Game Night

Canes Vs Flyers - 12/15/07


After taking a short nap, we get dressed in our Canes gear. We borrowed a Staal jersey from one of Kel's coworkers and picked up a Staal t-shirt for her before we left town. Knowing the reputation of Philly fans, we decided it would probably be best to keep them underwraps for as long as possible until we got to our seats and settled.

We hop on the Broad Street line right outside our hotel and take it all the way to the stadium. Its bitter cold, windy and its started to drizzle so the walk to the ticket office is brutal.

As we're walking up to the ticket office, I go to grab my ID and its not there. I have a major panic attack about the flight the next morning, but we both decide that since I've been keeping my ID and room key together and they're both missing - I probably just left them in the room. We check in to will-call and pick up our tickets and meet-n-greet passes. Section 114, Row 8, Seats 15 & 16.

We make our way around the concourse and the Wachovia Center really reminds me of the RBC the way everything is laid out. Get to Sec 114 and show our tickets to the nice ushers and make our way down to our seats - which were AWESOME. We were 8 rows up (duh) from the glass, inside the blue line of the Canes attacking zone for 1st and third periods, OT and the shootout.

Once we sit and get settled, I look around and I don't know the numbers on how many the building holds and all - but the place feels HUGE. There MIGHT be a dozen canes fans in the building, most of em have Brind'Amour jerseys on so I wonder if they're just Roddy fans from back in his Philly days who picked up a jersey for the novelty of it or if they're real fans of the team.

I take off my jacket and unveil the Staal jersey, getting some cross looks from the fans around us, but none of them say anything to us about it. A few minutes later, the lights go down, they announce our starting lineup. "[Player Position, Name]" by the annoucer, "SUCKS!" by the entire crowd, including young children. Puck hasn't even dropped yet and the building is already alive and loud. Each Flyer gets a huge ovation as they're called out over the P.A.

The puck drops and the boys skate up and down the ice a couple of times. It looks like we're defending well, but having trouble getting the puck back out of the zone on the attack. 1:30 or so in, we give up a quick, cheap goal. The place goes insane. Chatter starts up around us, but nothing mean. Just how they're 3-0-0 against us this year and how they own us. While this is going on, we spy two guys down on the glass in front of us. One wearing a Whalers jersey, another in a Canes.

These guys either a: didn't get the memo that we're in Flyers country and Philly fans are insane or b: wanted to die. After the Flyers goal they turned around and started giving all the fans around them the finger, cussing at them, etc. This proceeded to get worse and worse as the game went on. These two guys totally took the pressure off us. They had two whole sections of the arena saying vile things about their mothers, their domestic partnership status, their chances of making it to the train in one piece, one guy even gave him the Chris Benoit Roid Rage Throat Cutter sign. Kel and I decide its best to let everyone around us know that we don't know those guys and are not associated with them in any way, shape or form.

The game progresses and its a great one. The game goes back and forth all game. 10 goals total, one fight that was broken up way too quickly, a few cheap penalties on both teams, 2 goals that were reviewed and called goals. One thing about the Flyers fans - they know their hockey and they are intense. You'd have thought it was Game 7 of the finals by the volume and passion in there. We were lucky enough to be sitting around a couple of groups of cool guys who loved the Flyers, but were just as big fans of the game in general and appreciated the way the game was shaping as much as we did.

There were only two times where I ever felt like my life was in any danger during the game. When the Canes tied it up at 1-1, I forgot where I was and jumped out of my seat screaming with my arms over my head. Let me just tell you - it was a little awkward to be the only one standing in a stadium of 20,000 or so. I just kind of looked around, gave a little 'sorry' wave and took my seat. Some of the boys around us let me know that had this been a Penguins or Devils game - it wouldn't have been pretty. The second time we were in danger was actually a lot of fun. In the 3rd period of the games, they do this boo/cheer thing on the jumbotron. They came down and put a camera on us and one of a kid in a Flyers jersey. We come up on the screen and the whole place boos, kid comes up and they go nuts. They did this back and forth a few times and it was fun, but I didn't really like the camera guy leaving. At least if we got attacked on camera, we'd have some evidence.

