SBNation.com User Blog: DFWTrojanTuba

Man The Harpoons: The HP Pavilion Road Fan Experience

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:22:32 -0000

HP Pavilion. The Shark Tank. The last arena I'd need to visit to complete my tour not only of all the California NHL venues, but also all of the Pacific Division arenas (I went to a Predators-Coyotes game during Spring Break last year on a spur-of-the moment decision...we had nothing better to do). But this was going to be a special experience no matter what, since it was the Dallas Stars against the San Jose Sharks. There aren't many games I get amped up more than Stars-Sharks games. This time, I'd be going to HP Pavilion for the first time ever.

My girlfriend Ann--who is from San Jose and a Sharks fan--and I planned to go to this game in January, so to say I was looking forward to April 7 is a major understatement. It's always interesting to go to a game with somebody who's a fan of a rival team, but it's even more interesting to go to that same game as a visitor to her team's home arena.

Sure, I was going to this game with somebody, but this was the first road game I went to in which I was truly on my own. She would not be high-fiving me if the Stars scored. No way.

I could discuss everything that went into the entire trip, but that could encompass 8,000 words, and I would lose everybody's interest before I even got to the part where we got to downtown San Jose. Seriously, there was so much to this trip.

I also took hundreds of pictures on this trip, a lot of them on the road. If I posted all of the good ones from that batch, it would crash your browsers, and then you wouldn't be able to read this post.

Here is a small list detailing what we did on the trip before game day:

Drove 6 hours from Los Angeles to San Jose.
After a brief stop at her house, drove another hour to San Francisco, aka "The City," as it's referred to in the Bay Area.
I made a wrong turn, and accidentally drove onto the Bay Bridge, and had to find a way to get back to San Francisco, a city in which I had never driven in before.
Then we took the scenic route to try to get to the North Beach district, which has a lot of Italian restaurants. Seriously the most terrifying drive of my life.
Went to Ghirardelli Square, but unfortunately everything was closed by the time we got there, so we couldn't buy any chocolate.
Drove back to San Jose and called it a night.

If you would like to know more about the time in San Francisco, feel free to ask in the comments. But now, I'm going to start from Game Day.

Also, if you're reading this, thank you very much Mr. and Mrs. Frazier for letting me stay one night at your house. That was very generous of you.

San Pedro Square

Since this was an early game, we had to leave her house at 10:45 AM so I could get the full San Jose Sharks game day experience.

Unlike Southern California, there was no ridiculous amount of traffic on a Sunday afternoon on CA-85 or CA-87, the two freeways we needed to drive on to get to downtown San Jose. When we got to San Jose, I began to learn just how much the Bay Area cares about the Sharks. It was 11 AM, and we were already seeing many people wearing Sharks jerseys walking down Santa Clara Street, where HP Pavilion is located.

We drove to San Pedro Square in downtown San Jose, just down the street from HP Pavilion. Parking at the garage nearby is $7, which is very decent. Parking near the arena will cost more than twice that, and you won't get to see downtown.

Tuba Top Tip: Go to San Pedro Square.

This is San Pedro Street. Judging by the gigantic "This Is Sharks Territory" banner hanging, could you imagine what would happen to businesses here if the lockout killed the season? I don't have hard data on how much more business these shops get on game days, but if I had to venture an educated guess I'd say a lot more than normal.

Despite the enticing banner, we did not go here to eat. Although it's apparently decent, per the Yelp rating I just saw when I Googled it.

San Pedro Square actually has public restrooms you can use in the middle of San Pedro Street, but you need to pay to use them. I'm not entirely sure how much you need to pay, but I think it's a nickel or something really arbitrary.

We settled on a place called Peggy Sue's. Everybody in the diner was wearing a Sharks jersey, except for me.

Oh and here's one very important thing to know about Sharks fans: they do not like Steve Ott.

Anyway, I ordered an avocado cheeseburger and garlic fries, because when you're in NorCal, you've got to eat garlic fries, since GIlroy is not too far away to the south and is the garlic capital of the world, so you know it's fresh. The food was actually pretty good and reasonably priced when you think about how much you'd pay for arena food. The really nice thing about this place was that we paid as we ordered the food, so we could leave the restaurant and head to the game whenever we wanted.

Santa Clara Street

By the way, it was a beautiful Northern Californian spring day.

When you're going to a game at HP Pavilion, you have to walk down Santa Clara Street towards the arena with everybody that's going to the game. That will get you in the zone and psyched for the game.

The Guadalupe River runs by HP Pavilion, and on March 1995, it flooded so badly that nobody could get to the arena and the NHL had to postpone the game. It is the only rainout in the NHL's history.

Earth to the Red Wings fan, you're taking away somebody's seat that might want to go to the game! Your team isn't playing this game! Why are you there?!

And yes, that fan is wearing a Pittsburgh Penguins Jaromir Jagr jersey.

Finally, I was here.

Pregame

Concourse

I think it's pretty cool that the seal of the city of San Jose greets you as you enter the arena. It was around 12:15 PM by this time, which meant we had a lot of time to kill. We walked around the concourse so I could see everything in the arena.

I was intending to get a picture of the concourse as we walked in, but then when I was flipping through my photos afterwards I realized that the Sharks fan in the teal jersey is making a very funny face, which makes this picture so much better. Candid shots for the win.

By the way, all you Canadians on this blog, they sell Molson at this particular Ice Bar. They go for $7.50. You're going to need a beer like I did after eating garlic fries, because garlic taste really lingers in your mouth if you don't wash it down. You don't want garlic breath all day, especially if you're a road fan, because not only are you wearing apparel for another team, but your breath also stinks. Double whammy.

If you're having trouble reading the silver letters, they read "This Building is Dedicated to the People of San Jose." I thought that was particularly cool. I don't remember seeing anything like that at Reunion Arena, but then again I was very young when I went to games there.

You'll also notice plaques on the wall. Throughout the concourse, the arena honors people who either are from San Jose, or played on San Jose-area teams. I remember seeing Brandi Chastain among the people honored. That's another really cool aspect of this building.

You'll also notice that the arena lists directions to seats in the 100-level seats and the 200-level seats. HP Pavilion has only one main concourse, and it leads to both levels of seats.

And it's...HEY WAIT A MINUTE...YOU'RE THE MASCOT WHO CHOMPED ON MY HEAD BACK IN DALLAS IN 2007. Don't think I haven't forgotten that, Sharkie...

And now you chomp on this poor lady's head? How could you?

Warmups

What became abundantly clear to me was that there were not many Stars fans at this game at all. Fewer than I saw in Los Angeles and Anaheim for sure. I counted three the entire time we were walking in the concourse.

As we walked to the rink to see the warmups, it became clear why I saw so few Stars fans in the concourse: all of them were at the Stars tunnel waiting for the team to come out.

It's Razor, and his bald spot.

I should have asked this in the game thread that day, but did anybody see me taking photos? Judging by this photo, it doesn't look like the television camera was framed to get the fans in the background, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

Keep Calm and Kari On.

Hey Chaser, could you move a little slower? My camera can't keep up.

Slow down, Jamie!

Notice the Ray Whitney Sharks jersey on the right. I also think it's interesting how HP Pavilion alternates the seat colors between gray and black.

Too bad I can't read all the signatures on that lady's jersey.

Smile, Matt Fraser. You're on candid camera!

Amazingly enough, this was the first ever time I had gone to a game early enough to cheer the Stars on as they entered the ice for warmups, and I've been going to game since 2000.

As we were walking back to our seats, I covertly took this photo:

This guy defaced his Brenden Morrow jersey. Why? I don't know. I didn't want to turn on the flash on my camera because that would have been extremely awkward.

Just after 12:30 we finally walked to our seats. This was our view from the second to last row in Section 226.

That's the good thing about arenas with two seating levels: there's not a bad seat in the arena. Actually, this was a pretty damn good seat, but we did have to pay quite a bit for it: $51 apiece. These were $90 face value on Ticketmaster, for what it's worth.

Given how small the arena is, the scoreboard, installed in 2007, is enormous, and somehow doesn't cover up any part of the ice no matter where you sit. The arena also upgraded its speaker system that year, and wow do they sound awesome. Crystal clear sound.

Here's a really fun fact about the HP Pavilion: the city messed up constructing it. The Sharks were supposed to play in this arena starting in 1992, but team management discovered that the architects designed the arena for community use, and didn't include luxury suites or a press box, which are needed to meet NHL standards. In the photo above, you actually can't see the press box. That's because it's above the rafters. For a time, the broadcasters used to call the games from the front row of one of the 200-level sections, with the home team calling the game from the center of the arena and the road team's broadcasters calling it from a couple sections away. Now, both teams' broadcasters call the game from the press box.

Sure, banners hang forever, but you're missing a big one.

I always noticed on television that the lighting appeared to be pretty dark for HP Pavilion, but this visit proved that was not the case. It's lit like this the whole game.

The seats in HP Pavilion are steep. If you're attending a game at HP Pavilion, whatever you do, do not, under any circumstances, lean forward in your seat. You will block somebody's view, and that person will yell at you for doing so. The arena even warns fans not to lean forward in their chairs for this reason. It's not a light issue, either. Sharks fans take seat-leaning policy very seriously. But, given how small the venue is, you don't need to lean forward in your chair anyway.

For some reason, the area with the actual score listed on the scoreboard always comes out bluish on cameras. It's actually gray.

The Sharks put fins on their zambonis, which is something I can appreciate. This zamboni even refers to the classic Saturday Night Live "Land Shark" skit with "LAN Shark" written on it, since we're in Silicon Valley.

Pregame Presentation

Go Stars.

The San Jose Sharks pregame presentation is kickass.

First, the arena lowers the giant shark head covered by a black curtain onto the ice.

Sharkie then rappels from the rafters onto the ice to start things off. Once he lands he walks to both ends of the ice and gets both sides of the crowd fired up, and boy do they ever get fired up for Sharkie. They go absolutely nuts.

His stunt usually goes on without incident, but on March 12, 1999, Sharkie got stuck.

Then the arena plays music that closely resembles the theme from Jaws, which is understandable since they're the Sharks. If the Sharks skated out to the Jaws theme, it would make sense. It wouldn't be spectacular, but nobody would say it was bad either.

Then suddenly, Metallica's "Seek & Destroy" starts playing, and the roof blows off the building. The curtain covering up the shark head is lifted up, revealing not only the shark head with fog shooting out of its mouth and its eyes flashing red, but also the San Jose Sharks. Because I'm biased, I will always say the Stars entrance is the best, but this one is a very close second. I strongly approve the team's choice to play "Seek & Destroy" as they enter the ice. "Seek & Destroy" is an awesome song by itself, but it just fits perfectly with the Sharks. In nature, as we all know, sharks are very good at two things: seeking and destroying. But if you listen to the first verse, it's the perfect song for the start of a hockey game: "We're scanning the scene / In the city tonight / Looking for you / To start up a fight / There's an evil feeling / In our brains / But it's nothing new / You know it drives us insane." If you aren't familiar with Metallica, they write a lot of dark songs, as you can probably tell with these lyrics. In a hockey setting, this is a song that gets people going. Ever since I saw the Sharks skate out to "Seek & Destroy," I've listened to that song at least twice each day in the past week. True story.

Now, since the Stars are division rivals with the Sharks and have eliminated them all three times they've played each other in the playoffs, Sharks fans loathe the Stars. They also really don't like how Stars fans yell "STARS!" during the banner, and they have an interesting tradition that only takes place when the Stars are in town. The arena tries so hard to prevent it from happening by letting the crowd sing the Star Spangled Banner instead of hiring a singer that day, but it never works. Every time that lyric comes up, Sharks fans cover up the Stars fans in attendance yelling "Stars" by booing that lyrics. So, it sounds like "Who's broad stripes and bright BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" This is hostile territory, ladies and gentlemen. Oh and you bet I made sure the fans around me heard me emphasize "Stars" during the Banner. The crowd got out of sync with each other during the Banner. Now, I went into this game knowing about the Banner tradition, so I was ready for it.

Furthermore on the Banner, if you're going to sing the Banner at HP Pavilion, when you hear "YOU SUCK!" right before you start singing, that's not directed at you. This didn't happen before the Banner when I went oddly enough because the arena didn't give this a chance to happen. What normally happens right before the Banner is one fan in Section 209 yells, for example, "HEY LA!" and the entire arena yells back "YOU SUCK!"

After eating in San Pedro Square, walking down Santa Clara Street, watching the Stars skate out onto the ice for warmups, watching the Sharks awesome "Seek & Destroy" intro, and singing the Star Spangled Banner, it was time to drop the puck.

Gameplay Atmosphere

First Period

First thing I noticed immediately with Sharks fans: they focus on nothing else but the game. I didn't hear any prolonged loud conversations about what people did the day before or whenever. When it was game time, it was game time.

This worked out well for me for a couple of reasons:

I'm also a very focused hockey watcher.
I'm in the second to last row, which only allowed for one row of fans to possibly heckle me should they choose to do so.

Ann and I were so focused on the game that we did not talk to each other while the game was in progress. We'd only talk with each other during commercial breaks.

And since I was literally the only Stars fan in my section, I strongly adhered to my rules: Don't be obnoxious. Treat the home fans with respect.

And with 11:21 left to go in the first, it wasn't looking good for the Stars.

If you ever see this during a game at HP Pavilion, it means bad things.

I hope I never see a shark with bright red eyes breathing fog out of its mouth in nature.

There is heavy use of a synthesizer during breaks in action, and the beats are kind of catchy. I found myself clapping along to the synthesizer multiple times throughout the game.

Then the Stars took a penalty later in the period, and since I also saw this Sharks fan tradition occur at the Sharks-Ducks game a couple months before, I was ready for it at HP Pavilion and got my camera ready. Normally you only hear the Jaws-like theme play while watching a Sharks game on television. What you don't normally see is what the fans do, and it's unique. As the arena's playing the Jaws-like music, almost all the fans move their arms up and down and separate their fingers to emulate shark teeth. This is known as the "Chomp."

Thankfully the Stars killed it off.

First Intermission

I had to go to the bathroom after the first period, and that's when a lot of the Sharks fans in my section realized I was a Stars fan, and was bold enough to wear a Steve Ott jersey. One fan jokingly gestured as if he was going to push me over, and I played along with it, which made the fans nearby chuckle a little bit. Once I got to the aisle one fan saw I was wearing an Ott jersey and said to me "You must really love your friends!" and high-fived me out of respect. I didn't expect to get a high-five from a Sharks fan at any point in the game for wearing a Sharks fan, especially at the Shark Tank.

I saw that there was a gigantic line for the men's bathroom near my section so I went to a different bathroom, and that also had a long line, or so I thought. It moved surprisingly quickly.

