The weekend in the desert is more a quiet time and sequestering for any of us trying to cover a national title game...
But "The Social Experiment" continues in earnest...
Let's get in to this whole "War Eagle" greeting-thing...
Oregon fans don't quack at each other, but Auburn fans, alums, and such make a point to greet each other and, in passing, say "War Eagle." And you're almost obligated to return the greeting unconsciously. And it's something they all do to one another- especially if you're dressed in team colors...
It's like what those of us who took Spanish in high school learned about the word "Carramba!" it can mean anything and everything from "Oy vey!" to "Ugh" and anything in between- cursing or otherwise.
From what the HQ has learned, the game on Monday night may be 70-percent Auburn faithful and the entire state seems to be in attendance- ticket in hand or otherwise. It's an opportunity for everyone at Click-Clack central to litter Arizona with their UA and tell Phil Knight to stick it once and for all.
TBH's party group from the Loveliest Village is ten strong out here. I was next to a guy who looked like he was coordinating his old fraternity with a six-page, fully-sectioned Excel spreadsheet. The only thing missing there was the paragraphs on the back of each one with captions in place.
So, in lieu of anything football in a lips-zipped shut weekend, TBH and I went to the Coyotes-Sabres game over at the hockey arena ((Coyotes goalie Jason LaBarbera is, temporarily, by himself, thanks to me)).
And the issues were easy to identify where the future of the Desert Dogs are concerned. We all know that Matthew Hulsizer is in process of purchasing the club from the league itself. The team won 50 games last year, but ran into Detroit in Round One. That resulted in the standard quick exit. The Buffalo Sabres were in town at Westgate, and the crowd was half Sabres fans in an arena that seats 17,125 for hockey and lacrosse.
The place was, probably, 70-percent full and at least half of that group was snowbird Sabres fans. When the game-winning goal was scored in overtime, the Sabres fans went berserk. It was a duel between the Coyotes fans and Sabres fans as to which group could be loudest- the Sabres fans won.
Here's your highlights from our friends at FSArizona and the NHL...
Don't get me wrong... seeing Ed Jovanovski get props for playing in his 1,000th game was cool. He got a watch and a golf vacation- for the record. But when you see the lower section look like this in the endzones- it's a huge problem. And I'm not even talking about just how dead the club level was... ((proof is off to your right, thanks again to me))
And who is that spends money...??? Not the folks who were looking for cheap tickets that filled the upper part of the tank from one end to the other...
Tell you something... I dragged TBH to the game as part of her continuing education of the sport. Hey, it was either there or driving to see an Arizona Sundogs game 80 miles from Phoenix to watch the Hansen Brothers pick up another paycheck. She knew who Ryan Miller was from his tour as goalie for Team USA in Vancouver- and that's a good pull. She wouldn't have been able to pick Tim Connolly or Lauri Korpikoski out of a line-up given two hints in three guesses, but she followed Miller.
Want to know how much we paid for 19th row tickets...???
Forty bucks... with service and handling charge...
This reaffirms one of two things... either I know an ancient secret to get killer tickets to an NHL game, or the franchise is in trouble well west of a metropolitan area that no one can travel to, realistically, 45 or so games a year unless you live close-by. It was a 20-minute run for TBH and myself and the hotel we're staying in IS IN GLENDALE...
If the Hulsizer sale goes through and the City of Glendale continues to eat the costs for this billion-dollar boondoggle, I would think there's a clause that would grant him the idea of clearing out within a few seasons of the continued financial hemorrhaging that goes on with this group on ice.
This is only one of several franchises in the NHL that needs a better home. The only way the Coyotes are safe in the desert long-term would be to do the impossible- move back downtown. But we all know that won't happen...
And that's sad... for a young franchise that is trying to turn the corner quickly...
Whether it's quick enough is the larger question...
Back to The Social Experiment tomorrow...
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