The game is tied 5-5 at the end of regulation and we go into OT. The Flyers pick up a quick hooking penalty that just shouldn't have been called. I really didn't want us to win on a cheap power-play like that, but it didn't matter because the Flyers killed it well. Not long after we were back to 4v4 the Canes pick up a penalty of their own. I tell ya, 4 minutes of 4v3 sudden death hockey isn't good for the ole ticker. The Flyers were pounding it in there and I thought for sure they had it a few times. Graham came up huge a few times and we even got Brind'Amour out on a short handed chance one time. We kill the penalty and get a few shots off in the final seconds, now we're in penalty shots.

Briere is up first for the Flyers. He gets Graham to bite hard on the deke and shoots over the net from point blank range. I thought for sure he had it. Cullen's up first for the Canes. Skates in hard, 5 holes Biron. 1-0 canes. Flyers tie it up, Hamilton skates in hard and gets Biron glove side. 2-1 canes. Flyers tie it up 2-2. Roddy's up and the whole place is on edge. Their former love against them with it all hanging on this shot. He comes in hard, takes Biron glove side and the whole place goes nuts. Everyone, including Roddy, thinks its in the glove. Then all the sudden the lights go off and the puck is in the net! It deflected off the glove, straight up, off Biron's back and into the net. I couldn't believe it - what a way to end the game.

Fearing for our safety, we cover all the canes logos back up and head to section 104 for the meet-n-greet. We wait a few minutes, then they let us in and lead us through the press conference area. Not what you'd expect. It was a lot smaller than what it feels like on TV but pretty cool to see anyway. We're in the Lexus Lounge waiting on the players to come out and meet with their friends and family. Some of the guys come out, and honestly - I'm just not used to seeing these guys without jerseys and helmets on. I wasn't sure if they were Canes players or Flyers so I sheepishly asked someone near us who they were. Went up and got Tim Gleason's autograph, but I felt bad interrupting him while he was spending time with his girl. Justin Williams came out too and we got his autograph and got to speak to him for a few minutes. Some other folks took a picture with him and Kel tried to get out of the photo so she bent over and backed up...right into a guy in a suit who we later found out was Cam Ward. She'll be serving her two minutes for goaltender interference at the next game - hopefully she didn't injure Cam's knees too bad.

We didn't get Cam's autograph because we just didn't know who he was. He was standing there talking to three guys, one of em in a Flyers hat so we assumed he was a Flyer. We asked the guys afterwards who he was and couldn't believe it. These three guys were canadians who were on a whirlwind NHL trip to see 4 games in different arenas in 5 days. Two of them knew Cam when he was playing juniors. One of them worked as a replay technician for the Calgary Flames, one worked as the game night host for the Red Deer Rebels junior team, and the other one didn't talk so much. We hop back on the train with our new found friends from the great white north and discuss the finer points of whether it should be called a 'beanie' 'took' or the ridiculous 'toboggan'. The three canucks and I came to the agreement that both beanie and took are acceptable, but toboggan is just asinine. A toboggan is a sled people, seriously.

We hit a pub on the Benjamin Franklin Pkwy with the canucks and have a few beers and talk hockey, sports in general, canada, raleigh, philly, etc. I actually got the compliment to end all compliments when they all agreed that it was a breath of fresh air to hear an american, from raleigh no less, who actually understood the game of hockey and could break down the game. I don't care who you are, if a canadian gives you credit for knowing hockey - you're cool. Even cooler - Joe, the one who works for the Red Deer Rebels gave me his card and told me that he could help me get a Cam Ward junior team replica jersey which is just awesome and I'll be shooting him that email this evening.

We get back to the hotel around 1:00am, download the pictures off the camera and crash hard. We're exhausted, but man what a night. We couldn't believe the whole experience and how much we packed into one day.

Saturday Running Diary

We woke up pretty early, around 7:00 and took our time getting out of bed. Already we could hear the city below alive with traffic. We decided the first thing we had to do for the day was head to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We took showers, got bundled up, and hit the pavement for the 1.5 mile or so walk.

Chicago may be the windy city, but I guarantee Philly gave it a run for its money today. The first time we hit a big intersection without any high rises, we were blasted with some of the coldest wind you could imagine. Of course, leaving Raleigh after 3 consecutive days of 75+ degree weather, anything less than Southern California is gonna feel cold.

Thankfully, the city of Philadelphia has planned well for visitors and residents who aren’t used to walking in 30 degree weather with a 25 mph headwind and there are Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and 7-11s everywhere. (Side note - why the hell don’t we have 7-11s in NC?)

We make our way to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and both of us comment several times on just how cool this city seems. There are statues and monuments everywhere, incredible architecture, museums, everything you could hope for from a city.

