Kings and Ducks

I’d forgotten how much fun it is to take in a live hockey game. While I missed the audio commentary that usually comes out of my television because I like hearing the random facts and stats (plus, let’s face it, three hours is a long time to pay attention to the same thing and it’s nice to have someone tell me what just happened when my mind wanders a little…), it’s fun to be in the arena. The place is electric, the crowd noisy with cheering and jeering, the air crisp. It’s fun. It’s exciting. It’s a bonding experience with thousands (or hundreds, if you’re a Canuck and you’re in someone else’s home turf) of other fans.

And fans there were. There was a sea of green and blue splayed out before us, surrounding the ice and cheering on our boys. Canadians are good at sticking together (even when we're losing). Choruses of "Luuuuuu!!!!" and “Go, Canucks, Go!” rang out sporadically throughout both games and I was right in there with the best of them (as evidenced by my lack of an upper voice register a full week later).

The sense of togetherness didn’t just take place during the periods, either. After the L.A. game, a huge contingent of Vancouver fans gathered together in one section for a group photo and a spontaneous round of “O Canada”. During the Ducks game, the elderly, non-English-speaking Korean woman behind me shook me a few times, then actually hugged me, she was so excited that I was so excited (as a sidenote, one of the funniest moments of the trip was when Lynn ran into this woman in Disneyland a few days later, pointed to her and shouted, “You’re the lady!!”). It's also been pointed out to me that she could have actually been frustrated with me, since I kept leaping up every time something exciting happened, and she probably couldn't see. But I prefer to think she was cheering me along because I was fun for her to watch... yeah, we'll go with that...

And, of course, there were your typical haters too.
Favourite quote from the L.A. game:
   L.A. Fan, sneering at us: “How’s Game 7 feel now??”
   Dad: “A hell of a lot better than getting kicked out in the first round!”

Favourite quote from the Anaheim game:
   Anaheim fan [to Lynn, who wears a Kesler jersey]: “Kesler sucks!”
   Lynn: “Actually, I’m his Mom.”

LAX

This past week, I have been in California with my family, doing the Chorney family thing… that is, Disneyland. This time, for a little extra flavour, we threw in the Canucks games against the L.A. Kings and the Anaheim Ducks as well (which was a genius addition, I have to say).

On our way down, Jenn and I had a couple of hours to wait in the L.A. Airport before the Calgary crew’s flight landed, so we chilled out in the International Departure Lounge (the only place we could find to get some food). In addition to feeding our hungry tummys, we also had a grand ol’ time observing the world around us. A few highlights are listed below:

- At McDonald’s, you can order the “two cheeseburger” meal, or you can just get the burgers for $3.02. Or… you can buy cheeseburgers individually for $1.46 each. um… what?


- There are Exit signs in all the usual places… and also the UNusual. Like this one, bolted to the wall near the ground. How is that useful??


- Best Shirt of the Day Award goes to… The guy wearing this one: “So far this is the oldest I’ve ever been”  (Okay, to be fair, we couldn’t actually see all of the letters on the shirt. But this is the most logical conclusion based on the parts we COULD see.)


- Best Announcement of the Day Award goes to… British Airways: “Youseff Madri*, please report to the British Airways counter. Youseff Madri, arriving from Las Vegas and en route to Cairo, please report to the British Airways counter.” Why was all of that information necessary? In case there were multiple people in the airport with that very specific name?

After visiting the airport, I’ve decided that if I were going to design one, I’d do it very differently. First off, the ARRIVALS section would be the nicest. I would want people visiting my fictitious city to marvel at how great it was as soon as they stepped off the plane. And I would make it a lot easier to have a snack while people were waiting for their family members to arrive on later flights by having restaurants in more convenient locations. The DEPARTURES area would be less flashy. Who cares what people think about your city while they’re on their way OUT of it?


* Name has been changed to protect the innocent… and because I can’t remember exactly what it was but I KNOW it was something atypical for the setting.