Thursday, April 01, 2004
March 2004 Roadie, Part 1 - Tampa
I was at the Ottawa-Tampa game on Monday night. One of the best regular season games I've seen. A great example of two skilled young teams exciting the fans. I heard plenty of other Sens fans feeling the same about the game. It could have been a prototype of the kind of game the NHL should be presenting (minus the consistantly inconsistant officiating).
I happened to miss the Mike Fisher goal that gave the Sens a 4-3 lead because a fight happened to break out in the crowd. Apparently, two Sens fans decided to come to blows because of some spilled beer. Suprisingly, the guy in the lower row was giving the guy in the row behind him the majority of the punches with some nice uppercuts.
There was another embarrassment of a Sens fan sitting in close proximity to me. This large person wearing a hat with OSI on the front and "Steve Austin" on the back (I don't follow the WWE closely enough anymore to know Austin's latest marketing slogan so I'm curious what OSI stands for) was possibly the most ignorant homer I've come across in a rink. The person thought everytime the Lightning brought the puck into the Senators zone that it was offside. They also came up with the most ludicrous conspiracy theories I have heard and they kept expressing how they could see all these things that no one else could see.
On to the arena itself. I can't bring myself to call the former Ice Palace as the St Pete Times Forum. It just sounds really bad even for a corporate name. It doesn't even sound like an arena, just a newspaper. I'll just keep refering to it as the Ice Palace because it sounds better and it is easier to type.
Anyways, the building is a pretty generic NHL rink with bright blue seats and a lower concourse (didn't make it any higher then the first level) that seems like a cross between a cheesy nightclub and a shopping mall. The seating didn't seem to be very steep compared to some other NHL buildings which isn't a good thing. Steep seating is preferable for watching hockey.
There were lots of varied concession stands and an Outback Steakhouse concession. I didn't take a look at what they were selling but I can't picture eating a steak in the stands.
While the attendance figures indicate a crowd in attendance in excess of capacity, there were some empty seats in the upper levels. It didn't look sold out. The building was LOUD though. It's the loudest visiting arena I've been to and I've been to New Jersey for the playoffs. There was also a pretty crowded festival like atmosphere outside the arena before the game. Those sort of things work pretty well in nice weather like Tampa had this week. I suspect it would be different if there was subzero weather.
The fans on the other hand, while I'm sure there were a lot of good Tampa hockey fans, there were probably more jackasses there then any visiting rink I've been to. There were some Tampa fans who just seemed to want to start altercations with Ottawa fans for no apparent reason considering the teams are hardly heated rivals.
As for the game production, it was probably the worst I've seen outside of Anaheim. Incredibly cheesy that seemed straight out of the early 90's (while Anaheim's production seemed out of the late 80's). But they were constantly giving away free stuff. It seemed like every break in the action was an opportunity to give something away. The music at the rink wasn't bad but everything else was rather weak.
Overall, it was a pretty good place to see a game because of the passion of the crowd and the skill of Lightning. There's room for improvement with some things and some things that could be better are impossible to improve. But for all the handwringing how the NHL can't work in the South, it sure seems like it is working in Tampa. I wonder if having a winning team could have anything to do with it?
I happened to miss the Mike Fisher goal that gave the Sens a 4-3 lead because a fight happened to break out in the crowd. Apparently, two Sens fans decided to come to blows because of some spilled beer. Suprisingly, the guy in the lower row was giving the guy in the row behind him the majority of the punches with some nice uppercuts.
There was another embarrassment of a Sens fan sitting in close proximity to me. This large person wearing a hat with OSI on the front and "Steve Austin" on the back (I don't follow the WWE closely enough anymore to know Austin's latest marketing slogan so I'm curious what OSI stands for) was possibly the most ignorant homer I've come across in a rink. The person thought everytime the Lightning brought the puck into the Senators zone that it was offside. They also came up with the most ludicrous conspiracy theories I have heard and they kept expressing how they could see all these things that no one else could see.
On to the arena itself. I can't bring myself to call the former Ice Palace as the St Pete Times Forum. It just sounds really bad even for a corporate name. It doesn't even sound like an arena, just a newspaper. I'll just keep refering to it as the Ice Palace because it sounds better and it is easier to type.
Anyways, the building is a pretty generic NHL rink with bright blue seats and a lower concourse (didn't make it any higher then the first level) that seems like a cross between a cheesy nightclub and a shopping mall. The seating didn't seem to be very steep compared to some other NHL buildings which isn't a good thing. Steep seating is preferable for watching hockey.
There were lots of varied concession stands and an Outback Steakhouse concession. I didn't take a look at what they were selling but I can't picture eating a steak in the stands.
While the attendance figures indicate a crowd in attendance in excess of capacity, there were some empty seats in the upper levels. It didn't look sold out. The building was LOUD though. It's the loudest visiting arena I've been to and I've been to New Jersey for the playoffs. There was also a pretty crowded festival like atmosphere outside the arena before the game. Those sort of things work pretty well in nice weather like Tampa had this week. I suspect it would be different if there was subzero weather.
The fans on the other hand, while I'm sure there were a lot of good Tampa hockey fans, there were probably more jackasses there then any visiting rink I've been to. There were some Tampa fans who just seemed to want to start altercations with Ottawa fans for no apparent reason considering the teams are hardly heated rivals.
As for the game production, it was probably the worst I've seen outside of Anaheim. Incredibly cheesy that seemed straight out of the early 90's (while Anaheim's production seemed out of the late 80's). But they were constantly giving away free stuff. It seemed like every break in the action was an opportunity to give something away. The music at the rink wasn't bad but everything else was rather weak.
Overall, it was a pretty good place to see a game because of the passion of the crowd and the skill of Lightning. There's room for improvement with some things and some things that could be better are impossible to improve. But for all the handwringing how the NHL can't work in the South, it sure seems like it is working in Tampa. I wonder if having a winning team could have anything to do with it?