Tuba Top Tip: Don't be deceived by the lines to the men's restroom. I can't speak for the women's restrooms.

I got back to my seat and told Ann I had lowered my expectations so much that just being able to celebrate one goal in HP Pavilion would be considered a victory. It would really suck to go to a road venue and watch your team get shut out. It's never happened to me, and while I didn't expect much from this game, I wanted to see at least one damn goal.

The second period would provide me that and then some.

Second Period

Second period started off badly, too.

Brent Burns with the puck leads to more bad things.

The game turned on a dime 35 seconds later, however, when the Sharks were sloppy with the puck in their own zone, and Eric Nystrom made them pay, and I got to celebrate in the Shark Tank. It was mission accomplished. It turned out to be a funny experience for everybody, because I stood up cheering and said "Woohoo! And now I'm going to sit back down." Hey, I was the only Stars fan in my section. I wanted to make a good first impression with the fans around me to prove I wouldn't be obnoxious. I also didn't want to piss off Ann, since we were going to be driving back to USC for 6 hours after the game.

When I sat down the fan next to me said something along the lines of "I applaud your enthusiasm." I also didn't give anybody a chance to yell "SIT DOWN!" at me because I was standing for maybe two seconds maximum.

Then Alex Chiasson scored 26 seconds later to tie the game at 2-2, and I was a lot more emphatic in my celebration but still knew not to rub it in to literally everybody around me. I was the only person standing and cheering Chiasson's goal. It was empowering.

That looks much better.

My elation was short-lived, however, when TJ Galiardi of all people scored the prettiest goal of the game with a spin-o-rama backhand from the right circle that beat Kari.

When your spin-o-rama leads to bad things, TJ, I'm not happy. I don't care if the other 17,000+ people are happy. I'm not.

The scoreboard ate Brenden Dillon.

Then there was this mad congestion of humanity at Kari's net.

Everybody on television knew what the referees were reviewing. Nobody in my section knew, though. All we knew is that they went to commercial break, but then the game wasn't resuming immediately when it came back from commercial, so something was up, obviously. They weren't showing any replays of what happened before the commercial break happened. The fan next to me and I guessed that it had something to do with the puck and whether or not it crossed the line. I started getting more concerned as the review persisted longer and longer, which I inferred as the refs determining that the Sharks scored.

Then the referee announced that the puck crossed the line, and while the goal horn blared, the crowd didn't celebrate too much. I think they were just as surprised as I was by the call, and that subdued their celebration a bit.

Too much this.

And too much that.

So it was 4-2 now. The Stars had given up three goals in the second period in this game after giving up none to the Ducks two days before. But even with the Stars giving up three goals, it felt different from other bad second periods because of how quickly the Stars scored their two goals.

During the last 30 seconds of the period, a fan behind us kept saying repeatedly to his younger daughter "anything can happen now." I applaud him for teaching his daughter to always watch every minute of the game, but this time nothing happened, and the second intermission commenced.

Second Intermission

I didn't catch first intermission entertainment, but I did catch second intermission entertainment, which consisted of people at center ice trying to form a puzzle on the ice to win a prize, and I don't remember the prize because I wasn't paying attention.

After one of the groups won, the staffers literally trying to pick up the pieces looked like they were understaffed and were struggling mightily trying to bring them off the ice.

I also took the time to play out all the reasons why there was no way I could come away unhappy from this game:

If the Stars won the game, I'd be happy.
If the Stars lost, they would fall deeper into the standings and therefore closer to a higher draft pick.
If the Sharks won, Ann would be happy, and when she's happy the day's always good, and when we're driving six hours back to USC this is extremely important.

Little did I know I was about to see something spectacular.

Third Period

The Stars were shooting towards my side of the arena for the third period, which worked out beautifully for how things transpired.

Sharks fans can blame Sharkie for the Stars tying the game, because as soon as he sat down in the aisle of our section, Alex Chiasson scored his second of the game. I'm not sure what came over me, but I didn't even yell when I stood up to celebrate. I blame Sharkie for distracting me.

Then three minutes later, Loui Eriksson tied the game, and once again, I stood up to celebrate the goal but didn't yell my excitement. This time, though, I nodded to myself and clapped to show my appreciation for tying a game in an unlikely fashion. The entire building was stunned silent.

The fan to my right who I had briefly chatted with a few times earlier in the game then asked me what the Stars did for their home games. I explained that the Stars fans didn't have anything like a "chomp" to commemorate a power play for the Stars, and that we didn't even have a mascot. But I made sure to tell him we yelled "Stars!" during the Banner, which he knew since he took part in the Banner booing, and that the Stars had their own fight song written by Pantera. He was genuinely interested in Stars fans traditions, though, and that was something I didn't experience at either Staples Center or Honda Center.

Later in the period, HP Pavilion put up a graphic of Sharkie holding up signs that read "Beat the Stars!" and the arena started chanting that. I'm not sure if that's unique to the Stars, and I don't think it is, but I didn't see a chant like that directed at the Stars at either Honda Center or Staples Center.

Perhaps the funniest moment at HP Pavilion was when a cameraman near the corner boards got on camera and decided to start dancing wildly while still holding the camera. I'm not sure if that's a staple at HP Pavilion, but it provided some much-needed comic relief from the intense game.

Again during the last 30 seconds of the period, that same fan behind us kept saying "anything can happen now." He wasn't wrong, but nothing happened and the game went to overtime.

Overtime

The Stars had brought me back in yet again, and then played the most dominant four minutes of puck possession I had seen them play in a while. Sure, it didn't amount to a goal being scored for us, but it also ensured that San Jose wouldn't get a good chance on Kari.

It would take the infamous skills competition to settle this one.

Jamie Benn scored going my way, and that was awesome. Since he was the second shooter, all Kari needed to do was make a save against Brent Burns to steal the game from the Sharks. He made that save, and I was about to celebrate quite a bit, but then I remembered I was with Ann and realized that wasn't a good idea, especially since she vocally showed her disgust with the outcome. I snapped a picture of the scoreboard and packed my camera away.

Postgame

It was quite a long walk back to our car in San Pedro Square. As I walked by one Sharks fan yelled at me "You better keep walking, Ott!" I've learned to take heckling with a grain of salt, so that didn't do anything.

While I wasn't loudly cheering the victory as we were walking out, I texted the two friends I went to the Ducks game with two days before to say how awesome it was to watch the Stars win at the Shark Tank, because it truly was.

Would my experience have been different if I sat anywhere else and if the Sharks won? No doubt. I wouldn't have minded a last row seat at HP Pavilion because the venue's pretty small. But if I sat in a row near the front of the section, the likeliness of getting heckled by fans behind me might have been higher. I can't determine how Sharks fans would have felt after a win because we won, but even when the Sharks were up 4-2 nobody was harassing me.

If there's any place you need to catch a Stars game on the road, it's HP Pavilion. I know I'm writing all these great things about it since the Stars won, which undoubtedly made the experience much better, but this was honestly one of the best NHL venues I've been to.

I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading all three of these arena posts. I know this last post is very long, but it's also the only time in which I experienced the entire game day atmosphere for a city other than Dallas.

Go Stars.

Sure, I was going to this game with somebody, but this was the first road game I went to in which I was truly on my own. She would not be high-fiving me if the Stars scored. No way.

Here is a small list detailing what we did on the trip before game day:

Drove 6 hours from Los Angeles to San Jose.
After a brief stop at her house, drove another hour to San Francisco, aka "The City," as it's referred to in the Bay Area.
I made a wrong turn, and accidentally drove onto the Bay Bridge, and had to find a way to get back to San Francisco, a city in which I had never driven in before.
Then we took the scenic route to try to get to the North Beach district, which has a lot of Italian restaurants. Seriously the most terrifying drive of my life.
Went to Ghirardelli Square, but unfortunately everything was closed by the time we got there, so we couldn't buy any chocolate.
Drove back to San Jose and called it a night.

If you would like to know more about the time in San Francisco, feel free to ask in the comments. But now, I'm going to start from Game Day.

Also, if you're reading this, thank you very much Mr. and Mrs. Frazier for letting me stay one night at your house. That was very generous of you.

San Pedro Square

Since this was an early game, we had to leave her house at 10:45 AM so I could get the full San Jose Sharks game day experience.

Tuba Top Tip: Go to San Pedro Square.

Despite the enticing banner, we did not go here to eat. Although it's apparently decent, per the Yelp rating I just saw when I Googled it.

We settled on a place called Peggy Sue's. Everybody in the diner was wearing a Sharks jersey, except for me.

Oh and here's one very important thing to know about Sharks fans: they do not like Steve Ott.

Santa Clara Street

By the way, it was a beautiful Northern Californian spring day.

When you're going to a game at HP Pavilion, you have to walk down Santa Clara Street towards the arena with everybody that's going to the game. That will get you in the zone and psyched for the game.

The Guadalupe River runs by HP Pavilion, and on March 1995, it flooded so badly that nobody could get to the arena and the NHL had to postpone the game. It is the only rainout in the NHL's history.

Earth to the Red Wings fan, you're taking away somebody's seat that might want to go to the game! Your team isn't playing this game! Why are you there?!

And yes, that fan is wearing a Pittsburgh Penguins Jaromir Jagr jersey.

Finally, I was here.

Pregame

Concourse

You'll also notice that the arena lists directions to seats in the 100-level seats and the 200-level seats. HP Pavilion has only one main concourse, and it leads to both levels of seats.

And it's...HEY WAIT A MINUTE...YOU'RE THE MASCOT WHO CHOMPED ON MY HEAD BACK IN DALLAS IN 2007. Don't think I haven't forgotten that, Sharkie...

And now you chomp on this poor lady's head? How could you?

Warmups

As we walked to the rink to see the warmups, it became clear why I saw so few Stars fans in the concourse: all of them were at the Stars tunnel waiting for the team to come out.

It's Razor, and his bald spot.

Keep Calm and Kari On.

Hey Chaser, could you move a little slower? My camera can't keep up.

Slow down, Jamie!

Notice the Ray Whitney Sharks jersey on the right. I also think it's interesting how HP Pavilion alternates the seat colors between gray and black.

Too bad I can't read all the signatures on that lady's jersey.

Smile, Matt Fraser. You're on candid camera!

Amazingly enough, this was the first ever time I had gone to a game early enough to cheer the Stars on as they entered the ice for warmups, and I've been going to game since 2000.

As we were walking back to our seats, I covertly took this photo:

This guy defaced his Brenden Morrow jersey. Why? I don't know. I didn't want to turn on the flash on my camera because that would have been extremely awkward.

Just after 12:30 we finally walked to our seats. This was our view from the second to last row in Section 226.

Sure, banners hang forever, but you're missing a big one.

I always noticed on television that the lighting appeared to be pretty dark for HP Pavilion, but this visit proved that was not the case. It's lit like this the whole game.

For some reason, the area with the actual score listed on the scoreboard always comes out bluish on cameras. It's actually gray.

Pregame Presentation

Go Stars.

The San Jose Sharks pregame presentation is kickass.

First, the arena lowers the giant shark head covered by a black curtain onto the ice.

His stunt usually goes on without incident, but on March 12, 1999, Sharkie got stuck.

Gameplay Atmosphere

First Period

This worked out well for me for a couple of reasons:

I'm also a very focused hockey watcher.
I'm in the second to last row, which only allowed for one row of fans to possibly heckle me should they choose to do so.

Ann and I were so focused on the game that we did not talk to each other while the game was in progress. We'd only talk with each other during commercial breaks.

And since I was literally the only Stars fan in my section, I strongly adhered to my rules: Don't be obnoxious. Treat the home fans with respect.

And with 11:21 left to go in the first, it wasn't looking good for the Stars.

If you ever see this during a game at HP Pavilion, it means bad things.

I hope I never see a shark with bright red eyes breathing fog out of its mouth in nature.

There is heavy use of a synthesizer during breaks in action, and the beats are kind of catchy. I found myself clapping along to the synthesizer multiple times throughout the game.

Thankfully the Stars killed it off.

First Intermission

I saw that there was a gigantic line for the men's bathroom near my section so I went to a different bathroom, and that also had a long line, or so I thought. It moved surprisingly quickly.

Tuba Top Tip: Don't be deceived by the lines to the men's restroom. I can't speak for the women's restrooms.

The second period would provide me that and then some.

Second Period

Second period started off badly, too.

Brent Burns with the puck leads to more bad things.

That looks much better.

My elation was short-lived, however, when TJ Galiardi of all people scored the prettiest goal of the game with a spin-o-rama backhand from the right circle that beat Kari.

When your spin-o-rama leads to bad things, TJ, I'm not happy. I don't care if the other 17,000+ people are happy. I'm not.

The scoreboard ate Brenden Dillon.

Then there was this mad congestion of humanity at Kari's net.

Too much this.

And too much that.

Second Intermission

After one of the groups won, the staffers literally trying to pick up the pieces looked like they were understaffed and were struggling mightily trying to bring them off the ice.

I also took the time to play out all the reasons why there was no way I could come away unhappy from this game:

If the Stars won the game, I'd be happy.
If the Stars lost, they would fall deeper into the standings and therefore closer to a higher draft pick.
If the Sharks won, Ann would be happy, and when she's happy the day's always good, and when we're driving six hours back to USC this is extremely important.

Little did I know I was about to see something spectacular.

Third Period

The Stars were shooting towards my side of the arena for the third period, which worked out beautifully for how things transpired.

Again during the last 30 seconds of the period, that same fan behind us kept saying "anything can happen now." He wasn't wrong, but nothing happened and the game went to overtime.

Overtime

It would take the infamous skills competition to settle this one.

Postgame

Go Stars.

Poll

What question likely came to mind after you read all of this?

How can you write so much?

2 votes

Don't you have class?

9 votes

I skipped reading the newspaper for this?

0 votes

Why is San Francisco a terrifying drive?

5 votes

Hey ZWal93, here's your funny poll answer.

7 votes

23 votes | Poll has closed

Duck Hunting: The Honda Center Road Fan Experience

DFWTrojanTuba — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 21:33:51 -0000

The next arena in this three-part tour of California NHL venues is Honda Center, home of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, or at least it used to be. I don't know why they changed their name. It used to be awesome, since, Disney and all.

Anaheim is more well-known for Disneyland than anything, which is fine because Disneyland is totally awesome. If you really want to get the most out of a trip to Honda Center, if you have the time, go to Disneyland. Key word: go. Get park hoppers so you can go back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure, the park across from Disneyland. Also make sure you go from the park's open to the park's close.

Oh wait, I'm supposed to be writing about going to Honda Center. Sorry, I got sidetracked.