We pass the Free Library of Philadelphia. I can’t help but wonder if all the other libraries in Philly have late fee policies that rival Blockbuster. Why is it such a big deal that its free? I mean, sure you might have a late fee here and there at a library, but come on - is it that much that you really need to advertise it on 20 foot tall banners?

One thing we begin to notice is that there are these little men painted in the crosswalks every so often. I’m not sure if its some morbid reminder not to jaywalk or maybe there was some rogue street painter who felt the need to ‘sign’ his work or what. Whatever the deal is, they’re everywhere.

We pass Logan’s square and Kel’s pulled muscle is starting to give her fits so she takes a break at the Rodin Museum and gets mentally prepared for the steps at the Museum of Art. As we begin the walk towards the Museum of Art, I get the iPod out and get it ready. Yes, I couldn’t help myself. The Rocky theme and Eye of the Tiger were played on repeat the whole time we were at the museum. What can I say? Heck, my toothbrush plays the Rocky theme for goodness’ sake. (seriously)

We finally make it all the way to the museum, and there’s my boy. A life-size statue of Rocky Balboa right next to the steps. Like everyone else in my generation, I grew up with Rock as one of my heroes. I couldn’t believe I was standing next to the man himself...well a bronze replica of him. Kel hobbles up the steps as I get loose at the bottom. You wouldn’t believe how many people run these steps. Not even idiots like me who are dreaming of being Rocky, but people were running up and down them repeatedly the whole time we were there.

Finally, my time has come. Kel’s at the top and gives me the thumbs up. I refresh Eye of the Tiger and make my way up the steps. I feel super cool right now, I don’t care what you say. I get to the top, and I have to be honest - I was a little disappointed. The steps weren’t that hard. Of course, I didn’t just chase a van all the way through Philadelphia for 20+ miles, but still. Kel goes down a flight and does her best to run the steps with her pulled muscle. My girl made it, albeit ungracefully - a tribute to the fighting spirit and perseverance of Rocky himself.

Once we’re on top, its a great view back to the city. With the sun just peeking over the distant high-rises, its gorgeous. There are two Converse Chuck Taylor footprints on the top of the steps and “ROCKY” in big block letters. Either Stallone’s got some little bitty feet, or they really shrunk em down. I wear a size 9 and you couldn’t even see the prints when I stood on them.

As we made our way back down the steps, we called just about everyone we knew to tell them we’d just run the Rocky steps.

We make our way back towards the hotel, stopping again for coffee and again for some advil for Kel’s leg. The Starbucks we stopped at also had an Irish Pub in the same building named Tir Na Nog. Kind felt like home for a minute there. We warm up for a bit in the room then head down to the historic district.


We make our way down Jeweler’s Row and come upon a line of horse drawn carriages. So we took a 20 minute tour, courtesy of DaVinci the wonder-horse. A very cool way to tour the historic district. We got to see Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the 2nd bank in America, where the first Continental Congress met, and several other sites along the way. One of the random sites was a building our guide claimed they used in Ghostbusters for the final battle with Zuul.

Kel gave DaVinci his oatmeal cookie treat for a job well-done and he thanked her by chomping on her whole arm after the cookie was gone. DaVinci apparently isn’t a big fan of places without free refills.

We head back up Arch St and pop in to the Reading Market. We’ve heard a lot about it, but didn’t really know what to expect. Let me tell you, its overwhelming. The place is huge. You’ve got idiot tourists like us running around and not watching where you’re going, locals just trying to buy 5 lbs of bacon from the butcher (why anyone needs 5 pounds of bacon at one time is beyond me, but thats the kind of person I’d like to hang out with). There are so many restaurants in there mixed among the vendors its hard to get your bearings. Finally we stop at this indian/pakistani place and get a chicken kabob wrapped in Nan bread and a chicken sumalia which was like an empanada and tasty as all get out.

We grab some homemade fruit butter from an amish stand and some chocolate dipped pretzels from the chocolate place. The chocolate place was an adventure. They’ll dip anything in chocolate there. We saw them bringing fresh dipped items from one section of the market to the storefront and on one tray, I’m not even kidding, chocolate-dipped onions. Why? Because they could apparently. Maybe it was a dare, I dunno. But as adventuresome as I am with food - I couldn’t help but think what a waste of good chocolate that was. We step out of the market and grab a taxi.

