Hockey Games

One of the fun things we did this winter was go to a few Texas Tornadoes hockey games. The Tornadoes are the minor league team under the Dallas Stars and the best thing is that they play in the Frisco Convention center which is basically one light away from our apartment. So we would just walk to each game and didn't have to worry about parking. We had won some tickets in the silent auction during Casino Night at work and then also bought a couple on a Groupon deal.

The first night we went, we had amazing seats right on the glass. I have only been to a hockey game a few times and certainly have never sat right on the front row. I was pretty excited and it was crazy to see the game from that perspective. You could see the players faces (and how YOUNG they all looked).

Well, here's the thing about being on the glass at a hockey game. Part of the game is slamming into the glass and slamming other players into the glass. It seems extremely violent but they have

pads on and must be used to it, right? Also, when things slam into the glass - hockey sticks, players, helmets, etc it ends up being really loud (especially if you are sitting close). I chuckled a few times at other fans who I saw jump when players crashed into the glass in front of them.

Peter and I got some snacks to enjoy during the game. I got my favorite - nachos. It was the type of nachos that had a section for the cheese and then a section for the chips. They didn't pour any of the cheese over the chips. So, there I am, enjoying my nachos when I see the puck come our direction. I could see two players chasing after the puck and could tell that one of them was going to slam the other one into the glass when they got there. So I prepared myself but not enough. I swear, they hit the glass SO HARD I thought it had broken. I JUMPED into the air and my nachos went flying - everywhere. I immediately started laughing at how silly I was and looking around expecting to see the poor people around me covered in chips. Luckily, the chips just flew basically up and forward vs back and to the side where people were. But when I looked around, I also saw everyone around me laughing...at me... I was so embarrassed but hey, what could I do? It was ridiculous so I just laughed along and couldn't believe I was such a wuss. The picture is of the small crumbs that I left after picking up the big pieces. After that, I didn't touch any food or hold a drink because I didn't want that to happen again. You would think I would have gotten over my jumpiness after awhile but nope, I flinched every time they hit the glass around me.

The excitement doesn't end there! At one point the puck was hit up and over the glass and ricocheted between people. Guess who ended up catching it? Peter! Wahoo. So now we have an official, used in the game, hockey puck. (That's what I'm holding in the picture.)

The other few times we went weren't quite as exciting as that first time but we still enjoyed it. (We also didn't sit on the glass again - NEVER AGAIN!) :)

Super Bowl!

The Super Bowl came to town in February! Originally we had talked about buying tickets (even though they were going to be expensive) because going to the Super Bowl is a once-in-a-lifetime, bucket list sort of thing. And when else are we going to get a chance to go to the game when we don't have to pay for travel, parking, etc??? Well, then we looked into the cost of tickets and the cheapest I could find were $1,700 EACH. I decided I would rather go on a cruise. Well, then the day of the Super Bowl arrived. Peter and I were invited to a Super Bowl viewing party at my friend Chad's house that is only like a mile 1/2 from the Cowboy's stadium. We got to his house and then walked to the stadium. I wanted to be in the whole Super Bowl atmosphere and see the crowds, etc. At this point, let me tell you I regretted our decision to not go. I so badly wanted to go into the stadium with all those lucky people who had tickets. I hate when I let my cheapness and reluctance to spend money get in the way of great experiences. Oh well, hopefully the Super Bowl will come back to Dallas while we still live here and I won't make the same mistake again. It was so neat to see all the awesome stuff done to the area plus there was great people watching! There were some CRAZY fans out there.

Here's a picture of one of the crazy Green Bay Packers fans we saw... Oh wait, this just isn't ANY crazy fan. This is my Uncle Clay. I got an email from him that morning asking if we were going to the game because he was going. What?! The lucky guy (who lives in Seattle mind you) took a private jet from Houston to Dallas, was picked up by a limo, and got to go to the game! In my wildest dreams I didn't think we'd run into him. There were over a 100,00 people down there. No way was I going to see anyone I knew. But, crazy things happen every day and just when Peter and I decided to walk back to Chad's to watch the game we saw him walking down the sidewalk! We chatted for about 2 minutes and then let him go so he could get inside. Pittsburgh Steeler fans. There were really some fans that went all out but I didn't think about taking pictures until it was too late. It was a lot of fun to be around the excitement, energy, and enthusiasm. Then we enjoyed watching the game from Chad's house. The funny thing was that Peter and I were the only ones at that party who seemed to care about the game. The rest of them chatted and visited with each other the whole time. In what crazy world are Peter and I the serious sports fans? :)