Planning

Getting to Anaheim from Los Angeles on a Friday evening is a complete nightmare, especially since the 405 is a parking lot. To put that in perspective for you all in Dallas, just imagine the frustration you get from driving LBJ during rush hour, and then imagine that the Mixmaster is every single exit you drive on, and that still isn't as bad as driving on the 405. It is THE WORST freeway in America. On the 405, you go 4 to 5. Seriously, there are Yelp reviews for this freeway it sucks that badly. Granted, all freeways in Los Angeles suck, but the 405 is hands down the worst. Okay, enough ranting about the 405.

I went with two other USC friends who are also Dallas Stars fans. This game took place last Friday, the week when it seemed like the poop hit the fan with all the deadline trades. Since we bought the tickets three weeks before this game, though, we committed to going anyway. One person (*cough* CLOSURE GT *cough*) unfortunately could not make it to the game, so I had to get the tickets from him in Santa Monica.

I also decided to get some sign supplies for this game in Marina Del Rey near Santa Monica, so I made a trip out of it.

Here's a Tuba Top Tip: When driving from Los Angeles to Anaheim, find a way to get to the 91 Freeway. That freeway isn't going to be as clogged as the 110, 101, 5, 105, 405, 710, or 605 during rush hour. Also, if you have passengers in your car, there's an HOV lane that spans the entire freeway, so you can pass all the lowly single riders who have to wait in rush hour traffic. And, the 91 has an HOV lane interchange to get on the 5 in Orange County, so that's nice. Why is this? Buses to Disneyland need their own lane. I'm serious. You can thank buses to Disneyland for your 91 HOV lane.

(They call them carpool lanes in California, by the way. Just wanted to use HOV to avoid confusion)

Since last week initially started out really crappy, we all made self-deprecating signs. We planned on deploying them in the event the Stars fell behind by a lot. I made my sign before I met up with the other two people in my group, and since we had so much time to kill in LA traffic, another person made his sign in the backseat of my car. However, since we made our signs with an expo marker, and my windows were closed when my backseat passenger was making his sign, it smelled awful, and I may have been inhaling something dangerous.

I was presented with quite a conundrum: Open my windows to breathe in the fumes from the bus in front of me, or keep them closed and smell a smelly marker. I compromised and cracked open the windows.

To give you an idea of how much time you need to give yourself to drive from Los Angeles to Anaheim, we left LA at 5:15, and got to Honda Center at 6:45. They're 34 miles apart. Now, there was an accident that delayed us 15 minutes on the 91, but that illustrated just how important it was to leave drastically early.

Pregame

I like my music loud. I like my windows open. I like my Dallas Stars. If you follow where this is going, I played this on loop with all my windows down while we were near the arena until we parked. Gotta let the home crowd know we're there, you know?

Parking at the arena lot is $15. Since I've only been to Honda Center twice, I do not know where one can find cheap parking. However, the advantage to the arena's lot is the further away you are from the arena, the faster you'll be able to leave, since you have to exit the other side of the lot.

Around 6:53 PM, we finally parked. The other friend who didn't make his sign spent 5 minutes drawing the sign you see in the above photo.

(In the background, you see a very bad baseball team's stadium.)

When I went to Honda Center in February for a Sharks-Ducks game, they made me check in my zoom lens with the arena since they have a policy of no lenses bigger than six inches. This time around I didn't bring the zoom lens, but not only did they not check my camera bag, they also didn't stop us and asked what our signs said. We totally could have brought a sign that said "F*** the Ducks" and carried it past security. But since we're classy individuals, we refrained.

We were a tad late to this game, so we were walking to our seats in the concourse during the Banner, which was being sung by what sounded like an elementary school choir. We all walked behind a big group of Ducks fans watching from a seat entrance, waited for the lyrics "Oh say does that--" and yelled "STARS!" at the top of our lungs, startling everybody.

We definitely got a kick out of that.

Oh, and here's a very important thing to know about Ducks fans: they do not like Steve Ott.

We made it to our seats in Section 411, which is actually the third tier of seats at Honda Center. For some reason, they label their three sections of seats as 200s, 300s, and 400s. Honda Center, y u no use logical seat numbering system?

Gameplay Atmosphere

First Period

The seats in the third tier level at Honda Center are actually pretty decent. The seats themselves are a little stiff, but my seat for this game felt more cushioned than my seat at the previous game I attended. The cup-holders are too close to your elbows, and if you have an open beverage you might knock it over if you're not careful.

Also, that scoreboard's video screens are tiny. Sure, it does everything you want in a scoreboard: tell you the score. But, if somebody is standing up in front of you and you can't see the action and need to resort to the scoreboard to see what's happening, the screen doesn't offer a much better alternative.

The Sharks upgraded their scoreboard in 2007. The Stars upgraded their scoreboard in 2009. The Kings upgraded their scoreboard in 2010. The Ducks upgraded their scoreboard in...wait...all they did was tack on a snazzy patch at the bottom but left the 1990s scoreboard intact. As you can probably guess, I have a weird fascination with scoreboards. The Ducks disappoint me with theirs because I just think it's too old. I understand this may be an unfair critique, but I have to make it.

Now, as far as the game was concerned, I can't remember another time where I went to a Stars game with absolutely zero expectations for the outcome. None of us expected anything from this game. We collectively thought "we'll be glad if the Stars score one goal." Sure, this makes us sound like awful fans, but let's be honest here, the beginning of that week was emotionally draining.

I followed the same rules I gave myself at the Kings game back in March: Don't be obnoxious. Treat the home fans with respect. This was my first actual road fan experience at Honda Center, and I wanted to make sure my experience was as good as I could make it.

While I went to a Sharks-Ducks game at Honda Center a couple months before, I went as a neutral observer while my girlfriend cheered on her Sharks. Three obnoxiously drunk Ducks fans showed up in the third period and sat three rows in front us. They were shouting obscenities throughout the third period, and they got worse when the Ducks got on the board.

When the Ducks went ahead 2-1, one of those fans started calling all the Sharks fans a row behind us "fairweather fans," which understandably upset all the fans behind us. Up until that point, we didn't have any issues with obnoxious fans, but those three hooligans made the game-watching experience miserable.

My girlfriend had a great zinger for them that she wrote on Twitter: "Hey drunk Ducks fans, are you pregnant? Because you missed two periods!"

I write that anecdote because I hoped to avoid obnoxiously drunk home fans when I went to Honda Center as a visiting fan.

As most of us saw, the Ducks were really putting pressure on the Stars early on, but then out of nowhere Lane MacDermid roofed one, and as we were celebrating we yelled "How are we winning this game?!" We heard a few people yelling at us to sit down, but we ignored them. This was our moment, and we didn't want anybody ruining it.

Then almost immediately, the Ducks answered the Stars' goal, benefiting from the most Honda Center Bounce of Honda Center Bounces of all time.

If you ever see this during a game at Honda Center, it means bad things.

(I'm cheating this a bit. This is from the February 4 Sharks-Ducks game. The Ducks also scored this goal...off of a Honda Center bounce. I didn't get a photo of the scoreboard when the Ducks scored on the Stars.)

You can probably hear this very well during broadcasts, but the PA announcer at Honda Center makes a gigantic spectacle of a Ducks goal, and it's one I despise. I know I'm not supposed to like hearing the Ducks PA announcer announce a Ducks goal. That's a given. But when he begins with "Anaheim Ducks GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL," you hope the Stars don't get scored on again, because as an opposing fan you don't want to hear that ever again.

The Ducks fans in the row in front of us were genuinely amazed all three of us went to the game as Stars fans, and they gave us a lot of respect for going to see the Stars play. The fans to my right were also decent people to talk to, which was nice. There were a couple fans directly above me who looked like they were still in high school who kept wondering aloud why the Ducks weren't kicking the crap out of the Stars, so they were kind of funny to listen to. Overall, the fans immediately around us were pretty chill.

Eric Nystrom decided to be awesome a few minutes later and score a shorthanded goal, and because Viktor Fasth made a huge mistake, everybody was extremely puzzled, especially us. The Stars were gutted earlier in the week. How did they manage to get two leads against the Ducks?

And then a really weird sequence happened in which the Ducks hit the crossbar almost immediately after Nystrom scored his goal. The fans to our left didn't realize the Ducks didn't score, and were still high-fiving each other as play continued. You would have thought that a lack of a blaring goal horn blaring register with them, but apparently not. Not sure I've seen anything like that before where fans were completely oblivious to the action.

During a commercial break, we decided that was a good time to deploy our signs with hopes of making it onto the jumbotron, which was a pretty lofty goal, let's be honest here. Predictably, we didn't make it onto the tv screen, but our signs did make all the fans around us laugh. Usually when you make people laugh, they tend you like you more.

Tuba Top Tip: Make people laugh.

When the Ducks take a lot of penalties, the fans really don't like it. In fact, they chant very loudly "Ref you suck!"

The first period began to wind down, and Alex Chiasson scored a simple but effective goal for his first NHL goal off a great feed from Vernon Fiddler. Once again, all three of us were the only people standing and cheering in our section, and I was yelling "Pick up that puck!" since I knew what just happened. Little did we know that we would see the beginning of not only an incredible stretch of play for the Stars as a whole, but also an exciting debut for a promising rookie.

It was a good first period.

But we immediately thought about the second period, and told the fans around us that the game could quickly change on a dime given how the Stars played second periods the majority of the season, and the previous game.

First Intermission

For the first intermission I stayed in my seat while the other two in our group got food and beer. I wanted to make sure nobody desecrated our beautifully crafted signs, because we worked extremely hard on those.

First period intermission saw people try to shoot pucks from the defensive zone into circles formed by the arena spotlights, with the goal of winning Ducks memorabilia. The prizes got gradually better when the puck stopped in further circles.

I hope this picture illustrates what I'm trying to describe.

That's all that happened in the first intermission.

Second Period

Amazingly, the Stars didn't fold during the second period, the Achilles heel of the season. Everybody was more concerned with actually watching the game than interacting with each other, so this period was kind of a blur since nothing really happened.

Anaheim has been in the NHL since 1993, and they have five banners to show for it, four of them commemorating a championship of some sort. Now, should they hang on to win the division they'll obviously add to that, but I thought that was interesting nonetheless.

Second Intermission

I was definitely hungry this time, so I got out of my seat as fast as I could to get a pan pizza. I finished that and decided to venture out in the concourse to see if I'd notice anything strange.

Is that...a Roberto Luongo jersey?! What are you doing at a Stars-Ducks game?! The Canucks aren't playing in Anaheim!

You can probably tell I took this in a covert manner, or so I thought. A fan (not photographed) asked if I was covertly taking photos, and I explained I was photographing the fan in the Luongo jersey, and then proceeded to tell him that I thought it was pointless to wear a jersey of a team that isn't playing at the game one is attending. It was kind of an awkward conversation, but I also brought it upon myself. He did see my point on the jersey rant, though, so mission accomplished, I guess.

Also, I've noticed this with hockey fans here in California, but quite a few hockey fans wear hoodies underneath their jerseys. I saw this at the Kings game, this game, and the Sharks game I went to that I'll write about later on. I've never resorted to wearing a sweatshirt underneath my jersey, but I found that interesting.

Always enjoy seeing older jerseys at these games. A Crazy Eddie fan made an appearance here.

Third Period

I post this picture because it captured the moment when we took on a completely different attitude on the game. Before, we were completely apathetic to the outcome. However, as you can see here, the Stars got our attention with their play, and we wanted the Stars to finish the win.

The fans directly in front of us who I mentioned before liked our signs so much that during a commercial break they took a picture of us holding them up, and probably Instagrammed it or something. I don't know.

Jamie Benn almost scored an extremely fluky goal when he banked it off the boards and it somehow got past Viktor Fasth. Quite a few Ducks fans didn't even wait to see confirmation of the goal and headed for the exits. Once again, I documented this moment in time.

So long. Farewell.

Auf wiedersehen goodbye (Pacific Division)!

Even when the referee announced there was no goal, the fans didn't come back to their seats. Watching that reminded me of the scene from Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle in which Harold asks Kumar if he wants to go back to get his cell phone from the apartment, which was ten feet away, and Kumar says "No. We've gone too far." Seriously, those fans who left couldn't go back to their seats to see if the Ducks could come back from two goals down? There was over six minutes to go in this game. Anything can happen in a hockey game, especially at Honda Center with all those funky bounces. We're not talking about five or 10 fans here. This was at least 100 people, so quite a few people.

Hey, I like that score.

The horn sounded, and we won, and we were all happy. We asked the fans in the row in front of us that we got along with so well to photograph us holding our signs, and they were nice enough to do so. And now, I shall reveal to you all our signs.

Remember, we went into this game expecting the Stars to get blown out given how the week played out before. Except for the "The Guy Behind Me Can't See" sign, that's why our signs are self-deprecating. I argue that doesn't make us bad fans, because we still went to the game.

After we took the picture, a fan in the last row behind us tried to take his frustrations out on us by yelling "Congratulations, you won one out of the three games we played this week." I said "Thank you!" This guy was not very good at talking trash, and I was easily toying with him. After he said "Enjoy eleventh place!" I yelled back "We will!" Seriously, dude, work on your heckling. I'm not impressed.

Postgame

In rather fortuitous timing, as we were walking to the arena's exits, we saw through the windows the 9:00 PM Disneyland firework show in progress, which obviously meant Disneyland was celebrating a Dallas Stars victory.

We also ran into quite a few Stars fans outside the arena, and once again it's always fun to be the only 20 people celebrating a victory in a road arena.

Remember how I blasted Pantera as we were entering Honda Center? Well, I decided we didn't have enough fun at the expense of Ducks fans, so we decided to play Pantera on loop at full blast from my car with all the windows down until we were out of the parking lot. We were in the parking lot for 15 minutes.

Would our experience have been different if the Stars lost? Of course. I've seen what it's like to be a loser at Honda Center. It wasn't fun. Again, that's why I try to befriend, if you will, the fans near me so that life won't be as terrible as I exit the arena.

Up next: my visit to the Shark Tank. It will be very detailed.

Go Stars. Go Disneyland.

Oh wait, I'm supposed to be writing about going to Honda Center. Sorry, I got sidetracked.

Planning

I also decided to get some sign supplies for this game in Marina Del Rey near Santa Monica, so I made a trip out of it.

(They call them carpool lanes in California, by the way. Just wanted to use HOV to avoid confusion)

I was presented with quite a conundrum: Open my windows to breathe in the fumes from the bus in front of me, or keep them closed and smell a smelly marker. I compromised and cracked open the windows.

Pregame

Around 6:53 PM, we finally parked. The other friend who didn't make his sign spent 5 minutes drawing the sign you see in the above photo.

(In the background, you see a very bad baseball team's stadium.)

We definitely got a kick out of that.

Oh, and here's a very important thing to know about Ducks fans: they do not like Steve Ott.

