We're Putting on the Foil! Old-Time Hockey, Coach! Eddie Shore!

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A letter to King Kaufman, of Salon.com, inspired by his column Tuesday.

When I was growing up in Buffalo, the crowd at Memorial Auditorium (fondly recalled as "The Aud," including those snazzy late-'70s swirly lettering effects on certain merchandise) would be just as enthusiastic about O Canada as we were for The Star-Spangled Banner. There wasn't the animosity between us and our neighbors to the north; we were friends who competed with one another and shared each other's pride, not opponents (or, worse, enemies) to be shouted down and derided.

I was right there with you last night, and I'm not a Canadian Goose, either. Kudos to NBC for letting the fans' behavior stand for itself.

That sort of camaraderie, joi de vivre , and, dare I say it, passion for the game, is something that was present from the most humdrum midseason game against an opponent from the other conference as it was for a hated division rival come playoff time. Fans shouted themselves hoarse when an official botched a call ("Hell of a game you're missing, Ref!") or made a series of bad calls (you get dirty looks these days from all corners by trying to invoke a lusty, salty chorus of "Bullllllll-shiiiiiiiiiiit" or "Aaaaaaassssssss-hooooooollllllllle), and cheered madly for each solid, board-rattling check.

The new arenas are wonders of technology, ergonomics, and multi-purpose comfort and efficiency. They're also soulless bowls that muffle the events we're there to see. You have to just about hospitalize someone in order to make the boards rattle these days. If you've got a good home theater setup and aren't afraid of scaring your pets, crank up the subwoofer during a game where they've got the boards mic'd (as they are in Buffalo) and you can get some sense of what's been lost.

I ramble. But I miss the old days.

Comments

[trystbat.livejournal.com]

The new arenas are wonders of technology, ergonomics, and multi-purpose comfort and efficiency. They're also soulless bowls that muffle the events we're there to see.

Hmmm... I wonder how much this varies by what year the arena was built. And of course the general hockey support. I've only seen a game live in one other arena than SJ, & it was a Washington Caps game. The arena was sparkling new, full of perks & features, but not so full of fans & pretty quiet, even tho' the Caps won. The Tank, on the other hand, is regularly lauded as one of the loudest arenas in the NHL. Fans always shout themselves hoarse, & there's even the "you suck" guys, a group w/a ritual chant they start a couple times each game.

I suspect Tampa is a more quiet crowd, since hockey doesn't have a history there (unlike Buffalo). San Jose has the benefit of, despite no history, we have such a huge population of ppl from elsewhere (East Coast, Canada), that they jump-started hockey's popularity. Also, SJ has no other pro sports team, so the town was really ready for s'one to root for.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

*icon love*

The fans here in Tampa aren't the sit-on-their-hands types, and a rousing chorus of "Let's Go Light-ning" is a pretty regular occurrence; it's the, for lack of a better word, sanitizing of the experience that bugs me. Yes, I'm coarse and have a foul mouth and probably shouldn't be left unsupervised around children for three hours, but when a quartet of twenty-something guys looks like I just gave their mother the money shot when I holler about a bad call... wtf?

I did get props at one game for the unrelenting stream of shit I directed at the zebras... maybe that's because my flavor of crazy isn't usually found hollering in the really nice suites, and the folks down front found it invigorating.

Washington doesn't count - they don't even have a hockey team, unless you count Ovechkin. ;-) The games I went to there in 2001, me and fifty other Sabres fans pretty much shouted down fifteen thousand Caps fans. ;-)

But the new arenas, built with concerts and other multi-purpose applications in mind, have effective sound abatement baffles, taller and thicker plexiglass, and the rest of it, which turn the on-ice action into something you watch, rather than something you feel like a participant in. Gone are the days where Jim Schoenfeld & Wayne Cashman would bust through the zamboni door (!!) while exchanging fisticuffs, and when board-rattling checks actually rattled the boards.

But maybe this is nostalgia from

[trystbat.livejournal.com]

when a quartet of twenty-something guys looks like I just gave their mother the money shot when I holler about a bad call... wtf?

The one time T&I could afford almost-on-the-glass seats, there was a guy & his 10-yr-old son there for the kid's bday. That kid had a fouler mouth than mine! He kept up a steady stream of abuse for the opposing team & the refs. It was beautiful :-)

Yelling, swearing, & beer are my fave. part of sports. This is why I've never cared about golf.

man I miss the aud

[yokes1971.livejournal.com]

If it wasnt the sensation of falling to your death while sitting in the oranges to the sound of the puck hitting the ice that echoed all the way through the rafters, ot really changed the game.

The Marina is nice, ears dont ring after concerts and all because of the improved accoustics, but there was something about the rattle of the boards when a check was finished that set the hairs on the back of your head standing that I do miss.

I had the pleasure of completing the baseball trifecta this year visiting Wrigley Field. Yankee Stadium and Fenway PArk in the past. There is a character to an old building that new homogonized arenas and stadiums just don't have.

[fikshun.livejournal.com]

hear hear!

I love going to Gulls games here in San Diego. More than catching Avalanche games at the Pepsi Center. Why? It reminds me of how the sport was 25 years ago. It's a 'smaller' arena ... closer to the size of what they used to be. Keep your brow low and your beer high, damn it! Mostly cement behemoths where sound echoed forever and where you might crack open your skull if you took a tumble. They're so focused on making NHL games family events and entertain you at every little break. It's hard to remember sometimes that I actually came to attend a game.

A couple of years ago I hissed over the glass at the ref: "Jesus McGeough, there's more hooking going on here than on Colfax!" (Colfax, being Denver's closest attempt at a Red Light District). I was glared back into my seat by an overzealous usher. I miss the old Rockies games where angry Colorado fans derided Lanny McDonald for demanding a trade to Calgary with every insult in the book.

Three cheers for old time hockey.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

what the fuck are there ushers at a hockey game for?