The unfortunate thing about this Lumbus road trip is, unlike my first visit, this game happened to be on a Saturday night, not an afternoon, so sightseeing was not an option. Thus there was no time to take the Dagwood challenge again (see Man V. Food, Columbus episode). For the record it totally kicked my ass, but in my defense I was severely hungover and in no mood to eat a 2 1/2 lb sandwich with a pound of fries. This go around, I only made it to Columbus a little over an hour before the game, so it was literally check into the hotel, and shlep my ass over to Nationwide Arena.
My first impressions of walking over to the arena was, "holy shit, I traveled 360 miles for a road Blackhawks home game." However once I made it into the arena, it was quite obvious that there were more Blue Jackets fans (yes, they actually do exist) in attendance. I'd say it was 65% Hawks fans, but I'll give the Jackets fans credit, they were loud and fired back when the Lets Go Hawks chants started.
If you haven't been to Nationwide Arena, I highly recommend you visit there. The sight lines are fantastic, plus the selection of beer is absolutely phenomenal. Anytime you can drink Yuengling on tap and watch a hockey game, is a pretty sweet deal in my opinion. Did I mention how awesome the cannon is that they shoot off after the Blue Jackets score? IT IS THE BEST GOAL CELEBRATION IN THE NHL.
As the booze began to take effect, I took some notes of what was happening during the game;
- The chant of "Lets go Jackets" sounds a lot like "lets eat chocolates." Maybe that was the hungriness of a drunken idiot.
- There were several unexpected things I saw that I thought were noteworthy; 1. Michal Rozsival had an assist. 2. Jonathan Toews getting into a scrap. I'm calling it a scrap because he did drop the gloves. 3. Of course there would be a lengthy video review, because you all know how much I love instant replay. Replay is for the fans, not the refs. 4. Speaking of painstakingly long, how about that shootout? Watching paint dry would be more exciting in my mind.
- Perhaps though the biggest slap in the face was seeing Jack Skille score the Jackets first goal, and then the cherry on top with Morin scoring in the shootout. I'm guessing Morin let out a big fuck you to the man behind the Blackhawks bench after he scored.
- I managed to strike up a conversation with the Blue Jackets fan in front of me. Surprisingly, he was knowledgeable about hockey. After a Wisniewski turnover, he made have said, "you guys can have him back." Forgive me, the booze was talking and I said I'd take Wiz back on the Hawks any day.
How bad of a game was this to be in attendance for? I didn't even want to show my face.
Despite the Hawks losing in a shootout, thus "improving" my attendance record to 1-0-2 on the year, the trip was not all lost;
I got drunk off of an insane amount of Yuengling!
- I wandered the streets of Columbus between bar stops, and snapped a pic of the skyline. That is the actual skyline people. One giant Nationwide building.
- Something else I'm quite proud that I accomplished was finding edible pizza outside the city of Chicago. Shout out to OH Pizza and Brew for the pizza and fantastic pumpkin beer they have on tap.
- If you're a coffee drinker and haven't had Tim Hortons, do yourself a favor and try it. Its excellent. Plus it helped with the hangover.
Overall though, based on Jack fucking Skille scoring, Morin scoring in the shootout, Rozsival getting an assist (and someone I was with constantly suggesting Rozsival isn't that bad after seeing the assist), two long video reviews (one an overturned goal call against the Hawks, which was the correct call, and the aforementioned previously), and a piss pore shootout, this Columbus trip ranks at the bottom of my hockey road trips. That's saying a lot considering I've been to old UIC Flames hockey games, Rock Vegas, and Thrillwaukee for AHL hockey.
Peace out Columbus, you've got work to do before I come back next year.