Gameplay Atmosphere

First Period

While I went to a Sharks-Ducks game at Honda Center a couple months before, I went as a neutral observer while my girlfriend cheered on her Sharks. Three obnoxiously drunk Ducks fans showed up in the third period and sat three rows in front us. They were shouting obscenities throughout the third period, and they got worse when the Ducks got on the board.

When the Ducks went ahead 2-1, one of those fans started calling all the Sharks fans a row behind us "fairweather fans," which understandably upset all the fans behind us. Up until that point, we didn't have any issues with obnoxious fans, but those three hooligans made the game-watching experience miserable.

My girlfriend had a great zinger for them that she wrote on Twitter: "Hey drunk Ducks fans, are you pregnant? Because you missed two periods!"

I write that anecdote because I hoped to avoid obnoxiously drunk home fans when I went to Honda Center as a visiting fan.

Then almost immediately, the Ducks answered the Stars' goal, benefiting from the most Honda Center Bounce of Honda Center Bounces of all time.

If you ever see this during a game at Honda Center, it means bad things.

Tuba Top Tip: Make people laugh.

When the Ducks take a lot of penalties, the fans really don't like it. In fact, they chant very loudly "Ref you suck!"

It was a good first period.

First Intermission

I hope this picture illustrates what I'm trying to describe.

That's all that happened in the first intermission.

Second Period

Second Intermission

I was definitely hungry this time, so I got out of my seat as fast as I could to get a pan pizza. I finished that and decided to venture out in the concourse to see if I'd notice anything strange.

Is that...a Roberto Luongo jersey?! What are you doing at a Stars-Ducks game?! The Canucks aren't playing in Anaheim!

Always enjoy seeing older jerseys at these games. A Crazy Eddie fan made an appearance here.

Third Period

So long. Farewell.

Auf wiedersehen goodbye (Pacific Division)!

Hey, I like that score.

Postgame

We also ran into quite a few Stars fans outside the arena, and once again it's always fun to be the only 20 people celebrating a victory in a road arena.

Up next: my visit to the Shark Tank. It will be very detailed.

Go Stars. Go Disneyland.

Poll

Disneyland?

DISNEYLAND!

10 votes

10 votes | Poll has closed

Breaching The Castle Walls: The Staples Center Road Fan Experience

DFWTrojanTuba — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 08:46:33 -0000

As a USC student, I made it a goal to attend as many road Stars game as possible. Up until my senior year I didn't have a car, so that made my goal a tad difficult, as I had to rely on friends who had cars who were Kings or Stars fans that went to USC. That is a very small group of people.

Since this was my last semester at USC, and I had a car, I decided I would attend Stars games in all California arenas, starting with the Kings on March 7. There initially was an issue with attending the March 7 game, as I had a night class scheduled that day. Then I thought about it literally a second later and said to myself, "Game's more important."

Now, I'm not advocating all you other college students on this board to excuse yourself from class, but when the Stars are in your school's area, GO!

Planning

One thing about Staples Center that I learned from my first Stars-Kings game experience back in 2011 was that the 300-level seats totally suck. Staples Center's 100 and 200-level seats are built rather closely to each other, but then the arena has three layers of box seats in between the 200s and 300s, and the 300-level seats are steeper than the rest of the arena's seats. The seats are just way too high.

So, to reference Top Gear, here's a Tuba Top Tip: If you're going to a game at Staples Center, buy seats no higher than the 200s.

Second Tuba Top Tip: Buy your tickets from StubHub the week of the game. Some people who have tickets to the game will find out that they can't make it and will try to sell them off for anything they can get. For this game, I found two premium seats for $35 apiece, when they were $100 face value.

If you want to find cheap parking, find a parking garage in downtown Los Angeles north of Staples Center. Parking near Staples Center can get pretty pricey, but if you're willing to walk a little further, you'll find parking under $10. Plus, there are quite a few bars and restaurants near 7th Street and Grand Avenue. Also, if you like Irish pubs, go to Casey's.

Also, I recommend you always go with a friend. You're going to want to high-five somebody when the Stars score.

Pregame

While I had a car, I didn't drive to Staples Center because the LA Metro finally finished constructing the Expo Line light rail last April, and it runs right by USC, so I just jumped on that.

I took quite a few photos on this visit. Part of that was because I'm doing this for a class project. The other part was to show things that my writing won't sufficiently describe.

I really wanted to convey the atmosphere outside Staples Center just to get a glimpse of what people did before going to the game. Well, there happen to be a lot of statues outside the arena, most notably Wayne Gretzky's.

Wait, there are statues of Jerry West and Magic Johnson outside the arena? Who are those scrubs?

Oh, and here's one very important thing to know about Kings fans: they do not like Steve Ott.

There was actually only one way to get to our premium seats, since they're blocked off from the rest of the arena. I'll skip the boring part of where we had to go to the VIP entrance, listened to Kings fans trying to trash talk us, and then walked down our own private concourse to our seats, where we discovered we had in-seat meal service. We paid $35 apiece for these seats. This is why StubHub is awesome.

(Note to opposing fans: I've seen my fair share of ugly behavior from opposing fans a member of the USC Band...your professional sports trash talking doesn't do anything.)

As you can see, Staples Center really loves using lasers as part of their pregame presentation.

Before each period, the scoreboard shows the Kings leaving their locker room through castle doors. I honestly think this could be cooler if they substituted showing a video of the Kings leaving through castle doors with the team skating through a physical castle wall that they would only deploy before the start of the game. What would really be awesome and a total safety hazard is if each King rode in through castle doors on horses, like most historical kings did.

Staples Center blares the goal horn when the team hits the ice for the start of each period, and the telecast doesn't exactly convey how loud it really is. If you're not ready for the goal horn, you will jump from being startled.

Yes, I yelled "Stars!" during the Banner.

Before the puck drops, Staples Center plays a video of Eric Cartman dressed as a cowboy discussing what he would do if he was a Dallas Stars fan. It's overly stereotypical, so take that with a grain of salt. Then he literally explodes and becomes a Kings fan, and then leads Staples Center in a "Go Kings Go!" chant. If you're wondering why Eric Cartman is at Kings games and not Avalanche games, the creators of South Park are Kings fans.

And then the puck drops.

Gameplay Atmosphere

First Period

I always behave in road venues as I would anybody else's house: Don't be obnoxious. Treat the home fans with respect. Simple guidelines to follow, but they'll get you far.

For the most part, the Kings fans immediately around us were pretty chill and actually conversed with us peacefully. This has been true for every game I've been to at Staples Center, and I was happy that this trend continued.

Now, one particular fan who was a few rows behind me tried to get my attention by screaming unflattering guttural sounds my direction, but I never acknowledged him. Then that same fan started screaming at other people, so it was clear he had a little too much of grandpa's old cough medicine before the game.

When it comes to celebrating Stars goals, it's extremely gratifying. It's one thing to be a Ducks or Sharks fan celebrating a goal at Staples Center because you will probably have a lot of friends with you to celebrate that goal. It's an entirely different and awesome feeling to be one of 30 Stars fans in the building standing up and cheering Jaromir Jagr scoring the first goal of the game.

Now, when Trevor Lewis shoot the tying goal over Kari, that sucks. The fans around me, however, didn't give me crap because I didn't talk trash to them when Jagr scored.

I like taking pictures of the scoreboard when the home team scores because it gives me something to do besides mope, but this time I was too shocked that Lewis beat Kari from such a severe angle that I didn't get my camera out. Is it a tad masochistic that I photograph the opposing team celebrating at my expense? Perhaps. But you don't get to see this stuff on TV.

The Kings really like the Addams family theme, except Kings fans added their own lyrics to it. During the gaps in sound, the Kings fans yell in rhythm "STARS SUCK!" or whoever they're playing that night. As far as I know, those aren't the words to the Addams Family theme. But, who am I to judge?

I happen to be a pretty intense hockey watcher when I'm at the arena, and on this particular night I was really intense, prompting me to lean forward a lot in my chair. A Kings fan behind me noticed and said something along the lines of "bro, you're too intense for this game. It's a 1-1 tie. You gotta relax!" He was right.

First Intermission

The first intermission entertainment was a tad interesting. Two guys were given shirts that were frozen solid, and there was a contest between them to see who could free the shirt from the ice and put it on before the other guy to win a Toyota.

I'm not sure what this blog's policy is on posting photos of shirtless men trying to break ice on a shirt to put said shirt on, but this was something you had to see to believe.

The bigger guy near the bench won the contest, and the presenters asked him how he felt, which badly backfired since he yelled "F*** yeah!" very loudly into the mic, prompting every child in the arena to ask their parents what that word meant. Everybody watching that guy try to break the shirt just knew he was hammered, so I can't say we were surprised by him cussing while being thrilled from winning a new car.

Their Champions banner flutters around like a sail. The Kings put a fan above the banner so it stands out more than the rest of their banners. Just look at the American and Canadian flags for reference. They're totally stationary.

Oh and I stayed in my seat during intermission.

Second Period

Staples Center brought up the Hero of the Game during the second period. This night, it was Corporal William Cushenberry.

This brought an obligatory and well-deserved standing ovation from the entire arena.

So many Lakers banners.

During a commercial break, the arena featured Dustin Penner answering "this or that" questions about Los Angeles. When the question "USC or ucla" popped up on the screen, it seemed like the entire arena was yelling "USC!" It may have just been me yelling over everybody else. I don't know. Penner answered USC, which then prompted some of the loudest cheers heard in the building the entire game.

Stompin' Tom Connors had passed away the day before this game, and a lot of arenas in the NHL paid tribute to him by playing "The Hockey Song." The arena wanted everybody to sing along to the song, and even displayed the lyrics on the screen. I was one of two people in my section who knew the song, as I use it to open my radio show.

And then right after that, Jeff Carter got the puck.

If you ever see this during a game at Staples Center, it means bad things.

The scoreboard during goal celebrations is interesting to me. It briefly stops showing the player who scored, cutting to a random clip of people either dancing or celebrating.

I'm curious as to where the Kings find these clips.

And again, because I established right away I wasn't an obnoxious fan, there wasn't too much heckling from the fans immediately surrounding me. That made watching the Stars trail a little more bearable.

And since it's a Kings game, they need more Cartman.

See if you can spot something new.

Somehow our power play was really good that game. Cody Eakin's goal was also beautiful and tied the game, so that was fun to again stand up and be the only two people celebrating in my section. There was another Stars fan in the section to my right, and once he saw me and realized he wasn't the only Stars fan in his vicinity, we pointed and nodded at each other to nonverbally say "We're awesome."

When you go to road games, you instantly make new friends when you see people wearing your team's colors.

Second Intermission

There was a circus tricycle race this time around, so no shirtless men trying to break open a frozen shirt. The tricycles were very difficult to handle judging by how poorly the riders rode around them in the arena.

They probably could have gotten around faster if they ran on the ice. It might have been more entertaining, too.

I mean, who doesn't want to see chaos on the ice?

After that, I ventured out to the concourse.

Pretty upscale bar. I was hoping there would be more people in the concourse during intermission to make this a better photo, but there weren't.

You can't really tell in that photo above, but that woman on the far end of the bar from me who's under the lights is wearing a Patrick Kane jersey. Yup. Chicago Blackhawks fans are everywhere, even when they're not relevant to the game you're at.

There was also this gigantic display of memorabilia way out of my price range, even though I wouldn't want it anyway.

Well, maybe the Wayne Gretzky photo. I heard that guy was pretty good in his heyday.

I was also starting to get really hungry and decided to take advantage of the in-seat meal service. What I learned is there is one person that is designated to take orders in your section, and if you ask another person near your section who isn't assigned to your section, he or she won't take your order. At least that's what happened with me.

After waiting a rather frustrating five minutes or so, we finally found our guy and ordered our food. Hey, we had premium seats. We can complain about first world pains.

Third Period

I have to say the food service was really clutch. Seconds after the Staples Center employee delivered my turkey burger, Brenden Morrow scored one of the softest goals ever, and the Stars took the lead. You all can thank my turkey burger very much for causing Jonathan Quick to focus on that instead of Brenden Morrow at his doorstep.

Oh and by the way, the burger was pretty good.

Not too long after that, Jagr scored again and that really took the air out of the building.

So yeah, I got to see a legend in Jaromir Jagr score two goals for the Stars. That was pretty awesome.

Oh and really fitting that there's a StubHub ad running on the scoreboard. Thank you for these seats.

When the Kings take a lot of penalties, the fans really don't like it. In fact, they chant very loudly "Ref you suck!"

The Kings fan behind me who told me to chill out earlier happened to be a USC fan, so my friend, also a Trojan, and I found common ground with him, which was nice. If you happen to be reading this, said Kings fan, Fight on, sir.

Late in the period Antoine Roussel buried an empty net goal, and then there was a mass exodus out of the arena. I took a bunch of photos of fans leaving the game, which I admit was a dick move.

Scoreboard.

So long. Farewell.

Auf wiedersehen goodbye (Pacific Division)!

Oh and I didn't get many action shots the entire game, and decided now, while the game was already finished, was the best time to get some.

The game ended, and luckily we found a Kings fan who was nice enough to take a couple minutes to take our picture with the ice in the background.

Postgame

It's always nice to walk out of a road venue a victor. The majority of everybody surrounding you leaves sad while you get to laugh (inside) at their misery. Yes, schadenfreude. This is also when you can high-five the Stars fans you didn't see at the game.

When you're using the LA Metro light rail to get to and from Staples Center, make sure you get on the right train. My friend and I jumped on the first one we saw, and didn't realize we got on the wrong train until three stops later, when we were in South Central LA. Trains after 8:00 PM arrive 20 minutes apart from each other, so we were in unfamiliar territory for an uncomfortably long time.

What ideally would have been a 15-minute commute back to my apartment became 45 minutes because of our mistake. But eventually, I got home safely.

Final Thoughts

Would my experience be different had the Kings won this game? Undoubtedly. I've been to a Stars-Kings game in which the Kings won, and it sucked. That's why I always make it a goal of mine to try and establish good relations with the people surrounding me so a loss hopefully won't be as bad. The only fans I've had issues with at Staples Center in the past are fans who are within yelling distance of me. Other than that, overall I've had decent experiences at Staples.

I hope you all enjoyed reading this. I know I write a lot.

Up next: Duck Hunting. Guaranteed to have lots of traffic in that post.

Go Stars.

Now, I'm not advocating all you other college students on this board to excuse yourself from class, but when the Stars are in your school's area, GO!

Planning

So, to reference Top Gear, here's a Tuba Top Tip: If you're going to a game at Staples Center, buy seats no higher than the 200s.

Also, I recommend you always go with a friend. You're going to want to high-five somebody when the Stars score.

Pregame

While I had a car, I didn't drive to Staples Center because the LA Metro finally finished constructing the Expo Line light rail last April, and it runs right by USC, so I just jumped on that.

