Canadians vs. Euros. Feel the excitement!

Canadians vs. Euros. Feel the excitement!

Believe it or not, some broads like sports (For this post’s purposes, we will consider hockey a sport). Commenter and former MLJ Jerkette of the Month sportsgal116 was lucky enough to attend the game between her beloved Blackhawks and her beloved Red Wings. Her story follows:

As I stumbled home January 1st from a day full of hockey and massive amounts of boozing, I noticed I had an e-mail from one Clown asking if I had a good time at the Winter Classic and if I wanted to write about my experience for MLJ. Apparently, I sent him a drunken reply at nearly 1am saying I would be happy to share my Winter Classic feelings with the loyal MLJ readership. I then proceeded to pass out in my coat and clothes. Awesome.

Before I talk about the game, let me give you a little background on Wrigleyville. During the winter, Wrigley Field is basically a big, vacant building most residents don’t even notice. Sure, you might see the occasional tourist taking pictures in front of the Harry Caray statue or the marquee, but for the most part the eastern corner of Addison and Clark looks dead. Walking up to the field on Thursday, the neighborhood had the same feeling as it has before a Cubs playoff game. It was crowded, it was loud, and everyone was excited. I was making my way to the main gate when I saw a tour bus pull up. I wondered who would be stupid enough to rent a giant bus to get to the game (driving to and from Wrigley after during a regular Cubs game is a bitch. During the Winter Classic? Pure stupidity) when out steps Captain Douche Bag A.J. Pierzynski. He immediately made a comment about there being “too many people” and that he shouldn’t have to wait in line to get to his seats. He sucks. Anyway, when I finally entered the gates I could see massive signs hanging from the rafters of all the players who would be participating in the game that day. If I had showed up a little earlier, I would have had a chance to see a few players from the Red Wings playing soccer on the concourse and taking pictures with the fans. Instead, I just saw lots of dudes in Carhartt overalls and people eating Chicago-style dogs with grilled onions. I don’t care how cold it is outside, Chicago-style Best Kosher dogs are the shit and are always delicious even if you’re hungover. Reason 372 why Chicago > New York.

I had an INCREDIBLE view of the ice and the area where the teams would make their enterance. If you’re looking from the bleachers, I was sitting in the upper deck to the left of the press box. I took some pictures, drank a beer and got ready for the singing of the national anthem. Now, most of you are unaware of the tradition of the national anthem during Blackhawks games, but it is one of the coolest things to experience in person. As soon as the announcement is made to stand for the anthem, the fans all get to their feet and begin cheering. It’s not anything fancy, but it is extremely cool to witness in person. One of the most memorable anthems is from the 1991 NHL All-Star game at old Chicago Stadium. It happened shortly after Desert Storm began, so people were feeling especially patriotic. Anyway, I know what the anthem sounds like with 20,000 people in the United Center, but I couldn’t wait to hear what it would sound like with 40,000 in Wrigley Field. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed. Since the Winter Classic was technically a regular season home game for the Hawks, they used their standard singer Jim Cornelison for this performance. I’m really happy the Hawks didn’t cave and let some fucking country singer or pop “star” sing. I can’t imagine anyone else doing it for this game. The Canadian anthem ends and everyone starts cheering in preparation for the American anthem. The organ plays the first few notes and the crowd just goes ape shit. I couldn’t even hear the guy singing from where I was standing, it was that loud. My words can’t do it justice, so if you’re interested to hear what it sounded like, fast forward to the 6:30 mark of this video.

The game itself was pretty good. Lots of scoring, some good hits (especially the one by Brent Seabrook that sent Dan Cleary into the Hawks bench in the first period), and a couple of amazing goals by Pavel Datsyuk and super hottie Ben Eager. As everyone knows, I’m a Red Wings fan for life, but I appreciate the Blackhawks a lot more now that I’m a season ticket holder. I was hoping the Blackhawks could pull out the win just because I wanted to hear the crowd noise and I knew the atmosphere would have been electric if they pulled out the upset. Alas, the better team prevailed. Dummies like Fetch think the game wasn’t as good as last year’s because it wasn’t snowing, but the weather this year made for better playing conditions. Snow might have looked cool on TV, but it makes for shitty ice, lots of misplayed pucks and guys falling all over the place. The consensus with the media and the NHL is this year was better than last year, and I couldn’t agree more. It was a great experience, and I doubt I’ll ever attend a sporting event half as cool as the Winter Classic in Wrigley Field.

Pics courtesy sportsgal. Ghetto photostitch courtesy clown

Pics courtesy sportsgal. Ghetto photostitch courtesy clown. Click to enlarge.

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