do than patrol the Staples Center for scalpers? This is a city where people get murdered daily. The whole undertaking was actually pretty thrilling, as was getting past the gate without being told the tickets were bogus.
When we found our seats it turned out that the guy next to us had been given 4 tickets and sold 2 of them to a guy in the parking lot who then sold them to us for $25 more per ticket than he had paid. It really worked out well for everyone because the guy beside us made a little money, the entrepreneur in the parking lot made some too, and we got great seats for way less than the box office price. Unfortunately I think some of that money went up the guy beside us's nose. He was awfully sniffly and really hyper. Oh well.
There were a remarkable number of Oilers fans in the crowd. I suppose some people were expats like us but lots of people probably traveled there for the game. I guess if you want to travel to an away Oilers games, L.A. is a good place to go. It beats Pittsburg! A guy in front of us took one look at my Oilers jersey and asked, "do you live in Edmonton?" and when I said 'no' he said "why do you cheer for them then?".
Lots of things were the same as hockey games at home. Beer, popcorn, annoying people constantly shouting "shoot it!". There were some differences though. One of which was people that came out and shoveled the ice during commercial breaks. It was different because they shoveled the blue and red lines as well as the area around the nets. It was also different because these people were scantily clad women. During the first period, they were wearing low cut shirts and pants. During the second period they seemed to have lost the bottom halves of their shirts. We waited with baited breath to see if they would be pantless in the third but alas they were not.
Another similarity was the chants. You know, when the organ plays and people hollar "DE - FENCE!" and "let's go Kings, let's go!". A difference was that there was also a chant involving a little ditty played by the organ and the fans yelling "Oilers suck!". This was shocking to my Canadian sensibilities. I couldn't help thinking that in Canada we're not mean hockey fans.
We wondered what the crowd would be like and if these Angelenos would know anything about hockey. We were pleasantly surprised to see that the arena was fairly full and the crowd were pretty hard core. I guess if you're a hockey fan in a baseball/basketball town you must really love hockey. In other words, it doesn't take much to be an Oilers fan in Edmonton but if you choose the Kings over the Lakers, Clippers, and... what are the baseball teams called? .... you must really be hard core.
So did we win? Of course not! Don't you know that the Oilers suck?! I like to say that we lost the game but we won the fight. The highlight of the game was the fight in the first period where our guy worked the other guy. What is it about hockey fights that I love so much? I really am a pacifist at heart. When I was a kid I used to let mosquitos bite me because I found out they only live for 2 weeks and I felt bad for them. When I was 5 years old my mom asked me to choose between an ugly plaid dress and a cool one with stripes and a mock turtle neck. I chose the cool one but felt horrible for the ugly one. As an adult I don't eat meat and close my eyes whenever there's violence in movies. But a hockey fight? I go crazy! I find myself saying things like, "come on! Throw off your gloves, you sissy!" and cheering like a crazy person when someone lands a punch. I guess it's because it's mutually agreed upon by both players and usually increases the energy of the whole game. So although we didn't win and most of the Oilers (excepting the goalie) seemed to be counting down the minutes until golf season, even Sniffy beside me had to admit his guy got worked.
So I would highly recommend going to an away game of the sporting team that you love. It's kind of thrilling being the underdog and cheering when no one else is. It must be so fun for all those Leafs and Flames fans in Edmonton! We just might have to schedule any future North American travel around the Oilers' travel schedule.
As a side note, Asha's current favourite song is "The Good Ol' Hockey Game". She sings it all the time and tells people that hockey is the best game you can name. I have her convinced that when we fly back to Canada they are going to ask us at the border what the best game you can name is and if we don't say 'hockey' they won't let us in. She has also told David that when we go back to Canada he should be a house builder and a hockey player. Do you think it's to late for him to make the big leagues??
Oh, and one more thing. I'm going to use this blog as a way of recording something for posterity. David seems to think that he has a knack for predicting the Oilers' future. He insists that he predicted that Ryan Smyth would come back. By the way, it was nice to see Smitty back! Although does he always play wing now and therefore can't take his position in his "office" (i.e., the crease)? So anyway, David's new prediction is that the Oilers will just barely miss a playoff spot next year, make it to the playoffs the year after, and then they'll be on fire. I guess he believes all this "it's OK that we suck because it means we'll get great draft picks" business. Well, we'll see!
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