I took quite a few photos on this visit. Part of that was because I'm doing this for a class project. The other part was to show things that my writing won't sufficiently describe.

Wait, there are statues of Jerry West and Magic Johnson outside the arena? Who are those scrubs?

Oh, and here's one very important thing to know about Kings fans: they do not like Steve Ott.

(Note to opposing fans: I've seen my fair share of ugly behavior from opposing fans a member of the USC Band...your professional sports trash talking doesn't do anything.)

As you can see, Staples Center really loves using lasers as part of their pregame presentation.

Yes, I yelled "Stars!" during the Banner.

And then the puck drops.

Gameplay Atmosphere

First Period

I always behave in road venues as I would anybody else's house: Don't be obnoxious. Treat the home fans with respect. Simple guidelines to follow, but they'll get you far.

Now, when Trevor Lewis shoot the tying goal over Kari, that sucks. The fans around me, however, didn't give me crap because I didn't talk trash to them when Jagr scored.

First Intermission

I'm not sure what this blog's policy is on posting photos of shirtless men trying to break ice on a shirt to put said shirt on, but this was something you had to see to believe.

Oh and I stayed in my seat during intermission.

Second Period

Staples Center brought up the Hero of the Game during the second period. This night, it was Corporal William Cushenberry.

This brought an obligatory and well-deserved standing ovation from the entire arena.

So many Lakers banners.

And then right after that, Jeff Carter got the puck.

If you ever see this during a game at Staples Center, it means bad things.

The scoreboard during goal celebrations is interesting to me. It briefly stops showing the player who scored, cutting to a random clip of people either dancing or celebrating.

I'm curious as to where the Kings find these clips.

And since it's a Kings game, they need more Cartman.

See if you can spot something new.

When you go to road games, you instantly make new friends when you see people wearing your team's colors.

Second Intermission

They probably could have gotten around faster if they ran on the ice. It might have been more entertaining, too.

I mean, who doesn't want to see chaos on the ice?

After that, I ventured out to the concourse.

Pretty upscale bar. I was hoping there would be more people in the concourse during intermission to make this a better photo, but there weren't.

There was also this gigantic display of memorabilia way out of my price range, even though I wouldn't want it anyway.

Well, maybe the Wayne Gretzky photo. I heard that guy was pretty good in his heyday.

After waiting a rather frustrating five minutes or so, we finally found our guy and ordered our food. Hey, we had premium seats. We can complain about first world pains.

Third Period

Oh and by the way, the burger was pretty good.

Not too long after that, Jagr scored again and that really took the air out of the building.

So yeah, I got to see a legend in Jaromir Jagr score two goals for the Stars. That was pretty awesome.

Oh and really fitting that there's a StubHub ad running on the scoreboard. Thank you for these seats.

When the Kings take a lot of penalties, the fans really don't like it. In fact, they chant very loudly "Ref you suck!"

Late in the period Antoine Roussel buried an empty net goal, and then there was a mass exodus out of the arena. I took a bunch of photos of fans leaving the game, which I admit was a dick move.

Scoreboard.

So long. Farewell.

Auf wiedersehen goodbye (Pacific Division)!

Oh and I didn't get many action shots the entire game, and decided now, while the game was already finished, was the best time to get some.

The game ended, and luckily we found a Kings fan who was nice enough to take a couple minutes to take our picture with the ice in the background.

Postgame

What ideally would have been a 15-minute commute back to my apartment became 45 minutes because of our mistake. But eventually, I got home safely.

Final Thoughts

I hope you all enjoyed reading this. I know I write a lot.

Up next: Duck Hunting. Guaranteed to have lots of traffic in that post.

Go Stars.

Poll

Do I write a lot?

Yes

0 votes

Seriously, dude. Go write a book or something.

2 votes

I DIDN'T GET ENOUGH MINUTE DETAILS, TUBA

7 votes

Brandon's not stuck on an oil rig again, is he?

8 votes

Hi Trevor.

7 votes

24 votes | Poll has closed

Jim Lites Letter to Fans

DFWTrojanTuba — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 19:34:22 -0000

Jim Lites Letter to Fans

Jim Lites' letter to Stars fans.

Blackhawks Acquire Michal Handzus from Sharks

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 20:20:21 -0000

Blackhawks Acquire Michal Handzus from Sharks

Blackhawks give the Sharks a fourth round pick.

Keep Calm and Kari On

DFWTrojanTuba — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 21:44:46 -0000

Just made this. Hope you all like it.

Dallas Stars recall Alex Chiasson

DFWTrojanTuba — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 19:09:40 -0000

Dallas Stars recall Alex Chiasson

Per Mike Heika, Chiasson's an injury call-up for tonight's game against LA. Chances he'll play are unknown.

Week of 1-28 OT Thread - I'm Going Live...Soon

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:16:57 -0000

I really apologize for how rushed this is going to be, but I have an article due for Neon Tommy this afternoon and a hockey show at KXSC Radio to plan out, so that is my priority right now.

That being said, the hockey show will air hopefully on Mondays at 12 PM Pacific Standard Time, so 2 PM for most of you all. You can hear it at kxsc.org, since most of you won't be able to tune in on campus. If you'd like to be a phone guest, coordinate that with me before the show and we'll set it up.

Okay, enough of the major announcement. Time for some links around the world.

Fights in the stands at sporting events are extremely unfortunate and should never happen. But, as this video indicates, apparently an exhibition football game in Hawaii is too much for people to handle, and fights even break out at the Pro Bowl. It's the freaking Pro Bowl!
File this in a memo entitled "YOU ARE LATE TO THE PARTY, BUT THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!" Yes, I finally saw this video this weekend, from the always entertaining Ilya Bryzgalov during his time with the Anaheim Ducks. This is required viewing, by the way.
Speaking of football, it is officially Super Bowl Week! This is one of my favorite times of the year, even if the Cowboys will never be in the Super Bowl ever again. Who you got, and why?
Also, whoever recommended that I see Pod People for Mystery Science Theater 3000, I'm curious as to why you recommended that one because it was downright awful. Not as bad as Manos: Hands of Fate, but up there in horribleness.
Power Rankings from NHL.com. Do you agree with where they put the Stars?
If you had to pick between these two shows to watch with a date, what would you pick: How I Met Your Mother, or That 70s Show?

Once my story is published, I'll post the link here in this thread. Please feel free to comment on my writing, and let me know if I'm completely clueless or know what I'm talking about!

Take care!

I really apologize for how rushed this is going to be, but I have an article due for Neon Tommy this afternoon and a hockey show at KXSC Radio to plan out, so that is my priority right now.

Okay, enough of the major announcement. Time for some links around the world.

Fights in the stands at sporting events are extremely unfortunate and should never happen. But, as this video indicates, apparently an exhibition football game in Hawaii is too much for people to handle, and fights even break out at the Pro Bowl. It's the freaking Pro Bowl!
File this in a memo entitled "YOU ARE LATE TO THE PARTY, BUT THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!" Yes, I finally saw this video this weekend, from the always entertaining Ilya Bryzgalov during his time with the Anaheim Ducks. This is required viewing, by the way.
Speaking of football, it is officially Super Bowl Week! This is one of my favorite times of the year, even if the Cowboys will never be in the Super Bowl ever again. Who you got, and why?
Also, whoever recommended that I see Pod People for Mystery Science Theater 3000, I'm curious as to why you recommended that one because it was downright awful. Not as bad as Manos: Hands of Fate, but up there in horribleness.
Power Rankings from NHL.com. Do you agree with where they put the Stars?
If you had to pick between these two shows to watch with a date, what would you pick: How I Met Your Mother, or That 70s Show?

Once my story is published, I'll post the link here in this thread. Please feel free to comment on my writing, and let me know if I'm completely clueless or know what I'm talking about!

Take care!

Week of 1-21 OT Thread: Mystery Science Theater 3000 to the Rescue!

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 22:50:29 -0000

Losses suck. Let's just establish that right off the bat. Snoozefests like yesterday's game against the Wild are games I despise, because falling asleep in the middle of a hockey game should never happen. But, yesterday's game was so boring...

Alright, my anti-Minnesota Wild rant is over.

Luckily for me, but not for the overwhelming majority of this forum, I'm in the west coast, so when crappy games that start a 5 like yesterday's happen, I can enjoy the rest of my evening starting at 7:45 or so.

Over the weekend, I discovered the greatness that is Mystery Science Theater 3000. For those of you who don't know what that is, myself included until last Friday, it's a show in which a man and two robots are trapped on a spaceship and are at the mercy of a mad scientist who subjects them to watching the most horrible movies ever made. Making fun of the movie as they're watching it is literally their only way to keep their sanity. It's nothing short of hysterical.

(I do not recommend watching MTS3K sober, because the movies they watch are so bad you will go insane, even with the commentary. Case in point, Manos: The Hands of Fate. In my opinion, THE WORST MOVIE OF ALL TIME.)

Mystery Science Theater 3000 also released a movie in 1996. I highly recommend that movie, on top of the rest of the show. Granted I've only watched one episode along with the move, but believe me when I say I want to watch more.

I am presenting this to you all, because we all can use an escape every once in a while. Your day will instantly improve, I guarantee it.

Who knew bad movies could be so fun to watch?

Alright, my anti-Minnesota Wild rant is over.

I am presenting this to you all, because we all can use an escape every once in a while. Your day will instantly improve, I guarantee it.

Who knew bad movies could be so fun to watch?

Week of 1-14-13 OT Thread: We're back!

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:14:00 -0000

The return of the NHL means one very important thing: the return of the Defending Big D Weekly Off-Topic Threads! I didn't post any of these during the lockout because nobody wanted to know anything else besides what was going on with the CBA, myself included.

And now without further ado, here' s some interesting things to discuss.

So...the Golden Globes...if anybody actually watched some of that, what do you think of some of the winners? Did Argo deserve Best Picture - Drama? What about Les Miserables?

Speaking of entertainment, what do you think of the Oscar nominations? Ben Affleck was a major snub this year for Best Director, which I personally thought was a travesty. Argo's a damn good film.

Also, Christoph Waltz should win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in Django Unchained. He is awesome in that movie, and I highly recommend you all see that movie. Warning: it's more violent than Inglorious Basterds. Like most Quentin Tarantino movies, it's not for the faint of heart.

Arrested Development...it's officially coming back! Yes, for those of you who haven't been following, Netflix will release 14 Arrested Development episodes in May. I know I can't wait for this. If you haven't watched that show, get on it now. You'll be hooked immediately.

For you out-of-state fans, like me, here's some important news regarding your hockey watching. NHL Gamecenter Live will be $50, and NHL Center Ice will be $60, a 40% discount from what it apparently normally would be. The NHL is offering Center Ice free for the entire month of January, and if people buy it early, it's $49.99, oer the official website. If anybody has any questions about NHL Center Ice, ask Trevor, since he's the best person here to answer that question.

There is a 30-second delay with Gamecenter Live, for those of you who are wondering what to get, but you can get both feeds to each game. However, if the Stars are in Los Angeles when they're playing the Kings, I can't watch on Gamecenter Live because of local blackouts. (Also I'd want to be at the game).

Speaking of awesome, Texas Star forward Taylor Vause just tweeted this:

It's amazing watching living legend @68jagr practice during @dallasstars camp. I'm excited to see him in a Stars jersey soon.
— Taylor Vause (@wizardofvause) January 14, 2013

Jagr's already having an effect with the team, especially with the prospects who grew up watching him play.

Taylor Vause is also a Photoshop god, so feel free to check out some of his work!

Also, it's my last semester here at USC. I will have to join the majority of this blog very soon in the real world. Is it scary?

And now without further ado, here' s some interesting things to discuss.

So...the Golden Globes...if anybody actually watched some of that, what do you think of some of the winners? Did Argo deserve Best Picture - Drama? What about Les Miserables?

Speaking of entertainment, what do you think of the Oscar nominations? Ben Affleck was a major snub this year for Best Director, which I personally thought was a travesty. Argo's a damn good film.

Speaking of awesome, Texas Star forward Taylor Vause just tweeted this:

It's amazing watching living legend @68jagr practice during @dallasstars camp. I'm excited to see him in a Stars jersey soon.
— Taylor Vause (@wizardofvause) January 14, 2013

Jagr's already having an effect with the team, especially with the prospects who grew up watching him play.

Taylor Vause is also a Photoshop god, so feel free to check out some of his work!

Also, it's my last semester here at USC. I will have to join the majority of this blog very soon in the real world. Is it scary?

Three-Point Games: What Would You Do to Fix Them?

DFWTrojanTuba — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 21:35:42 -0000

As many of you loyal readers--well, the five of you who have stuck around during this annoying lockout--know, the Dallas Stars and three-point games are not on good terms. For the past couple seasons, the Stars have missed out on the playoffs by essentially an inch because they haven't taken advantage of a point system that's been in place since 2005, when the NHL came out of its last lockout.

One could also argue the Stars have been screwed by three point games, and there's some merit to that argument in my opinion, but the Stars should have figured out how to lose their games the right way. Therein lies the problem. Why is there a system that encourages teams to punt overtime and get to the shootout and be content with getting a point? Why isn't there is a system that gives teams incentive to win games in regulation or actually try to win in the five-minute overtime to have wins that count more than shootout wins?

Do you see what's wrong here? Why are some wins more valuable than other wins? Isn't a win supposed to be a win? It is that way in pretty much every sport in the world.

Are extra-inning wins in the MLB less valuable in the standings than a win in a standard 9-inning baseball game? Nope.

Does the NBA place more weight on overtime? Nope.

Or how about the NFL? Nope.

Now, to be fair, and not to digress too much, the NFL's overtime system is still kind of flawed, but it's better than it used to be.

The debate on how to properly come up with a solution to fix this nagging issue in the NHL's standings point system is widespread. I've brought along a close friend, and writer for Fear the Fin, mymclife to discuss two different solutions we feel might fix the problem.

Bring Back the Tie

Why does the NHL have a system that rewards losing? You lost. You take your defeat, go home, and realize you get nothing out of that. Or, to put it best: You get nothing. You lose. Good day, sir. No other sport in the world has this kind of system in place. I hate the loser point more than anything in the NHL. Okay, maybe except for Gary Bettman, Donald Fehr, Steve Fehr, Bill Daly...those guys. But that's a story for another era.

My solution is a rather simple one: The NHL needs to bring back the tie and get rid of the shootout.

Yes, ties are boring because nobody comes out a winner. But, I firmly believe that this will encourage teams to actually play their hardest in every game of the regular season because there won't be that fallback option of a free point that is currently available in the present system. You want to make the playoffs? You've got to win your games. You resort to playing to get to overtime and relying on a point you get from tying.