“Geno’s.” Apparently, the cabbies in Philly assume that if you want a cheesesteak from Geno’s, you need it RIGHT THEN. This dude, oh my god, I swear we had less than an inch of clearance all around the cab the entire ride to Cheesesteak Mecca. I finally just stopped caring and figured - well, if its my time then its my time.

We get to Cheesesteak corner and the line at Geno’s was shorter so we stopped there first. Jump in line and practice our order. We’ve heard how seriously these fellas take the ordering process and I was bound and determined not to buckle under the pressure. Its my turn to shine now. “One. Provolone. Wit.” Nailed it. $7 happily spent and I’ve got 1/2 of the cheesesteak holy grail in my hand. We hop across the street to Pat’s.

I hide my Geno’s steak in my jacket, because frankly I wasn’t sure if they’d let me order if they knew I was a double agent. Pat’s even has a sign cautioning you about not screwing up your order. I’d like to think its in good fun, but I really doubt it. These boys take this mess seriously. Again, I nail it. Now we’ve got one of each in hand. I grab a drink and we sit down to see if we can finally end this cheesesteak civil war thats been raging in Philly for God knows how long.

Kel starts with the Pat’s and I take the Geno’s. I gotta tell ya, not what I expected. Its incredibly simple in its flavors. I thought there’d be some Colonel’s secret recipe thing going on, but there wasn’t. Just good, tasty steak, onions, provolone, on a thick baguette. Kel and I switch steaks. I chomp into the Pat’s and I’m blown away by the bread. The bread is incredible, steak and cheese - mediocre. Now I know why there’s just a debate. If only we could get these guys to merge somehow, we’d have perfection on a bun. I’d really hoped to come away with a clear cut winner, but I couldn’t decide. I’m sorry I failed you Philly.

On our way back, we hit McGillan’s Pub. McGillans is billed as the oldest continuously running Irish pub in Philadelphia. We went in and its packed. Good sign for 2pm on a Saturday that this is a good spot to be. We get a table and order our drinks. They’ve got a crock of potato soup going in the corner that’s just help yourself. Good stuff on a cold winter day. I sample their house Ale and Lager. Good solid beers for a house brew, nothing to write home about but I wasn’t disappointed. After we wait an eternity for our check, we decide to bounce around some shops for awhile.

We went in one place called The Open House which was sort of a homemade eclectic home furnishings store. Candles, bath soaps, handbags, jewelry, etc. All very cool, all ridiculously expensive. We step out and look at the store next-door. It has a little sign on the door that says “must be 21 to enter”. We peek in just to see what’s so top-secret to find that its a S&M store. Ball-gags, whips, collars, gimp masks...we back out slowly. Now I know why Philly fans are so angry all the time.

We stop in Macy’s and just browse through. They’ve got some professional carolers and a low-tech light show in the center of the store. Pretty cool, but its way too crowded for us. We come out and across the street is a Mitchell & Ness store. These are the people who make the uber-expensive, but super cool throwback jerseys, jackets, hats and all. I had no idea, but they’re based out of Philly and this is their flagship store. They’ve got Yaztremski, Ted Williams, and several other Red Sox jersey’s for sale. I hold one up with puppy dog eyes and kel shoots it down. She just doesn’t see the value in a $250 Throwback Jersey. There’s just no understanding women.

So now we’re back at the hotel resting up for our trip to the game tonight. Looking forward to the whole experience. We’ll blog some more later tonight or in the morning about it.

Friday Running Diary

Got to the airport 2 hours early like we were instructed.

Waited in long, stupid line full of people who were absolutely terrified to use the kiosks to check in, but would get visibly upset at those who were not deterred by the shiny touch screens.

Make our way to the incredible long, ridiculous securtiy line. Kel and I shuffle our bags back and forth as we try to comply with the instructions. Take out the laptop, stuff everything metallic in our already over-stuffed carry-on bag, remove our shoes, stand in line.

I get hassled because my North Carolina issued driver’s license hasn’t held up so well to the repeated baths its taken in our washing machine, but they decide that I’m not a threat to national security and let me pass.

We make the 4 mile walk to our gate. Why is it that whenever you take a flight from any airport in the world TO any airport in the world, you always end up waiting at the last gate of the farthest terminal?

As we’re waiting, some random guy with a new digital camera takes roughly 8000 pictures of complete strangers walking through the airport. He then pulls out some miniature tripod, sets the camera up on the floor and walks across the terminal with the remote to take pictures of himself walking towards the camera. Yeah, it was weird and it freaked me out a . Oh well.

