A night of towel waiving

Ok, so Skate Kid and I were lucky enough to attend last night's second round NHL playoff game between the Red Wings and the Ducks.

You can't ask for a better game with the Wings pulling out a 3-2 win in the last minute of play. Plenty of fire, smoke, explosions, loud music and also a giant octupus which descended from the ceiling before the game. We were also treated to 4 real octupi (plural of octupus?) thrown on the ice during the game.

The game was not a sellout as approximately 10-15% of the seats were not occupied and this was the first Red Wing game that I have ever been to which was not a sellout and this is a symptom of the ailing Michigan economy. As there was no "standing room" action, it was quite a bit easier to walk around the arena. Sorry, owner, Mike Illitch but it is true. I do hope that sellouts return to Joe Louis Arena sometime soon though.

Skate Kid thought the music was a bit loud for his ears but other than that it was a perfect night for him. He was one of just a few kids there but I know this is standard for a playoff game. I guess due to the novelty of seeing a 7 year old at a playoff game, he sure got a lot of attention and high fives from those around us. Skate Kid did pick up up some bottle caps on the floor for his cousin who collects bottle caps. (Justin, if you are out there, they are in a safe spot.) From his little scavenger hunt of bottle caps, I can tell you that Miller Genuine Draft seems to be the dominant beer consumed at Joe Louis Arena. He also told me that people say "bad words" at these games and I told him that now he knows what words he cannot say.

The Wings gave away free hand towels for the fans to waive and obviously this is pretty customary at big games. We got an extra towel for 12 year old Computer Boy who was following the game (and also the OHL finals) on the computer at home.

You would expect the towel to say something like "Go Wings" or "Beat the Ducks"; that kind of thing. The towels given away yesterday say (I am not kidding) "Buy and Sell Tickets!" followed by the website address for the Red Wing's ticket office. Hmmmmm. It just seems a little funny to cheer on the Wings waiving a towel that says "Buy and Sell Tickets!"

Computer Boy has a pretty impressive collection of towels from our local sports teams and when he saw his, he said "Look what it says! This is not one of my better towels but I will keep it". The price was right anyway.

Forgot to mention, this morning, Computer Boy retrieved one of the tickets and went to http://www.seatdata.com/ and located the seat with a big blow up of a picture of the view from that seat. As I passed, he made a point to show me and say "Great seats, dad!"

I know that this is a passive-aggressive way of telling me that he wants to go to the next game and Skate Kid can stay home if necessary.

I just said, "Yes, they were" and filed it away in my memory bank.