Yes, this does mean a team can not win a single game in a season and get 82 points. That doesn't mean they'll make the playoffs.

I also believe the NHL needs to bring back the tie because I think the tie reflects a team more accurately in the standings. Case in point: the 2011-2012 Florida Panthers. Their record: 38-26-18. Yes. Eighteen overtime losses. This is a team that took advantage of a flawed system and won their division...and promptly lost to the Devils in 7 games in the first round of the playoffs. But they won their division because the lost their games the right way.

You know another team like that? The Stanley Cup Champion LA Kings. (VOMITS). Their record, for those of you who don't remember: 40-27-15. Fifteen loser points. Look at it another way, they lost 42 games, and got rewarded for almost one-third of their losses. However, this is purely overall record, and the Kings made up significant ground down the stretch, much to our dismay, and played the most dominant postseason the NHL has seen in a while.

I'm not taking anything away from the Kings. They definitely earned the Stanley Cup. I'm just saying that there is a system in place that allows teams like the Panthers and the Kings to lose in advantageous ways, and that's just wrong.

Going back to a Win-Loss-Tie system that was last in place in the 1998-1999 season will more accurately represent how good or bad a team is. It just so happens that 98-99 was the year the Stars won the Cup with that system in place, entering the playoffs with a glorious 51-19-12 record, finishing with 114 points. That team lost only 19 times in an 82 game season, including games in overtime. I don't need to emphasize how awesome that team was, since we all know what happened, but holy cow 19 losses all season? To put that into better perspective, the Vancouver Canucks finished with 111 points with a 51-22-9 record. They actually lost 31 games that season, and got rewarded for nine of those losses. They lost in the first round to the Kings, but then again, they caught fire in March and broke for nobody.

I can also cite the 2005-2006 Dallas Stars as a case for why the NHL needs to revert to the Win-Loss-Tie. Remember that 53-23-6 112-point season that ended in a whimper in five games to the Avalanche in the first round? (Let me say this: It didn't help that Marty Turco was godawful that entire series.) Twelve of those 53 wins were earned in the shootout. What good does 12 shootout wins do besides give you 24 points in the standings? It doesn't prepare teams well for the playoffs, since the system doesn't encourage teams to play as hard as they can in overtime.

Here are the Stanley Cup Champions from 1979-1999, as well as where they finished in the conference standings.

1979-1980: New York Islanders, 2nd Clarence Campbell Conference
1980-1981: New York Islanders, 1st Clarence Campbell Conference
1981-1982: New York Islanders, 1st Prince of Wales Conference
1982-1983: New York Islanders, 4th Prince of Wales Conference
1983-1984: Edmonton Oilers, 1st Clarence Campbell Conference
1984-1985 Edmonton Oilers, 1st Clarence Campbell Conference
1985-1986 Montreal Canadiens, 3rd Prince of Wales Conference
1986-1987 Edmonton Oilers, 1st, Clarence Campbell Conference
1987-1988 Edmonton Oilers 2nd Clarence Campbell Conference
1988-1989 Calgary Flames, 1st Clarence Campbell Conference
1989-1990 Edmonton Oilers, 2nd Clarence Campbell Conference
1990-1991 Pittsburgh Penguins, 2nd Prince of Wales Conference
1991-1992 Pittsburgh Penguins, 4th Prince of Wales Conference
1992-1993 Montreal Canadiens, 5th Prince of Wales Conference
1993-1994 New York Rangers, 1st Eastern Conference
1994-1995 New Jersey Devils, 5th Eastern Conference
1995-1996: Colorado Avalanche, 2nd Western Conference
1996-1997: Detroit Red Wings, 3rd Western Conference
1997-1998: Detroit Red Wings, 2nd Western Conference
1998-1999: Dallas Stars, 1st Western Conference

Of the twenty teams in that list who won the Stanley Cup, eight finished at the top of the conference, and six finished second in the conference. Those seasons used the Win-Loss-Tie standing system, and featured some very dynastic teams, like the Oilers and Islanders in the 1980s. Yes, there are a few outliers in that list, with some teams finishing as low as fifth in the conference, but 70% of those champions finished either first or second in the conference standings under that system.

Now it goes without saying that where a team finishes in the standings does not predict how it will do in the playoffs. But in the win-loss-tie system, those teams in first or second place earned those spots through winning an overwhelming majority of their games, and losing very few games, and tying even fewer. It's a simple system that encourages winning more than anything, and it's why the NHL should go back to it.

While I think I've made a strong case, let's hear from Fear the Fin writer mymclife.

The 3-2-1-0 System

Ties suck.

Maybe it’s because I don’t watch sports that have a lot of ties. Maybe it’s because I like the idea that there has to be a winner and a loser, I don’t know. But what I do know is that seeing a hard-fought game, intense end in a tie is annoying, and feels like the game was somewhat of a waste of time.

I mean, I’m a fan of the 49ers, and watching them tie the Rams was kind of a joke (of course, that also had to do with the fact that it was the Rams - don’t even get me started on the overtime loss later in the season).

The 1969-70 Philadelphia Flyers had 24 ties in only 66 games - 36% of the time the game ended with no winner or loser. Yes, that is the league record for ties, but it’s still entirely possible for a team to be similarly futile in ending a game with a clear winner and loser.* There is no way I want to watch a team tie 20+ games.

*On the other side of things, the 1992-93 San Jose Sharks had 2 ties in 84 games, which means there wasn’t a clear winner in only 2% of their games. However, they lost 72 games that season, so not winning was a familiar occurrence for Sharks fans that year.

This is where I think the NHL has it right: there is always a winner and a loser at the end of a game. But everything else is kind of crap.

Under the current system, some games are worth two points, and some games are worth three points. The lack of consistency in points means that only SEVEN teams in the 2011-12 season were below what should be considered .500 (82 points). 77% of the league had a “winning” record under this system.

A team could go 15-0-67 and likely make the playoffs with 97 points. Hell, last season, that would have won the Southeast division and tied the Pacific. A fifteen win team should not be able to make the playoffs, much less win the division. A team that has zero wins can go .500. Obviously, there is an issue here.

This is why I propose adopting the system that virtually all European hockey leagues, as well as international tournaments, already utilize: the 3-2-1-0 points system. Three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime/shootout win, one point for an overtime/shootout loss, and zero points for a regulation loss.

With every game worth three points regardless of overtime status or not, .500 becomes .500 again. The overtime games don’t screw up the actual midpoint, because there will always been the same number of points given out every season.

This system rewards teams more for winning in regulation, which means teams will play with a greater sense of urgency late in the third in a tie game. I’ve seen teams coast with a few minutes left in the third, trying to get a guaranteed point rather than risking getting zero points. There’s no incentive to win in regulation if you’ve got a tie late, barring late-season playoff position jockeying. The points are the same no matter how you win. And I’m sorry, it’s not right that a dominant regulation win is worth the same as a glorified skills competition decision.

And yes, I believe the NHL should keep the shootout. Yes, it’s basically a skills competition and yes, it’s cheapened the penalty shot. But with the unique way the NHL is set up compared to the other Big 4 sports - teams are simultaneously on offense and defense with relatively low scoring (barring a Flyers-Penguins playoff series) - overtime periods have no guarantee of scoring within a reasonable amount of time. So in order to avoid an inordinate number of ties, the NHL either has to extend the overtime period or introduce an even more decisive way to end the game. Hence, the shootout.**

**Believe me, I HATE the shootout. Hate it. I am on record many times, on SBN and elsewhere, with my hatred of the shootout. But I do believe it is a necessary evil, because I hate ties even more.

I admit, my perfect system would be based solely on wins and losses, much like how it currently is in the playoffs - and yes, that means 5-on-5 sudden death overtime that doesn’t end until someone scores. However, with an 82 game schedule and back-to-backs with travel (which tend to be especially brutal on Western Conference teams), that system is simply not feasible. Which is why overtime gimmicks such as 4-on-4 and the shootout are necessary to avoid the tie.

However, I do propose new overtime rules in addition to the new standings system. Instead of 5 minutes of 4-on-4 and then a shootout, it will be 5 minutes of 4-on-4, 5 minutes of 3-on-3, and then a shootout. The 10 minutes of OT along with more open ice will increase the chances of scoring and ending the game, thus leading to more games ending via actual hockey rather than a skills competition. And if the game does end up being decided by a skills competition, it no longer feels quite as cheap.

I think we all can agree that the NHL’s current methodology of calculating standings positions is flawed, especially in regards to overtime/shootout losses compared to regulation wins. This is why the NHL should move towards the system that most other leagues are using, the 3-2-1-0 points system. It encourages games to finish in regulation. It no longer cheapens wins. It brings back the true meaning of .500. And, most of all, there are still no more ties.

Your Thoughts?

Well there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. I propose that the NHL should go back to the Win-Loss-Tie system, while mymclife proposes the NHL should adopt an entirely new standings system. Feel free to provide your own solutions in the comments, and maybe, somebody important will be reading this and we could change the game for the better.

Hey, one can dream, right?

Do you see what's wrong here? Why are some wins more valuable than other wins? Isn't a win supposed to be a win? It is that way in pretty much every sport in the world.

Are extra-inning wins in the MLB less valuable in the standings than a win in a standard 9-inning baseball game? Nope.

Does the NBA place more weight on overtime? Nope.

Or how about the NFL? Nope.

Now, to be fair, and not to digress too much, the NFL's overtime system is still kind of flawed, but it's better than it used to be.

Bring Back the Tie

My solution is a rather simple one: The NHL needs to bring back the tie and get rid of the shootout.

Yes, this does mean a team can not win a single game in a season and get 82 points. That doesn't mean they'll make the playoffs.

Here are the Stanley Cup Champions from 1979-1999, as well as where they finished in the conference standings.

1979-1980: New York Islanders, 2nd Clarence Campbell Conference
1980-1981: New York Islanders, 1st Clarence Campbell Conference
1981-1982: New York Islanders, 1st Prince of Wales Conference
1982-1983: New York Islanders, 4th Prince of Wales Conference
1983-1984: Edmonton Oilers, 1st Clarence Campbell Conference
1984-1985 Edmonton Oilers, 1st Clarence Campbell Conference
1985-1986 Montreal Canadiens, 3rd Prince of Wales Conference
1986-1987 Edmonton Oilers, 1st, Clarence Campbell Conference
1987-1988 Edmonton Oilers 2nd Clarence Campbell Conference
1988-1989 Calgary Flames, 1st Clarence Campbell Conference
1989-1990 Edmonton Oilers, 2nd Clarence Campbell Conference
1990-1991 Pittsburgh Penguins, 2nd Prince of Wales Conference
1991-1992 Pittsburgh Penguins, 4th Prince of Wales Conference
1992-1993 Montreal Canadiens, 5th Prince of Wales Conference
1993-1994 New York Rangers, 1st Eastern Conference
1994-1995 New Jersey Devils, 5th Eastern Conference
1995-1996: Colorado Avalanche, 2nd Western Conference
1996-1997: Detroit Red Wings, 3rd Western Conference
1997-1998: Detroit Red Wings, 2nd Western Conference
1998-1999: Dallas Stars, 1st Western Conference

While I think I've made a strong case, let's hear from Fear the Fin writer mymclife.

The 3-2-1-0 System

Ties suck.

This is where I think the NHL has it right: there is always a winner and a loser at the end of a game. But everything else is kind of crap.

**Believe me, I HATE the shootout. Hate it. I am on record many times, on SBN and elsewhere, with my hatred of the shootout. But I do believe it is a necessary evil, because I hate ties even more.

Your Thoughts?

Hey, one can dream, right?

Just Drop It

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 21:07:25 -0000

Just Drop It

NHL fans are pledging to boycott every NHL game canceled after December 21. This means not watching on TV, not purchasing merchandise, not buying tickets to go to games.

Just wanted to share this with you all. This crap needs to stop.

The Meaning of "Fight On."

DFWTrojanTuba — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:37:38 -0000

The Meaning of "Fight On."

This is a video I made for BE7IEVEUSC. Hope you all enjoy it. Fight on CC.

"What's up Lane Kiffin's Sleeve?"

DFWTrojanTuba — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 21:41:06 -0000

"What's up Lane Kiffin's Sleeve?"

Mark Saxon believes there's more to the USC playbook than we've seen. What do you all think?

Week of 9-17 OT Thread

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 20:30:39 -0000

Hey DBD, I'm back from the dead.

A lot has gone on personally for me in the past month that has more than deviated my attention away from writing weekly Off-Topic Threads for the blog.

I'm not going to inflate my ego and ask if you missed them, because really, there wasn't a whole lot to talk about that piqued our collective interests aside from the owners and players not agreeing with each other for the third time under Gary Bettman's tenure. How do you like them apples?

Perhaps the most talked about craze going on in the world is Gangnam Style. For those of you who haven't seen it, click the video below. Trust me, it's so worth the watch.

I personally think this is hilarious, and I feel great for PSY. It's quite amazing to see what happens when a music video goes viral for the right reasons (unlike "Friday). It is now the #1 song on iTunes. The music video has almost 200 million views, and the video was released on July 15, 2012. That's almost 100,000,000 views per month. Staggering.

In other news, the iPhone 5 was finally announced. I have not researched the specs of it because I am not getting a new phone any time soon since I am perfectly content with my iPhone 4S. But for those of you looking to get a new phone, are you going to get the iPhone 5?

via i1.kym-cdn.com

On this day in history, 150 years ago, the Battle of Antietam was fought between the Union and the Confederates. 150 years later, it is still the single bloodiest day in American warfare. (Side note: I did a history project on this in 8th grade...it was a lot of fun.)

Just over a week ago, I went to New York City with my senior Trojan Marching Band class for the USC-Syracuse game in the Meadowlands. When I had free time, I personally got to live out a little dream I always had as a kid: Hold the Hylian Shield from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which I still contend is the best game of all time. How? Nintendo World in Rockefeller Center has a replica Hylian Shield that people can wield and take pictures with. Here's mine.

via sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net

No, that's not made from plastic. It's made from fiberglass, and weighs about 20-25 pounds. Tell me that's not awesome.

By the way, Manhattan was pretty freaking incredible. And, I can say I've performed on Broadway.

via sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net

Have a good rest of the week, DBD.

Hey DBD, I'm back from the dead.

A lot has gone on personally for me in the past month that has more than deviated my attention away from writing weekly Off-Topic Threads for the blog.

Perhaps the most talked about craze going on in the world is Gangnam Style. For those of you who haven't seen it, click the video below. Trust me, it's so worth the watch.

via i1.kym-cdn.com

via sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net

No, that's not made from plastic. It's made from fiberglass, and weighs about 20-25 pounds. Tell me that's not awesome.

By the way, Manhattan was pretty freaking incredible. And, I can say I've performed on Broadway.

via sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net

Have a good rest of the week, DBD.