We board at 5 minutes to 6pm and are told we’ll have a quick flight thanks to a strong tailwind. Looking out the window, its pretty spectacular looking down on Raleigh and seeing people’s christmas lights from the air. I-40 is backed up, looks like a few wrecks down there by the flashing lights. Hope no one is hurt, and thankful I’m not in that traffic.

We land, disembark, head to baggage claim and our bags are the first off the plane. We walk across the street and wait the 5 mins for the train. Conductor comes on, takes our money and punches our ticket. I’m sorely disappointed that he didn’t spell out any words like ‘believe’ like in the Polar Express, but I guess I can’t ask for too much.

Get to our stop, walk to City Hall exit. Pop up and out and we’re in the courtyard of City Hall and its gorgeous. I’m just struck by how much bigger Philly is than I expected. Everything is lit up and there’s a statue on every corner. Takes a few minutes for us to get our bearings, but we find the Ritz and check in.

The Ritz is by far the fanciest place I’ve ever been. A 3000 foot tall tree is in the rotunda and a gingerbread house about the size of our place in Raleigh is in the lobby. There’s a sushi bar in the lobby. Why? ‘Cause they can, that’s why.

Get up to our room and we have a hoss flat screen Tv with a fake fireplace. Thats just cool. Embroidered bath robes, towels, Bulgari soap, etc. Two iPod docking alarm clocks. Down pillows, comforters, awesome mattress, the room is huge.

We’re starving so we pull up google maps and start looking for a restaurant thats close. There’s a seafood restaurant we saw on the way in, but I’m not all that excited about it. Growing up on the coast, I’m pretty darn picky about seafood. We see this place called Fogo De Chao and read some reviews that say its an incredible dining experience, so we hoof it a block and a half to the restaurant.

Holy crap in a pita was it phenomenal. If you ever go to Philly, you absolutely have to check it out. I’ll just say this - its all you can eat and its the best meat you’ve ever had in your life served by magic oompa loompa meat leprechauns. They give you these discs with a green side and a red side. Green side means "give me more"; red side means "i'm about to burst". When its on the green side, the magic oompa loompa meat leprechauns appear out of nowhere, announce what kind of meat they have, wait for your approval, and slice a hefty portion on to your plate. They said there were 16 or 18 different cuts of meat, I honestly can't remember them all - but this is what I do recall: Top sirloin, bottom sirloin, center cut sirloin, ribeye, filet, bacon-wrapped filet, garlic marinated filet, rubbed pork ribs, spicy pork sausages, bacon-wrapped chicken breasts, chicken legs, leg of lamb and lamb chops. There's also a salad bar there to appease any guilt you have about eating pounds and pounds of meat.

We were going to hit Mcgillan’s Pub afterwards, but we were just too full after Fogo. We came back to the hotel and took a shower, lounged around feeling fancy in our bathrobes and went to bed.

Canes Fly Away

We just found out that we are the grand prize winners of an all expenses paid trip to Philadelphia to see the Hurricanes play the Flyers courtesy of 99.9 FM The Fan, a new sports talk radio station here in Raleigh, NC. We'll get round-trip airfare, 2 nights hotel at the Ritz-Carlton (OMG), tickets to the game, some meet-n-greet passes, spending cash and a foursome at River Ridge golf course.

We were hoping to plan a weekend getaway for the two of us some time before I ship off to Navy boot camp in March, but we just didn't know where the funds would come from. We've been pinching every penny trying to make the transition to military life as easy as possible. Hopefully our house will sell right away so that Kel and Dylan will be able to come wherever I'm stationed and we won't have to face paying both rent and mortgage. Going to bootcamp and being away from them is going to be hard enough, I can't imagine living away from them for any extended period of time.

We're huge fans of hockey in general, as well as the Canes. We lived in Greensboro when the team first came to North Carolina and now in Raleigh with them as well. While we love the team, we just don't get to see many games with our financial situation being what it is. Just winning the initial prize for tickets to a home game here was going to be a big treat for us, much less winning this huge package to a city we've never been before.

Thank you very much to everyone involved at 99.9, Capital Broadcasting and the Hurricanes for our own christmas miracle. It probably isn't a big deal to you guys, but its huge to us. You guys have made this a Christmas to remember for us when we weren't going to be able to do much of anything for each other otherwise.

We'll keep everyone updated throughout the weekend and post pics and all as soon as possible.

C&K