Week of 8-13 OT Thread

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 07:40:05 -0000

Wait, the Olympics are over already? Boo!

Seriously, those were an amazing two weeks of athleticism, drama, grit, dedication, and another cliche word to describe the Olympics that would normally go here but in order to make this sentence appear important I'm prolonging it with nonsensical verbiage. (Try saying that three times fast).

Some links regarding the Olympics:

Bryan Fischer's Column: London Olympics Made the World Smile in Amazement

Matt Norlander: Olympics Roundtable Roundup: The 10 Best Stories From the 2012 Games

Those two articles are recommended reads if you have some time to kill, and I know most of you do since you're reading this. Regarding the second link, what story that was omitted do you think should have been discussed?

Another question: What was your favorite photo from these Olympics?

And now for something completely different.

Seriously, this is a very important question: Would you rather show up to a baseball game in a floating DeLorean or a Jetpack? (Yes, those are both at the same stadium.)

If you dislocated your shoulder, would you be able to set it back by yourself, stay in the game, and then drive in the go-ahead run? Oakland's Brandon Inge seriously did this.

Yes, another baseball video, sorry I'm not sorry, but how often do you see somebody scale a wall and rob a would-be home run like Toronto's Rajai Davis did here? This is nothing short of an incredible catch.

Guess what people...it's SHARK WEEK! Get ready for that time of the year where all of a sudden everybody is interested in sharks for a whole week, and then significantly less interested afterwards. (This is a proven fact. No you can't have my sources.)

On a personal note, I've recently taken action to try and combat my summer couch potato weight gain by running long distances, or to be more specific, a few laps around my campus once a day. I haven't gotten to the once-a-day aspect of this plan, yet, but I'm sure I'll reach that goal soon. I'll chronicle this more on my personal blog, and when the post is finished, I'll link it in the comments. Running is fun! Knee problems afterwards aren't!

Carry on.

Wait, the Olympics are over already? Boo!

Some links regarding the Olympics:

Bryan Fischer's Column: London Olympics Made the World Smile in Amazement

Matt Norlander: Olympics Roundtable Roundup: The 10 Best Stories From the 2012 Games

Another question: What was your favorite photo from these Olympics?

And now for something completely different.

Seriously, this is a very important question: Would you rather show up to a baseball game in a floating DeLorean or a Jetpack? (Yes, those are both at the same stadium.)

If you dislocated your shoulder, would you be able to set it back by yourself, stay in the game, and then drive in the go-ahead run? Oakland's Brandon Inge seriously did this.

Carry on.

Credit goes to @b_pad.

DFWTrojanTuba — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 23:22:28 -0000

Credit goes to @b_pad.

This is Now the London 2012 Olympics Thread

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 21:04:58 -0000

I was not around last week for a couple reasons. The first and foremost reason, I was moving out of my apartment. The second reason, and perhaps the most inconvenient, was that somebody hacked my email and my Facebook, and I had to spend a few days doing damage control, which sucked. The aftermath: all my contacts, gone. All my emails, gone. Facebook appears to be fine, though, for those of you who were wondering.

Why do people feel the need to screw with other people?

Anyway, the 2012 London Olympics have finally arrived. So, time for some Olympic-Themed questions.

Favorite Summer Olympic sport?

Favorite Summer Olympic moment?

What sport do you wish was a Summer Olympic sport?

Favorite Summer Olympic opening ceremony?

What do you think is the toughest sport in the Summer Olympics?

I hereby declare this the Defending Big D Summer Olympics Open Discussion Thread. Feel free to post events as they happen in real-time.

Also, for those of you who want to see the Olympics live as they happen, go to NBCOlympics.com, and thanks to YouTube, you'll see things as they happen in real time. But, keep this in mind:

Granted, to watch the the Olympics live online you’ll need to subscribe to a cable tier that includes CNBC and MSNBC, but it’s still better than nothing. If you live in certain countries in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, you’ll be able to watch live coverage of the games directly on YouTube.

Carry on.

Update August 6, 2012: I'm too lazy to make a new thread. Plus, the Olympics are still going on. What did you all think about that crazy Canada-USA match?

Why do people feel the need to screw with other people?

Anyway, the 2012 London Olympics have finally arrived. So, time for some Olympic-Themed questions.

Favorite Summer Olympic sport?

Favorite Summer Olympic moment?

What sport do you wish was a Summer Olympic sport?

Favorite Summer Olympic opening ceremony?

What do you think is the toughest sport in the Summer Olympics?

I hereby declare this the Defending Big D Summer Olympics Open Discussion Thread. Feel free to post events as they happen in real-time.

Also, for those of you who want to see the Olympics live as they happen, go to NBCOlympics.com, and thanks to YouTube, you'll see things as they happen in real time. But, keep this in mind:

Granted, to watch the the Olympics live online you’ll need to subscribe to a cable tier that includes CNBC and MSNBC, but it’s still better than nothing. If you live in certain countries in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, you’ll be able to watch live coverage of the games directly on YouTube.

Carry on.

Update August 6, 2012: I'm too lazy to make a new thread. Plus, the Olympics are still going on. What did you all think about that crazy Canada-USA match?

Week of 7-16 OT Thread

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:23:35 -0000

Well guys, we've righted a wrong that's been in place for the last six months: the amount of comments in my OT Thread from last week smashed the record Trevor's OT Thread set back in January. For that, I thank you all. We had some excellent discussions, mainly about movies and games...again.

With the Olympics coming up very soon, I'm also curious if you all want an "Official DBD London Games Thread." For those of you unaware, those games start July 27 and end August 12!

Dang, this really is a slow news day. I was going to try and find interesting news articles to discuss, but frankly the one everyone is talking about (Penn State) is one I do not wish to bring here due to the horrendous subject nature.

Okay time to make this a little more fun. Would you rather have:

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy or Macaroni and Cheese
Coffee or Tea
Hazelnut or Vanilla
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich or Turkey/Ham and Cheese Sandwich
Oreos or Nutter Butters
NFL or College Football
McDonald's or Taco Bell
TV or Computer
Texas de Brazil or Fogo de Chao
Whataburger or In-N-Out Burger
Reunion Arena or American Airlines Center
Star Wars or Star Trek
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time or Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

I think this is a decent list.

Anyway, you all know the drill. Have a great rest of the week, since Mondays are always lousy.

With the Olympics coming up very soon, I'm also curious if you all want an "Official DBD London Games Thread." For those of you unaware, those games start July 27 and end August 12!

Okay time to make this a little more fun. Would you rather have:

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy or Macaroni and Cheese
Coffee or Tea
Hazelnut or Vanilla
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich or Turkey/Ham and Cheese Sandwich
Oreos or Nutter Butters
NFL or College Football
McDonald's or Taco Bell
TV or Computer
Texas de Brazil or Fogo de Chao
Whataburger or In-N-Out Burger
Reunion Arena or American Airlines Center
Star Wars or Star Trek
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time or Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

I think this is a decent list.

Anyway, you all know the drill. Have a great rest of the week, since Mondays are always lousy.

Week of 7-9 OT Thread

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:15:06 -0000

I didn't create one of these last week because last week was the first week of free agency, and I knew everybody's attention, mine included, would be focused on the moves the Stars would make. Low and behold, there were some pretty significant moves made to say the least.

I've been making these for the past year for the most part with hopes of giving DBDers a place to discuss other things going on besides hockey. Occasionally, Tsudbury has covered for me, and unfortunately for me, one of his OT Threads holds the record for most comments. I'm not bitter about that at all...yeah I kind of am.

Anyway, to get this conversation started, since it's summer, it's basically baseball and movies. Let's talk movies:

What has been the best movie of the year that you've seen?

What has been the worst movie of the year that you've seen?

Subquestion: What is your early pick for the Razzie Award for "Worst Movie" of the Year?

Have you already bought your ticket to see The Dark Knight Rises?

I don't think I've ever seen a movie so highly anticipated that tickets are available A MONTH BEFORE THE FILM IS RELEASED. Then again, I wasn't around for the Star Wars Trilogy from 1977-1983.

Was The Amazing Spider-Man better than the first three Spider-Man films, or worse?

Also, just for moderation's sake, if Tsudbury and I, and perhaps other mods, feel a conversation in a front-page thread is getting side-tracked, and on the verge of being derailed, we will direct you all to this thread.

Hope you all had a wonderful July 4th. Go Stars.

Anyway, to get this conversation started, since it's summer, it's basically baseball and movies. Let's talk movies:

What has been the best movie of the year that you've seen?

What has been the worst movie of the year that you've seen?

Subquestion: What is your early pick for the Razzie Award for "Worst Movie" of the Year?

Have you already bought your ticket to see The Dark Knight Rises?

I don't think I've ever seen a movie so highly anticipated that tickets are available A MONTH BEFORE THE FILM IS RELEASED. Then again, I wasn't around for the Star Wars Trilogy from 1977-1983.

Was The Amazing Spider-Man better than the first three Spider-Man films, or worse?

Hope you all had a wonderful July 4th. Go Stars.

Week of 6-25 OT Thread -- With Tuesday's Question

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 19:35:57 -0000

Sorry I didn't have a thread up last week. My focus was on driving to San Diego for the Texas Rangers game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, which is a gorgeous stadium in a gorgeous city. It's really not fair.

I went to that stadium twice, and I would have gone a third time if I didn't have to work on Tuesday. What I didn't realize was that It was the Rangers' first ever trip to Petco Park, so seeing those games were that much more special. I will write more on my two visits in my personal blog, which is linked in my sig and linked in my profile page.

With this anecdote in mind, what hockey arena have you always wanted to visit to see the Dallas Stars play?

Personally, I've seen Stars road games at MCI Center (this was 10 years ago before Worldcom folded in grand style), and Staples Center. Now that I have a car, I'm planning on going to Honda Center if it fits my schedule.

How's this for an idea:

What California road game do some of you that can make the trip want to go to next season?

I figured if we can get at least two or three people besides Closure GT (primarily an LSBer, for those of you unfamiliar with who I'm talking about, he lives in Ventura) and I then we could probably have a decent time out here. Staples Center would be preferable, personally, since it's down the street from me.

Anyway this is a spur of the moment kind of idea, and I hope some of the authors of this blog pay attention to this question, but hey, it's worth a shot! The list of games are shown in the poll at the end of this post.

I'm also thinking I should update this post daily, since it's a weekly post, and therefore I want to keep it interesting, somewhat. These threads tend to die after one day, and if nobody's talking about Skyrim, then these threads have no chance.

So, if some noteworthy news event, whether it be sports or actual news, happens throughout the week, I'll update the post and see if it inspires debate.

TUESDAY 6-26: What do you all think of college football's Final Four playoff system that was just approved?

With this anecdote in mind, what hockey arena have you always wanted to visit to see the Dallas Stars play?

How's this for an idea:

What California road game do some of you that can make the trip want to go to next season?

So, if some noteworthy news event, whether it be sports or actual news, happens throughout the week, I'll update the post and see if it inspires debate.

TUESDAY 6-26: What do you all think of college football's Final Four playoff system that was just approved?

Poll

Which California road game can some of you possibly make?

Sunday, October 14, Stars vs. Ducks

0 votes

Monday, December 10, Stars vs. Kings

0 votes

Thursday, December 13, Stars vs. Ducks

0 votes

Saturday, December 15, Stars vs. Sharks

0 votes

Thursday, March 7, 2013, Stars vs. Kings

0 votes

Saturday, March 9, 2013, Stars vs. Sharks

0 votes

Thursday, April 4, 2013, Stars vs. Kings

0 votes

Friday, April 5, 2013, Stars vs. Ducks

0 votes

Sunday, April 7, 2013, Stars vs. Sharks

0 votes

Screw California games. Let's go to Phoenix!

0 votes

0 votes | Poll has closed

Week of 6-11 OT Thread -- Euro 2012!

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 17:02:57 -0000

The NHL Draft is on the horizon, you guys. There are many draft profiles written by members of the staff that I highly recommend you all read.

Also, Euro 2012 is going on right now, for those of you who are association football (fine...soccer) enthusiasts. Were you all surprised that The Netherlands lost to Denmark? Were you not surprised that Ireland lost to Croatia? Who do you think will win Euro 2012?

Basically, this will be the Official Defending Big D Euro 2012 Thread.

(Well, for this week at least.)

The U.S. Open is also this weekend. Will Tiger Woods finally win a major championship again, or will it be somebody else?

Side question: Would you pay to go see a golf tournament?

The Stanley Cup Final is actually getting interesting, ladies and gentlemen. Does New Jersey force a Game 7 or does Los Angeles close this out and "party" in downtown Los Angeles?

June 11: I may be a witness to history, tonight, and it's going to be an absolute nightmare trying to get to downtown Los Angeles, as both the Dodgers (playing the Angels) and the Kings are playing tonight. For those of you unfamiliar with Los Angeles, Dodger Stadium is only 2 miles up the freeway from Downtown LA. If both LA teams win, this could be one hell of a night. How's that for a 21st Birthday?

The NHL Draft is on the horizon, you guys. There are many draft profiles written by members of the staff that I highly recommend you all read.

Basically, this will be the Official Defending Big D Euro 2012 Thread.

(Well, for this week at least.)

The U.S. Open is also this weekend. Will Tiger Woods finally win a major championship again, or will it be somebody else?

Side question: Would you pay to go see a golf tournament?

The Stanley Cup Final is actually getting interesting, ladies and gentlemen. Does New Jersey force a Game 7 or does Los Angeles close this out and "party" in downtown Los Angeles?

Poll

What are you watching this week?

Stanley Cup Finals

6 votes

Euro 2012

4 votes

U.S. Open

0 votes

Texas Rangers Interleague Play

0 votes

All of the above

0 votes

None of the above (please list in comments!)

1 votes

11 votes | Poll has closed

6-4 Afternoon OT Thread

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 19:48:13 -0000

Since the last thread is over 1,100 comments, and tonight's game is still quite a few hours away, new thread time.

If you had to pick between Animal House and Blues Brothers, which one would you watch?

Fun fact: Closure has already said this, but there are apparently a ton of LA Kings fans in Anaheim, even though Honda Center is across the street from Angel Stadium. Bandwagon much?

Also, screw you ticket broker for charging me $14 more per ticket than face value for a LAST ROW UPPER DECK SEAT. But hey, we got to see Disneyland fireworks during a break in the game.

This song is stuck in my head:

Don't hate on this song.

Oh bigtill has a .gif to post? Well geez I need to hurry up with this post. I mean, if bigtill has such an important .gif that it requires me to rush this post, I must oblige.

Jerk.

Since the last thread is over 1,100 comments, and tonight's game is still quite a few hours away, new thread time.

If you had to pick between Animal House and Blues Brothers, which one would you watch?

Fun fact: Closure has already said this, but there are apparently a ton of LA Kings fans in Anaheim, even though Honda Center is across the street from Angel Stadium. Bandwagon much?

Also, screw you ticket broker for charging me $14 more per ticket than face value for a LAST ROW UPPER DECK SEAT. But hey, we got to see Disneyland fireworks during a break in the game.

This song is stuck in my head:

Don't hate on this song.

Oh bigtill has a .gif to post? Well geez I need to hurry up with this post. I mean, if bigtill has such an important .gif that it requires me to rush this post, I must oblige.

Jerk.

Week of 6-4 OT Thread -- UPDATED

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 17:50:58 -0000

I am one week away from a very awesome birthday, so if there isn't an off-topic thread written next week, you'll probably understand why. (Perhaps I can get Trevor to write it? We'll talk later. No really.)

(EDIT: Useless sentence deleted)

You ever go on an iTunes-buying binge because you have lots of store credit? I do.

Here's one of the songs I added to my library.

You may recognize that song from an Apple ad.

Also, since I'm in LA, and I have an internship with KCBS/KCAL for sports news, I tried to get media credentials for the Stanley Cup Finals. No dice. *sadpanda*

TUESDAY EDIT: If you haven't seen my fanshot regarding TSN using Texas Star Taylor Vause's "Call of Doughty" photoshop on their facebook page without properly crediting him, check that out here. I took a screencap of the post, and tweeted a side-by-side comparison of Vause's work and TSN's post. Apparently enough people told TSN that they were using Taylor Vause's work without crediting him that they reposted the picture but edited the caption giving @wizardofvause (Taylor Vause's Twitter handle) credit. Here's SportsCentre's tweet:

Check out this pic that fan @wizardofvause created using Doughty and some COD. Call of Doughty - Black Ops. i.imgur.com/O8vVq.jpg
— SportsCentre (@SportsCentre) June 4, 2012

Taylor definitely took the high road in all of this:

Thanks @SportsCentre I Appreciate the mention! I've got lots more at imgur.com/a/RqPKG Let me know if you want to use some of them.
— Taylor Vause (@wizardofvause) June 4, 2012

I'd like to give Taylor a shoutout for personally reaching out to scm83x (manager of Texas Stars blog "100DegreeHockey") and I thanking us for helping him earn proper credit from TSN for using his work. It's always very much appreciated when players at any level, such as Eric Nystrom and Taylor, reach out to fans/bloggers such as ourselves. I'm glad I could help out with getting TSN to credit you. Good luck with the Texas Stars, and hopefully you'll be in the NHL some day!

Also, if you haven't seen Taylor Vause's photoshops, check them out here. They are incredible.

(EDIT: Useless sentence deleted)

You ever go on an iTunes-buying binge because you have lots of store credit? I do.

Here's one of the songs I added to my library.

You may recognize that song from an Apple ad.

Also, since I'm in LA, and I have an internship with KCBS/KCAL for sports news, I tried to get media credentials for the Stanley Cup Finals. No dice. *sadpanda*

Check out this pic that fan @wizardofvause created using Doughty and some COD. Call of Doughty - Black Ops. i.imgur.com/O8vVq.jpg
— SportsCentre (@SportsCentre) June 4, 2012

Taylor definitely took the high road in all of this:

Thanks @SportsCentre I Appreciate the mention! I've got lots more at imgur.com/a/RqPKG Let me know if you want to use some of them.
— Taylor Vause (@wizardofvause) June 4, 2012

Also, if you haven't seen Taylor Vause's photoshops, check them out here. They are incredible.

The above photoshop is Dallas Stars prospect Taylor Vause's work. TSN's facebook page decided to...

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 04:28:32 -0000

The above photoshop is Dallas Stars prospect Taylor Vause's work. TSN's facebook page decided to use his work, except they did not properly credit him.
See for yourselves.
Erin, 100DegreeHockey and I have informed Taylor of the issue. Not sure what will happen from here.

Week of 5-28 OT Thread

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 28 May 2012 18:03:09 -0000

Oh hello members of Defending Big D. I have been back in the States as of Thursday from my London/Paris tour with the USC Band for the past couple of weeks. Needless to say, I did quite a lot during those couple of weeks.

For example: I went to see the Harry Potter set...

...ran through Platform 9 3/4. (For those of you wondering, it's at King's Cross Station.)

...and performed at Trafalgar Square.

When I was in Paris, of course, I went to the Eiffel Tower.

I could include many other pictures of my trip, but I do not want to clutter the post with tons of pictures. Also, I only have this picture of me in Paris available because Facebook is acting up and preventing me from uploading all my pictures, which is pretty frustrating.

Places I went to in London included:

Harry Potter Tour
Wimbledon
Olympic Park
Piccadilly Circus
Tower of London
Adelphi Theatre (Saw "Sweeney Todd" there)
Harrods
Hyde Park
Buckingham Palace
Westminster Abbey
House of Parliament
Canary Wharf (performed a gig)
Potters Field Park (performed a gig)
Trafalgar Square (performed a gig)
Hamley's (7-story toy store)

Places I went to in Paris:

Eiffel Tower
Champs-Élysées
Notre Dame
The Louvre
Musee d'Orsay
Arc de Triomphe
Basilique du Sacré-Cœur

I was busy.
I have many stories from this trip that I'd be happy to share with you all in the comments, but you have to ask.

And now for a different, but much more serious subject.

Today, May 28, 2012, is Memorial Day, a day in which we remember those who have served in the armed forces in the United States. Thank you for your service.

For example: I went to see the Harry Potter set...

...ran through Platform 9 3/4. (For those of you wondering, it's at King's Cross Station.)

...and performed at Trafalgar Square.

When I was in Paris, of course, I went to the Eiffel Tower.

Places I went to in London included:

Harry Potter Tour
Wimbledon
Olympic Park
Piccadilly Circus
Tower of London
Adelphi Theatre (Saw "Sweeney Todd" there)
Harrods
Hyde Park
Buckingham Palace
Westminster Abbey
House of Parliament
Canary Wharf (performed a gig)
Potters Field Park (performed a gig)
Trafalgar Square (performed a gig)
Hamley's (7-story toy store)

Places I went to in Paris:

Eiffel Tower
Champs-Élysées
Notre Dame
The Louvre
Musee d'Orsay
Arc de Triomphe
Basilique du Sacré-Cœur

I was busy.
I have many stories from this trip that I'd be happy to share with you all in the comments, but you have to ask.

And now for a different, but much more serious subject.

Today, May 28, 2012, is Memorial Day, a day in which we remember those who have served in the armed forces in the United States. Thank you for your service.

Weeks of 5-14 and 5-21 OT Thread

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:49:51 -0000

You may notice that this thread is supposed to cover two weeks. That's because starting today, I am going to spend the next ten days in Europe. Seven days in London, and three in Paris, with the Trojan Marching Band.

I have looked forward to this trip since October, and I can't believe I'm heading out today.

I know the majority of us on Defending Big D are Texas Rangers fans, and therefore we all got to witness something pretty extraordinary with Josh Hamilton. For those of you living under a rock, Hamilton hit nine home runs last week, doubling his home run total for the season. That also includes a game against the Baltimore Orioles in which he hit four home runs in a game, only the 16th player to do so.

With Josh Hamilton's feat in mind, what is an athletic accomplishment you would either like to see, or had the chance to witness? A hat trick? A no-hitter?

I hope you all can keep yourselves entertained for two weeks. I notice these threads tend to die after the first day.

Have fun back in America, folks. I'll let you all know how Europe treats me.

I have looked forward to this trip since October, and I can't believe I'm heading out today.

With Josh Hamilton's feat in mind, what is an athletic accomplishment you would either like to see, or had the chance to witness? A hat trick? A no-hitter?

I hope you all can keep yourselves entertained for two weeks. I notice these threads tend to die after the first day.

Have fun back in America, folks. I'll let you all know how Europe treats me.

Poll

What athletic feat would you rather see?

Perfect game

5 votes

Five goal game

6 votes

Four home run game

1 votes

Unassited Triple Play

1 votes

70 point game

0 votes

A well-written Off-Topic Thread (for once)

1 votes

14 votes | Poll has closed

Week of 5-7 OT Thread - The Defending Big D .Gif War

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:39:40 -0000

You all may have noticed there was no weekly Off-Topic Thread last week. There are multiple reasons for that.

First and most important reason was that I was in San Diego last weekend, and in order for me to fully enjoy my time there, I stayed away from my computer. It proved to be an awesome decision, as my three days in San Diego with my television cast and crew were some of the best three days of my life.

Second reason is that I'm currently in Finals week, and right now is perhaps the best time I can write this, since my next Final isn't until 2 PM on Wednesday.

Two weeks ago, I created a .gif war thread between Breg and I, and while some great .gifs were posted in the process, it didn't take off like I was hoping it would. This is understandable because like everyone else, both of us have lives outside of this blog (I know, can you believe it?), and real life took priority over making animated .gifs for your amusement. Therefore, I'm continuing the .gif war between Breg and I, because neither of us got to break out the big guns. Although, Breg totally cheated with his "Breg Wins" .gif, even though the rules clearly stated that no new .gifs could be created. While it's a great display of photoshop skills, his source of inspiration was a comment from Tsudbury in that thread, so unless Breg could prove that he made that .gif before Tsudbury's comment, it's a clear violation of my rules I set forth.

Wow I sound really pretentious there.

Anyway, in this thread, I'm opening the .gif war up to the entire Defending Big D community. It will truly be a battle royale.

The only rule is that YOU have to make the .gifs. Anything you submit into the competition will not be considered.

Here's how you can learn to make .gifs: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=438369 (You only need Avidemux and Jasc, really. You don't need greasemonkey, or whatever. For Firefox users, use the Download Helper add on. I don't know about Chrome, Safari or Internet Explorer [who still uses that, by the way?])

Game on, ladies and gentlemen.

You all may have noticed there was no weekly Off-Topic Thread last week. There are multiple reasons for that.

Second reason is that I'm currently in Finals week, and right now is perhaps the best time I can write this, since my next Final isn't until 2 PM on Wednesday.

Wow I sound really pretentious there.

Anyway, in this thread, I'm opening the .gif war up to the entire Defending Big D community. It will truly be a battle royale.

The only rule is that YOU have to make the .gifs. Anything you submit into the competition will not be considered.

Game on, ladies and gentlemen.

Week of 4-23 OT Thread -- The Breg vs. Tuba .GIF War

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:18:58 -0000

For those of you who don't know, Breg and I are in the middle of a .gif war. I feel I've got the arsenal to easily take him down, but that's because I'm extremely biased. You all will ultimately decide who has the better .gifs.

I am making this .gif thread into its own because the original thread that the .gif war started in actually calls for people to write serious suggestions for Defending Big D, and I derailed it. I know it's going to break the continuity of the war, but somebody (h/t 1paniolo) suggested someone should make the .gif war its own thread, so that's what I'm doing.

In order to make this a fair fight, I'm listing a couple rules.

For Breg and Tuba, no new .gifs made after the creation of this thread can be used. The point of having this competition is to see who has made the best .gifs at this time.
Anybody not named Breg or Tuba must rec the .gifs they feel are either the funniest or the coolest .gifs. This way we can accurately see what the community believes are the best .gifs. (Plus, who doesn't like a green thread?)

The results of this competition will be published in the next OT Thread, which may be a bit delayed since I will be in San Diego for the weekend, and therefore away from a computer.
May the best man win.

EDIT: In an effort to make this thread awesome, Breg and Tuba can use any .gif they've created. It does not have to be solely Dallas Stars-related.

In order to make this a fair fight, I'm listing a couple rules.

For Breg and Tuba, no new .gifs made after the creation of this thread can be used. The point of having this competition is to see who has made the best .gifs at this time.
Anybody not named Breg or Tuba must rec the .gifs they feel are either the funniest or the coolest .gifs. This way we can accurately see what the community believes are the best .gifs. (Plus, who doesn't like a green thread?)

EDIT: In an effort to make this thread awesome, Breg and Tuba can use any .gif they've created. It does not have to be solely Dallas Stars-related.

Week of 4-16 OT Thread

DFWTrojanTuba — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:16:16 -0000

I promise you this will be rewritten entirely as the week progresses. This is one of two really crazy weeks I have to endure as classes start to wind down.

Right now though I'm in the middle of a sticky situation, as the people in charge of my apartment sent me a "rent overdue" email, and gave us today at 5:00 PM to get the payment in time. The big problem is that my father sent them a check with the payment last week, and it has not cleared, so we don't know where that check is. Hopefully this is because the management company screwed up and will find the check and accept the payment, but if they don't find it I'm going to have a really long day.

I'm sorry I don't have anything else to write about besides my current crisis. Once this is all taken care of, I will add stuff to this post so that you all will be able to relate to stuff in the post, and therefore discuss it.

[UPDATE 12:00 PM]: Situation taken care of. Yay.

Here's a question I want to ask you all: What will journalism look like ten years down the road? Will there still be newspapers, or will it all be electronic?

I've been listening to a lot of deadmau5 over the last couple of weeks. What's your opinion on music like his? I think it's good focus music since there are no words to them.

In baseball news, there was a triple play yesterday! In fact, one so rare it's the first time it's ever happened. Story here.

Speaking of baseball, here's Kelly Shoppach "sliding" into second base as he's stealing it.

via i1102.photobucket.com

By the way, did you hear that the MLB wants to ban .gifs? Why do you want to put me out of business? Okay it's not a job it's a hobby. Point is, why ban .gifs? Moments such as the one above are awesome and just demand to be remembered in .gif form. Do you all agree? Yes you do. Don't lie.

By the way, next season (there will be one have faith people) I will make some more awesome .gifs for you all.

Also, I'm in the process of making a Dallas Stars highlight reel, but finding clean video for that is pretty difficult. But I could use your help! In the comments list the highlights I should include, and PLEASE provide the date in which the game took place. It will be much easier for me to find.

Thank you and have a wonderful week.

I promise you this will be rewritten entirely as the week progresses. This is one of two really crazy weeks I have to endure as classes start to wind down.

[UPDATE 12:00 PM]: Situation taken care of. Yay.

Here's a question I want to ask you all: What will journalism look like ten years down the road? Will there still be newspapers, or will it all be electronic?

I've been listening to a lot of deadmau5 over the last couple of weeks. What's your opinion on music like his? I think it's good focus music since there are no words to them.

In baseball news, there was a triple play yesterday! In fact, one so rare it's the first time it's ever happened. Story here.

Speaking of baseball, here's Kelly Shoppach "sliding" into second base as he's stealing it.

via i1102.photobucket.com

By the way, next season (there will be one have faith people) I will make some more awesome .gifs for you all.

Thank you and have a wonderful week.